Found a $50 bill inside a library book and almost got accused of stealing it

I was at the public library in Portland last Thursday, just flipping through an old gardening guide for fun. When I opened it up, a crisp $50 bill fell right out onto the table. I was so stoked I almost yelled, but then this older librarian walked over and said 'that belongs to the library, you know.' I was like, what? She said any cash found in library property goes to their donation fund. I told her I found it inside a book, not on the floor, so technically it was a gift from whoever left it there. We went back and forth for a solid 5 minutes until a younger librarian backed me up saying it's a common hidden cash thing. I ended up donating $10 of it to their summer reading program just to keep the peace. Has anyone else run into a situation where someone tried to claim your find was theirs?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan77426d ago

Librarians really do be acting like everything belongs to them sometimes. I had a similar thing happen at a coffee shop where I found a wallet on a chair and the barista tried to say it was theirs to hold onto. Told them I'd rather turn it in to the lost and found myself thanks. Found money is a grey area for sure but if it's inside a book someone clearly put it there on purpose. Sounds like you handled it well though, donating a little bit to shut down the argument was smart. Some people just can't stand seeing someone get lucky.

barbara_grant425d ago

See it differently @ivan774, librarians are just trying to be responsible when it comes to lost property.

samk7723d ago

Same thing happened to my buddy at a comic book store. He found a rare issue tucked behind some other comics and the owner tried to claim it was store property even though it was clearly marked with a price tag from years ago.