Would you take the money?

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:18 pm

If a couple hundred dollars showed up in my account, I'd take it. A couple hundred dollars extra might be my mistake . . . I've miscalculated my account balance before and ended up with more money than I thought I had. Of course, I've also had the opposite happen as well, so it's not all sunshine and roses. Anyway.

If a couple million dollars showed up in my account, however, then it's either their mistake, or they really need to tell me about a dead rich relative that I wasn't previously aware of and the ridiculously large inheritance he secretly handed out to every member of his estranged family. Either way, it needs to be brought to their attention and the situation resolved appropriately.

Oh ho! The Anarchist saying he'd report the problem to the pertinent authorities? What tomfoolery is this? Well, I'll tell you what sort of tomfoolery this is.

I'm not a thief. I'll steal if it is the only means I have to survive, but millions of dollars is way more than I could possibly need to survive. Taking it therefore would put me squarely in the thieving for greed's sake area. Which brings me to . . .

I'm not greedy. If I could get to where I was comfortable and could go without seriously worrying about bills or food (regular worrying is almost assuredly unavoidable and quite possibly somewhat necessary), then I'd be happy. My highest aspirations in life include living in a modestly (a single room would be fine with me!) sized home out in the country, taking my friends and family out to eat every few weeks or so, and actually having a car that works for longer than a couple of months. And I'd prefer to work for the cash in decent sized, regular installments, not just have it handed over for free in a huge gob I wouldn't really know what to do with anyway.

I'm not a jerk. That money didn't just come from nowhere. Somebody somewhere is accountable for it. If I take that money and run and get away with it, then that somebody is quite likely going to get raked over coals for my misdeed. Even if the money doesn't end up having to be replaced due to the freak nature of a computer error that placed all this imaginary cash in my account, then there's still likely to be investigations of the bank employees, the programmers, and whoever else might possibly be responsible for me hopping off in a big money boat made of money. There could be firings, fines, imprisonment, and possibly deportation involved. Sure I'd like enough money to get by on for a while, but not at the expense of potentially harming others by my actions.

It's the right thing to do. As I've said 'round these parts before, no rulers does not mean no rules. Whether or not I'd get caught would not be a factor since my own personal sense of right and wrong exists separately of what Johnny Law and the like tries to tell me, and that sense tells me that reporting the money would be the right thing to do. Therefore, I would do it.

I don't see this sort of situation as any sort of dilemma, moral or otherwise. It's a pretty straight shot.

LibertyCabbage · Post by **LibertyCabbage** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:20 pm

I definitely wouldn't take it. Even though it's a clerical error or system malfunction or whatever, it's somebody else's money. Taking someone else's possessions without their permission is stealing, and stealing is wrong.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:42 pm

Jim North wrote:Oh ho! The Anarchist saying he'd report the problem to the pertinent authorities? What tomfoolery is this? Well, I'll tell you what sort of tomfoolery this is.

bowing down to the state of entitlement? Pwshaw Anarchist.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:50 pm

Why can't anything I do ever make you happy, Phact?! Why can't you just love me for me?!

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Fri May 22, 2009 7:15 pm

Prettysenshi wrote:I would take it, and then give it all away.

The trouble is that they'd still want you to pay it back.

- Joel Fagin

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Fri May 22, 2009 9:44 pm

Honestly, I find it a little strange that for most people, the speculation stops at "I would *NEVER* take the money! HARUMPH" and very few people have actually thought about what they could spend six million dollars on. I mean, you'd figure in a forum of comic writers, the imagination would flow at least a *little* bit.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Fri May 22, 2009 9:53 pm

But that wasn't the original question.

Dracomax · Post by **Dracomax** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:01 pm

I'd withdraw the money, then spend 3 million dollars destroying the bank.

what?

Bustertheclown · Post by **Bustertheclown** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:14 pm

Killbert-Robby wrote:Honestly, I find it a little strange that for most people, the speculation stops at "I would *NEVER* take the money! HARUMPH" and very few people have actually thought about what they could spend six million dollars on. I mean, you'd figure in a forum of comic writers, the imagination would flow at least a *little* bit.

I run such scenarios through my head each and every day. Talking about it will just make it not happen. Don't wanna be a jinx!

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:25 pm

Tim wrote:But that wasn't the original question.

Oh come on, like any of the other threads are 100% on topic

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:30 pm

If I had 6 meeleeon dollars to spend, I would convert it all to quarters and buy 24 meeleeon gumballs.

Prettysenshi · Post by **Prettysenshi** » Fri May 22, 2009 10:35 pm

Jim North wrote:If I had 6 meeleeon dollars to spend, I would convert it all to quarters and buy 24 meeleeon gumballs.

trendsetter

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:28 pm

Fuck that, 6 million 1 dollar notes, fill up my pool, fucking swim in it

Bustertheclown · Post by **Bustertheclown** » Sat May 23, 2009 12:25 am

Ouch. Money cuts.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Sat May 23, 2009 5:47 am

Killbert-Robby wrote:
Tim wrote:But that wasn't the original question.
Oh come on, like any of the other threads are 100% on topic

every thread is 100% on topic. always.

K-Dawg · Post by **K-Dawg** » Sat May 23, 2009 5:51 am

You'd be wise to report it to them.

Once the bank realizes their mistake (and they will with that much money) they are just going to take all the money back, whether you took out some or not. There's no finders keepers here.

Killbert-Robby · Post by **Killbert-Robby** » Sat May 23, 2009 7:48 am

K-Dawg wrote:You'd be wise to report it to them.

Once the bank realizes their mistake (and they will with that much money) they are just going to take all the money back, whether you took out some or not. There's no finders keepers here.

Six million dollars is a lot of money to the REST of us, KEON.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:02 am

Bustertheclown wrote:
Killbert-Robby wrote:Honestly, I find it a little strange that for most people, the speculation stops at "I would *NEVER* take the money! HARUMPH" and very few people have actually thought about what they could spend six million dollars on. I mean, you'd figure in a forum of comic writers, the imagination would flow at least a *little* bit.
I run such scenarios through my head each and every day. Talking about it will just make it not happen. Don't wanna be a jinx!

If I had a million dollars with no strings attached, I'd invest them. A steady incom of money is smarter than sudden burst of luxury, and I'm not exactly a person who is used to luxury, or cares about it much anyway. Fail that, I would a) travel b) start a serious comic magazine in serbian c) buy a crapload of musical equipment

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:04 am

McDuffies wrote:
Bustertheclown wrote:
Killbert-Robby wrote:Honestly, I find it a little strange that for most people, the speculation stops at "I would *NEVER* take the money! HARUMPH" and very few people have actually thought about what they could spend six million dollars on. I mean, you'd figure in a forum of comic writers, the imagination would flow at least a *little* bit.
I run such scenarios through my head each and every day. Talking about it will just make it not happen. Don't wanna be a jinx!
If I had a million dollars with no strings attached, I'd invest them. A steady incom of money is smarter than sudden burst of luxury, and I'm not exactly a person who is used to luxury, or cares about it much anyway. Fail that, I would a) travel b) start a serious comic magazine in serbian c) buy a crapload of musical equipment

A and C... and we can start the real life Keentones band *l*

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Sat May 23, 2009 12:19 pm

If I actually had a million dollars to myself, I'd also invest it, then open a jewelry business.

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