A TV program called What Would You Do? has become very popular among American viewers and is hosted by John Quiñones. The aim of the program appears to test, to a certain extent, the honesty of the general public, whereby the staff will create a minor incident to see how ordinary people treat or handle it. The following $50 test shows that most people still have a conscience.
In one of the episodes, a staff member threw a US$50 bill into a public place and pointed the TV camera at the bill to see whether anyone who found the bill would keep it for themselves or return it to its rightful owner. The results were an emotional revelation!
The first person to find the bill was an older man. Since the bill he saw had no information about the owner, he slipped it into his pocket and walked away. The rule in the United States is that whoever finds a bill in public owns it unless the owner comes forward and asks for it.
This old man thought he was having a good day, but a few seconds later, a TV station reporter approached him and said: “I lost it.” The older man returned the $50 to the owner without saying a word.
There was a flaw in this experiment: Since the person who found the cash doesn’t know who the owner is, they can’t return it to the owner even if they want to. In this case, returning the money to the owner is technically tricky. So the reporter improved the experiment by sandwiching the $50 bill with a $700 check and a deposit slip totaling $750. The check and the deposit slip contain information about the depositor and the bank.
If a person checks this information and locates the bank, the bank can immediately find the owner. Of course, whoever finds this can tear up the check and deposit slip equally and leave with the cash.
Fred returns the $50 to the bank
The first man to find this $50 bill and deposit slip was named Fred. After finding the $50, Fred was not emotionally overjoyed, but instead looked around to see if any owners were looking for their lost property. Twenty seconds later, without hesitation, Fred entered the bank, handing over his findings to the bank and asking the bank to look for the owner of the lost money.
The bank was informed of the experiment and immediately introduced Fred to a TV reporter. The reporter asked Fred why he didn’t keep the money after he found it, and Fred replied: “God is watching what people are doing!”
Four hours passed, and one person after another found the bill. The majority did what Fred had done and took the money to the bank according to the information on the deposit slip. It looked like the $50 bill wouldn’t be lost since there appeared to be many good people out there.
People of all professions and income streams were found to be among these good people. For example, one lady who picked up the money was laid off. She lost her job, but not her conscience and kindness.
A bus driver and delivery boy
Another man was a bus driver, whose take-home pay was almost the lowest hourly wage, but he didn’t forsake the upright principles of being a good human being.
The following person was a Chinese restaurant delivery boy. His base pay is only a few dollars an hour, and he earns only three to five dollars a delivery. After deducting the gasoline and vehicle repairs cost, he probably makes close to $100 a day for all his hard work. A $50 bill is a big one for him. But he didn’t hesitate to give it to the bank instead of keeping it. Where can you find that kind of spirit these days?
When the reporter asked the worker who delivers food to Chinese restaurants why he didn’t take the bill, his answer was neither grandiose nor ostentatious: “No, I don’t want it; it’s not my money!”
Mama Salmon
The story of the $50 bill trial that ended up in the hands of an old mom named Mama Salmon was tear-jerking.
Big Mama Salmon is 64 years old and has been a caregiver in a medical facility for 12 years. The recession took everything away from her. She was homeless and had to walk two hours each day to a friend’s house for a hot meal and then back to the homeless shelter for the night. She had only $10 in her bank account and $7 in cash in her pocket. That was all she possessed.
When she found the $50 bill that day, she had every reason to keep it for herself; it was neither illegal nor unethical, and she needed the money so badly. $50 could have increased her wealth, fed her, and bought her some old clothes to keep her warm or even a new pair of shoes.
No one in the world would have blamed her if she had done that. This streetwise mom, however, did something that shocked everyone: she immediately and without hesitation took the money she found into a bank and returned it to the owner.
The emotional reporter asked her why she didn’t take the money for her use. Mama Salmon replied: “When I was a child, my mother told me — never steal!” Everyone involved in the experiment, including the reporter and crew, the bank, and their staff, was touched.
The reporter didn’t want to continue the experiment and gave the $50 bill to the homeless Mama Salmon, who had picked up the money. She accepted it with tears in her eyes.
She may or may not be on the streets of Brooklyn anymore, but Mama Salmon’s spirit and her selfless, beautiful 20-second story will live on in people’s hearts and minds forever.
