This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/amountofsocks on 2023-09-11 04:31:50.

My wife and I were in NYC today to celebrate our cousin’s birthday. We took the train in and out and left the city a bit earlier to get home in time to take care of our dogs. We were in a bit of a rush but were super hungry and stopped for a quick meal at Shake Shack. We found a couple barstool seats and noticed a small shopping bag that had some skin care prodcuts in it, but no ID, wallet, or anything else (I checked). We didn’t recognize the brand or store name and it was at the counter before we arrived.

We were there for about half an hour or so and kept an eye on the bag assuming someone would realize they left it and would come get it, but that didn’t happen, so we just took it when we left. Later we sent a pic of the face cream to my brother’s partner, who has worked in cosmetics for years. He told us they were super expensive products that totaled to nearly $1000 after taxes (the single face cream retails for like $300 and there were other items in the bag) and scolded us for not turning it in to the cashier.

My wife feels bad because we hadn’t even considered doing that, but I don’t feel at all guilty because we didn’t steal it from someone, they left it and it had been parked there for at least half an hour, probably longer. It sucks and maybe we should have considered turning it in to the cashier or even looking up and travelling to the store to return it to them and let them sort it out, but that would have taken a long time, we were exhausted, and we were already rushing to get home as it was. We genuinely didn’t think of it.

IMO, if you’ve left behind something like that and didn’t immediately retrace your steps to find it, then what happens happens. It sucks, and I don’t mean to put down someone accidentially leaving something behind, it happens to all of us, but no I do not feel bad to be the “finder.” Plus I can’t help but wonder that any cashier would have been just as likely to keep it, too. Also, what realistically could they have done? It’s not like a phone or wallet that could have been traced to the owner, there was no receipt in the bag or anything. But maybe that’s beside the point. AITA?