756: But I Did Everything Right
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
From WBZChicago, it's "This American Life." I'm Ira Glass. Example number one. [BELL RINGING] When she was 19, Lenore had a job selling tickets at a haunted mansion tourist attraction near Orlando, Florida. And one day she found, in a stairwell, a wallet someone dropped, leather, she says, with a green rubber band, tons of cash inside, like a vacation or a brings on a big trip. It seemed obvious what to do next. She should figure out how to give it back. But two of the guys she worked with were like, let's not. Let's keep the money. And if they come back looking for it, we can say, we don't have it. We didn't find it. And they'll never know. And I said, no, we have to return it. And they start telling me how ridiculous I'm being. And I'm such a goody two shoes. And why am I like this? Why? Who knows? But the one time that she tried shoplifting when she was 10, on a dare, she couldn't stand it and returned to the pack of gum and apologized. When Laura was also excited at the idea that she could be a hero, that the guy on the ID and the wallet would come in and be like, excuse me. Have you seen my wallet? And I'd say, here it is. And he'd be like, you're amazing. You saved the whole family's vacation. And he and his wife and kids would all cheer. And I bow and say, thank you. And we'd hug. Remember, she's 19. So she talks about it safely in a cash register drawer. Sure enough, a few hours later, the guy in the ID shows up. She very triumphantly pulls it out of the drawer. And I said, here it is. And he grabs it out of my hands. And he starts rifling through it. And he looks through and he says, some of the money is missing. And I just thought, no, no, I've had it the whole time. And he said, no, some of the money is missing. Did you take my money? You took my money. This is not going how she pictured.
Transcription truncated.