Day 95

 Day 95: Glenwood Landing, NY & Westbury, NY

$20.26 found.

North Shore Middle School Playing Field: $0.01

United Artists Westbury 12 Movie Theater: $20.25

Being in Los Angeles for the past month and a half has brought my average daily find to about $0.11 per day, whereas prior to my trip I was averaging approximately $0.19 per day.  This realization brings me to two conclusions.  The first is that Los Angeles has very little money on the streets, and the second is that I was able to get very far ahead of my expected daily average before I went on my extended business trip while in New York.  Today's find, however, brings me back up and pretty far beyond my previous average to a new high of approximately $0.32 per day.  Of course, that new average will fall quickly as I get back into the swing of things in New York for the next two months, but for at least the next few weeks, my statistics have some cushion that will help keep them more on track.  I was very lucky today to find the twenty dollar bill, but I want to relay the circumstance under which I was able to obtain said money.

If you read my post last week, you'll know that while I was at LAX, another sharp-eyed traveler was able to snag a twenty dollar bill from right next to my foot while I stood over it, before I saw it was there, and that I beat myself up about it quite a bit.  Today's situation was the same, but in reverse.  I just finished the movie I was watching and was scanning the floors for change as I exited the lobby.  To my surprise, at side of the counter, away from any of the registers, there was a man standing over a fallen bill of some denomination.  I stopped in my tracks for nearly a minute, watching this man banter with the staff, completely unaware of the discarded denomination near his left foot - my brain was reeling at the parallels - and while I stood there, both watching the money and the people around me, I calculated the odds of being able to obtain the bill if I let the man walk away versus getting it immediately.  I remembered the situation at the airport last Saturday and decided to make my move.  I walked up behind him, picked up the bill, turned and left.  I was giddy, excited, and felt redeemed after last week.

I would guess that your first reaction, most of you, would be to chastise me for not asking him if he dropped the money, or at least procuring it in such a way as to give him a chance to claim it as his own.  To be honest, I thought about that in my quick decision to pick up the money, and I remembered what I said when started this little project: I will pick up all the money I see on the ground, no matter how awkward the situation might be.  This rules out the good-natured response that a lot of my readers might have had.  I point to other instances where I have had to duck in among lines of people milling about on top of money.  It was all change, to be sure, but it was still money.  To you readers who would criticize my actions today I ask if you think that every time I pick up any change on the ground near another person if I should check to see if it is theirs first?  Or do you think it is a matter of value?  Does the fact that I picked up a large amount of money make it different, or is it just because it was paper money?  Where do you draw the line?  From my perspective, and for the purposes of this blog, this year, there is no line.  All money on the ground is fair game.