Quote Originally Posted by PamNY View Post
There's a slight complication to do-gooding in NYC. Police have planted backpacks and purses, and arrested anyone who picked them up. This news story says the person is arrested only if they walk past a uniformed police officer without turning in the item, but I still would not touch anything on the subway. I'm glad the person who found my wallet in the subway station and returned it to me wasn't afraid to pick it up.

When I found a wallet on the bike path, I was a little worried about picking it up, but it seemed unlikely that a sting operation would be set up in that location.
Seriously?? Surely there are better things for police to be doing?!

I was on the greenway a few months ago and saw a car key on the side of the path. I thought about leaving it, in case the person who lost it was trying to find it. But I decided their chances of finding it were slim. I picked it up and asked every single person I passed or who passed me from behind if they had lost a key. Most folks looked at me like I was crazy, which i thought was strange.
I got to the parking lot and hadn't found the owner. I went back down the path about a mile or so again asking everyone I saw. Finally I went back to the parking lot and tried to figure out what to do. I thought about turning it in to the police, hanging it on the trail head sign...just wasn't sure what to do. Finally, I realized, duh, i can figure out if the car is in the lot by hitting the unlock button. I foudn the car and waited around for 15 min or so to see fi the owner returned. In the end, I wrapped the key up in a piece of paper and stuck it on the front seat, out of site. Not sure if it was the right thing to do...but I hoped that the owner got back to his car before a thief did. Would you have taken it to the police?
I always double check to make sure my key is tightly secured in my saddle bag now, in the key hook thingy!

A few days ago I was trying to open the hood of my car to put more washer fluid in. FOr some reason I always have trouble with that, I can't ever find the latch. A guy pulled up next to me and asked if I needed help and popped it open. Only took a second of his time, but it just made me smile. It's so nice to have a stranger lend a hand when you need it.