What would you do?

[art_vandelay]

So, I'm playing my local course and a guy comes out of nowhere and jumps ahead of me. But then when I roll up to the tee pad he is waiting for me to go through. Okay good I think. But when I look on the picnic bench there sits a champ teebird that I lost a few months ago.



I picked it up and told him it was mine...here look at the signature on the rest of my discs...and he goes "you just think I'm going to give you that?". I stuck it in my bag and started to throw my drive. I said that you can't give someone what already belongs to them.


He said it was his only driver and he offered to trade me the only putter he had. I said no get out of here. Then he asked if he could just use it the rest of the day. LOL. It was obvious he was a beginner and really confused about why I would take his disc.


But then my better angel came out and just told him to keep it. I even flagged him down later in the round to apologize for being a DB about a disc.


I'm sitting here wondering if I'm just a sucker for a sad story or if letting him keep the disc was actually the right thing to do in the situation. He seemed to need the disc more than I did.



What would you guys do?

 

[dashiellx]

I'm pretty sure the "you just think I'm going to give you that?" comment would have pissed me off.

If it was obvious he was a beginner, I'd probably do the same as you though.

 

[vergro]

I normally carry at least one disc in my bag that I don't mind losing (risky woods or water shots), I'd probably offered to trade him for it. Actually I'm pretty nonconfrontational so I probably never would have said something in the first place

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[Cgkdisc]

Me/You: "I'm willing to give you $5 for finding my disc. But first, if you want this disc or one of my other discs I'm willing to part with, it will cost you just $5 and we're even."

 

[art_vandelay]

The whole thing was a bit surreal. It was early morning and he just walked right to the hole I was about to play from where I don't know. He was also wearing a walking cast on on foot. He was almost totally deaf he told me???? My bad angel almost said "shut up or I'll knock you on your butt" when he asked me if I thought I was just going to take the disc. I also had a 60lb pit bull with me. I wish I was creative enough to make something like this up.

 

[DrBaartman]

I would have given him directions to the nearest disc shop. Jk..

Really though, I think generosity and kindness always comes back to you if you give it out. I would have let him keep it as well. Or traded him something.

 

[philstine]

I can't think of a diplomatic way to say this so ...

Seriously? You abandoned the disc and think you're entitled to walk up to a complete stranger and grab it and walk off? How do you know he didn't buy it at PIAS or from a trunk seller? DB move all the way. 24/7/365.

The minute you originally walked off and left it behind you surrendered any right to recovering it. Would it have been courteous for the finder to call you up when he found it? Sure; but that's a courtesy, not an obligation. At the very least you owed the dude a finder's fee if you really wanted it back. The fact that you eventually looked him up and gave it back to him shows that you know you were in the wrong.

 

[DanJon]

I can't think of a diplomatic way to say this so ...

Seriously? You abandoned the disc and think you're entitled to walk up to a complete stranger and grab it and walk off? How do you know he didn't buy it at PIAS or from a trunk seller? DB move all the way. 24/7/365.

The minute you originally walked off and left it behind you surrendered any right to recovering it. Would it have been courteous for the finder to call you up when he found it? Sure; but that's a courtesy, not an obligation. At the very least you owed the dude a finder's fee. The fact that you eventually looked him up and gave it back to him shows that you know you were in the wrong.

Person A: Hey man that's my wallet, I looked for it for hours but couldn't find it. See it even has my identification. I'm taking it back.

Person B: That's a DB move. How do you know I didn't buy it off of a person or at a pawn shop? I want a finder's fee.

 

[art_vandelay]

Well Philstine I'm glad I don't know you so that I don't have to worry about you around my stuff. So anything that's not nailed down is fair game to sticky fingered people like you? The guy said his friend found the disc a couple of months ago. Could have called the number but chose not to. That's a true DB move, I'm sure you understand that tingly "finders keepers" feeling.

 

[slowplastic]

I certainly expect people to pay me money when I call them up telling them I found their disc, I mean why else would I go through the hassle

 

[thrembo]

"Let me handle this, I'm in pre-law".

 

[etdefender19]

"Let me handle this, I'm in pre-law".

"I thought you were pre-med?"

 

[thrembo]

"I thought you were pre-med?"

"What's the difference?".

 

[Hampstead]

I return discs without expectations of getting anything in return because it's the right thing to do.


In regards to OP's situation, depends on the disc and how important it was to my game. If it was one I really wanted back, I would have offered a disc in trade. At the very least it was a teachable moment, an opportunity to let an obvious noob know about lost disc etiquette.

 

[Jay Dub]

A: Give me my wallet back!!

B: It's a disc.

A: No difference!


:wall:

 

[coupe]

Well Philstine I'm glad I don't know you so that I don't have to worry about you around my stuff. So anything that's not nailed down is fair game to sticky fingered people like you? The guy said his friend found the disc a couple of months ago. Could have called the number but chose not to. That's a true DB move, I'm sure you understand that tingly "finders keepers" feeling.

Attempting to defend one's self or establish one's moral superiority by resorting to ad hominem simply draws attention to the bankruptcy of the accuser.

 

[Streets]

Paging Apothecary

 

[JTacoma03]

Paging Apothecary

No need to go nuclear...but if you do I'm paging Frank D.

 

[EarthRocker]

Like almost any story these days, if we simply omit all the filler in the middle, and stick with the salient points that actually inform us, this whole thing went down exactly like it should have.

Random dude finds disc, elects not to call OP. Uncool, but also...happens all the time. This Finder then does something semi-cool, and gives his Friend a Tool needed to enjoy our game.
(OP had obviously moved on, after what we can assume was a suitable mourning period, followed by the acquisition of a Replacement Tool.)
OP stumbles upon Friend and Tool.
OP repatriates Tool. (Never mind how it happened. It simply happened.)
OP then has a change of heart, expatriating his Tool once again to the Friend who, out of all concerned, probably needed it most.

And then we, OP's Fellows, have grist for the conversational mill. That's the story, right there. And it isn't a wrong vs. right thing. It's simply that which went down in the real world, and no one got a black eye. Win for all.

 

[scarpfish]

Seriously? You abandoned the disc and think you're entitled to walk up to a complete stranger and grab it and walk off?

He didn't necessarily abandon the disc. He merely stated that he lost it. Legally there's a difference.

Pretty much every jurisdiction has a statute dealing with such, and I don't think any of them simply default to a rule of finders keepers.