Last spring our neighbor across the street (who we do not know very well, other than saying"Hi" in passing) put his snow blower, which appeared to be close to brand new, out on his curb with a sign next to it that said "FREE" My husband knows a guy that seems to be able to fix pretty much anything so my husband took the snow blower and brought to his friend. Turns out, our neighbor had never put any motor oil in the snow blower and that is all that was wrong with it. Now my husband thinks we just got a close to new snow blower free. I feel weird about this. Part of me thinks we should give it back to our neighbor, but part of me feels we shouldn't. Looking for opinions. If we keep it, by the way, my husband wants to spray paint the blower so the neighbor won't easily recognize it. Neighbor was not home when husband took it off of the curb.
2007-09-04 01:29:29 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
How would your husband feel if the situation were reversed? How would you feel? There is a universal law - the law of reciprocity (you reap what you sow). In this case you can keep the blower and be morally fine. However, if you return it or offer, you have increased the probability that you will gain even more. I would offer to return knowing that on a universal basis even greater good can come from that honesty and kindness, than can come from a slightly used snow blower.
I have lived this law and speak about it often. http://www.chuckgallagher.com There is great power is doing the right thing even when it seems that the right thing is counter to your immediate benefit.
2007-09-04 01:41:59 · answer #1 · answered by Chuck Gallagher 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your right, moral dilemma.
Even if you don't know the neighbor that well, your husband should go over and ask him about the snow blower, find out if he just didn't want it, or if he just thought he broke it and was getting rid of it.
If it was just to get rid of them let him know your buddy fixed it up and it runs now and your thankful for the the snow blower. If it was because he couldn't figure out what was wrong, I'm sure he bought a new one already. You should be in the clear, most people don't put stuff on the curb unless they want to get rid of it.
Good Luck
2007-09-04 08:40:33 · answer #2 · answered by nopeaken 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I say keep the snow blower. Your neighbor was clearly getting rid of the snow blower so there should be no issues with you having it. Additionally I would not worry about painting it. Snow blower are all pretty much standard in appearance so you neighbor shouldn't have any way of knowing you didn't buy it your self.
2007-09-04 08:42:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Put yourself in your neighbor's shoes. How would you like a neighbor to behave if the situation was reversed? Personally, I would want my neighbor to be honest.
Who knows, maybe he already bought a new snow blower and doesn't need that one. Maybe he'll offer to sell it to you guys at a discounted price.
Technically, it's yours since he had a "free" sign on it. But I think Karma will catch up to you some day.
Also, I think what your husband is planning on doing, spray painting it, says a lot. If you guys thought that it was rightfully yours, then why bother trying to cover it up?
2007-09-04 11:01:44 · answer #4 · answered by Not quite perfect 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't feel bad ~ and don't bother to repaint the snow blower unless you dislike the colour!
When someone puts something on the kerb with a 'free' sign, they are saying "Save me the trouble of taking this to the tip, please!"
Your neighbour could have put the blower in the bin, instead he decided some enterprising person might be able to get some use out of it.
And he was right!
If you feel awkward, you could offer to put the blower to use around his house this winter (once or twice). That would definitely cancel out any 'owings'!
Enjoy your snow blower and congratulations to hubby for being smart enough to recognise a good thing when he sees it :-)
Cheers :-)
2007-09-04 08:47:05 · answer #5 · answered by thing55000 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Keep it and enjoy it. I put things at the curb myself all the time ( things that only need a little tweaking to be perfectly useful, but that I no longer want or need). I love seeing someone take it away, and HOPE they will use it! My thinking is that if the neighbor wanted it , he would have put some small effort into maintaning it or investigating why it wasnt working. He wanted it gone, for whatever reason. Enjoy your snow blower.
2007-09-04 10:44:28 · answer #6 · answered by undone 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Keep it, paint it, use it in good health. Your neighbor was not smart enough or interested enough to keep it going or take care of it or get it repaired.
He had it on the curb for "Free"... He didn't say "Free only if you're not a neighbor".
Your husband did nothing wrong and I don't see the "dilemma" here.
2007-09-04 08:42:06 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
How about you and hubby keep the blower but let your neighbor use it once in a while.
2007-09-04 19:22:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the sign said "Free" - then it's yours and you don't have to feel bad about it. It's the neighbors own fault for not finding out what was wrong with it. Maybe he had other reasons for giving it away too.
2007-09-04 10:28:27 · answer #9 · answered by GingerGirl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on what kind of neighbor you want to be, personally, I would offer it back explaining what was wrong with it. Perhaps they've replaced it and will make the offer for you to keep it. You'll make a clear statement about your own morals and learn something of your neighbor's as well.
2007-09-04 08:48:39 · answer #10 · answered by Brigid 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋