Ordinary Gweilo

Conrad reacts with disbelief to a survey in the Reader’s Digest that says 4 out of 5 Hong Kong people would return a wallet to its owner if they found it, and goes on to say that:

No one in the entire recorded history of Hong Kong has ever returned any found item, as anyone who has left a mobile phone in a local taxi can attest. The local attitude towards found property is that it’s "lucky". The idea of voluntarily giving it up would never even occur to most Honkies.

I can assure you that this is not true. I once managed to drop my wallet in a cab when getting out, realized this as the cab pulled away but couldn’t catch him. Fortunately, someone found my wallet, called my office and suggested I come and pick it up. The only bad news was that I had already told the bank and they had put a stop on the cards, and it took a few days before I could get replacements. The lady (a property agent, as I recall) only very reluctantly accepted the small reward I offered.

Then I left my mobile phone in a cab, and was most surprised to find that when I called my number, not only did the driver answer but he actually drove back to my apartment to deliver it – and totally refused to accept any reward. On another occasion, I had my phone returned after I lost it whilst in the Harbour Plaza Hung Hom.

To be fair, I did lose another phone in another cab and that one disappeared. Since then I’ve been trying to avoid losing my phone and wallet, with considerable success.

For my part, only last week I found a wallet on the ground outside the adjoining block and gave it to the security guard. He seemed rather put out by this, and I eventually realized that he wanted me to count the money and the cards in the wallet to prove that nothing had gone missing whilst it was in his possession. Which, I suppose, is fair enough.

So, Conrad, I think that on this occasion your cynicism is misplaced. I always thought that subscribers to the Reader’s Digest were trusting souls, but presumably Conrad is the exception.