Ed Krakowiak did a good deed last weekend. He found somebody's$1,000 paycheck in the parking lot of his local Dairy Queen inDowners Grove, tracked down the rightful owner and returned it tothe guy's wife, who thanked him for his efforts.
Normally, that's where that story would end, but not this time.
This time, Krakowiak contacted me.
To complain.
About not getting a reward.
"Now I feel like an idiot," he said. "Too bad someone not sohonest didn't find the check and forge his signature and cash it."
My first inclination was to give Krakowiak a brusque dust-off.
From where I sit, it's not really a good deed if you've got yourhand out afterward looking for payback. While monetary rewards arenice, they should never be expected, and the fact one wasn't paidshouldn't be considered an invitation to publicly vilify the personyou were theoretically trying to help.
But just as I've come to believe over the years that ethics aresituational, I've also started to think they might be geographical,as well.
Lifelong Chicagoans, I've learned, have their own way of lookingat these things, and I'm guessing many will be more offended thecheck owner didn't pay a reward than that the good deed-doer whinedabout not getting a little something for the effort.
WHAT YOU'RE VOTING ON
So we'll hold a Page Two referendum. Before the voting starts,though, let me tell you the whole story.
It started Saturday evening.
Krakowiak, 39, who works as an IT manager, had been fishing withhis 4-year-old son. After they got home, he decided to pick up someice cream.
Krakowiak was on his way back to his car, ice cream in hand, whenhe spotted a folded piece of paper on the ground that looked like acheck.
"I just kind of picked it up and put it in my pocket. I had thisthing of ice cream, and it was hot out," he said, explaining why hetook it home before examining it.
When he got home, Krakowiak saw that it was indeed a check, datedthe previous day and payable from Owens-Corning to an individualnamed Chris whose address was printed on the check. I'm witRating2olding Chris' last name here because I consider him an innocentbystander.
Krakowiak got excited when he saw the amount.
"I wasn't expecting it to be for $1,000," he said.
Krakowiak checked the phone book for Chris' number but couldn'tfind it. Around 9 p.m. he drove to Chris' house. Nobody was home.
Krakowiak next circled the neighborhood, theorizing Chris mightbe out looking for his check. When that didn't work, he went back toDairy Queen in case somebody was searching for it there, but thatdidn't help, either.
By the time Krakowiak got home, his wife had found Chris'telephone number. They called and left a message.
After running errands the next morning, he called again andreached Chris' wife. Krakowiak said she told him she didn't know acheck was missing. Krakowiak volunteered to drop it off, as Chrisjust lives a couple miles away. The wife said that would be fine.
Krakowiak went immediately and turned over the check.
"Thanks so much. Have a nice day," is how Krakowiak remembers herresponse.
Krakowiak was expecting more, given his time investment.
"I could have just gone to a currency exchange and forged thisguy's name on the check," Krakowiak said. "I thought it saved him alot of trouble. I'm not being greedy or anything. These people wereliving in a nicer house than mine, with nicer cars in the driveway.It was just kind of weird that it's all that I got."
Krakowiak said he had been looking upon the situation as anobject lesson for his children: Do the right thing, and you will berewarded. But going away empty-handed wasn't the lesson he had inmind.
What exactly did he have in mind?
"I wasn't expecting 10 percent. I was expecting five or 10 bucks.Twenty bucks would have made my day."
DEED 'DEFINITELY APPRECIATED'
Chris, a 51-year-old salesman, was somewhat flabbergastedWednesday to receive my call, not quite sure what he had done todeserve it.
"We definitely appreciated the good deed, but we had canceled thecheck almost immediately," he said, explaining why a reward hadn'tbeen considered. "That's the wonderful thing about today's bankingsystem."
Chris said his own philosophy is that we're all rewarded for ourgood deeds, just not necessarily with money.
The voting is now open.
Let me know whose side you're taking, and if you'd be so kind,explain your reasoning.
There won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, youwill receive total consciousness. So you'll have that going for you,which is nice.
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