As a matter of principle I’m inclined to see the reward-offerer as obliged to honor their voluntarily offered deal in absence of compelling reasons to the contrary; but this approximate value range seems particularly messy in terms of room for ill-feeling.
It’s high enough that the offer could well be aimed at providing mercenary motivation; and not implausible that someone seeing it might burn rather more effort than kindly keeping an eye out, especially if they have more time than other profitable avenues; but also low and informal enough that it’s not ironclad that this is a search-for-hire operation.
Less, especially if not paid in cash(there are wide variety of polite social gifts that would look pretty pitiful if you just presented someone with the cost of the gift in USD instead), would make it clearer that the reward is mostly a material expression of gratitude, rather than an incentive to additional search labor; while more would make it increasingly clear that the offerer is looking to have all stones turned, and is going to the labor market to make it so.
In a situation where social expectation is messy; that’s even more reason to go with the letter of the deal; but this value range seems particularly fraught given how humans in no way think about money in especially linear terms.
You can only insist on not taking something that’s being offered. The act of trying to get by without even mentioning the reward you put on your poster in itself earns the demand for the reward, even if that reward may have been refused had you honored the promise on the poster and offered it without the reminder.
AITAH? No. The cat is the AH (a universal truth).
No cat has one slave aka owner. She/he was just shopping around for extra goodies from some other slave who also foolishly thought they were the owner.
No, no, no. You’re missing the point. The cat finder needed to push for the full $500, then put it in the kids’ college funds in an account the dad can’t access. Otherwise, in 8 years time he plunders their 529 plans to buy an Outlaw race car and move to Texas to join the dirt track circuit.
There are two awful horrible yappy dogs who hang out in their awful horrible owner’s ugly, empty front yard behind a chain link fence and harass anybody who walks by
The height of the lot grade they’re on puts their little canine larynges right next to my ears
If I offered my hand I’m sure they would bite me
I walk a Z shape through the neighborhood now instead of my old L just to avoid them
The way I read that is ---- if I were the one to pay a reward for finding one of my cats, I can consider the finder to be an asshole, which I am not?
This doesn’t grok as fair to me.
If one offers a reward, the onus is on them to follow through with the actual reward.
It’s a question of honour. When you offer a reward on a poster, you are giving your word. If your word is not good, then neither are you. To quote Confucius, “With one whose word can not be trusted, there is nothing to be done.”
To accept an offered reward (narrowly, this kind of lost pet reward announced publicly) should carry no shame. That’s too much like a justification for bait and switch, IMHO.
Now, asking for a reward when none was offered? Very impolite.
ETA: Discourse crashed, and @Fred_Cairns put it more succinctly before I could log back on.
Except for all the cases where it isn’t. E.g. when you had expenses, when you’re poor, or a kid. Or when teaching someone the lesson that they need to honor their word.
Hi M44, genuine question, I don’t think I understand… are you saying you found two stray dogs, kindly took them home and sheltered them, invested time and effort hunting down the owner, and when you found him - and confirmed he was actively trying to recover them - refused to give 'em back?
Honestly not driving trollies, just don’t get it. Had you fallen in love with the doggos? Was the owner an obvious heel?
I know it sound cynical and cruel, but if you decide to do that, why don’t go all the way to make sure that it won’t return, i.e., kill the cat?
You are already an asshole for abandoning the cat.
I see the reward not to make people look harder for the missing pet but to cover the costs of delivering it to the owners, and $500 is too much for that.
Honestly, I would never take a pet back to the owner (maybe only if it was really easy, but then it would also be really easy for them to come and take it), and the reasons are that I don’t need the cash and I wouldn’t like to profit from it.
But I don’t find it inherently wrong to receive the offered money, and I would find it strange to point to someone else that there’s a bounty for such pet and how to claim it.
