Honesty doesn’t hack it.
A Boston taxi cab driver is disappointed he only received a $100 reward after returning $187,000 cash lost in his car.
“I thought maybe he would give $500 or $1,000, maybe one of those bundles,” Raymond (Buzzy) MacCausland, the lucky cabbie who found the fortune told the Daily News.
MacCausland was driving a homeless man who had inherited his riches after living in a shelter for six months, the 72-year-old cabbie remembered.
After dropping him off at a hotel, MacCausland later noticed he left the bag filled with bills behind. He looked in the bag to find the man’s name — and stumbled across stacks of $50 and $100 bills.
“I’ve never seen money like that before. It was quite a sight when they dumped it on the table,” he told the News.
When he saw the piles of money in the bag, Buzzy said three thoughts ran through his head.
First, if he should be worried that the man was dangerous and after for him the money.
Second, if he should just take the treasure and go home.
He decided on his third idea: to bring the bag of cash to the police station.
“That’s the way I am. I don’t steal anything; I’ve never been a crook,” MacCausland said. “It would have been nice to see a lot of money like that though — probably changes lives.”
After the money was returned to its rightful owner, the man gave MacCausland $100 as a reward for his honesty — less than half a penny on the dollar.
The honest cabbie then gave the man another ride back to the hotel, where he was staying.
Dropping him off again, MacCausland admitted he was hoping the man would forget to take his money a second time.
“I don’t know if that’ll happen again in my lifetime,” he said.
About 30 years ago, MacCausland had a similar situation, finding a briefcase with about $10,000 inside at the airport. That man who lost it didn’t give him any reward.
“This hackney driver exhibited exemplary behavior and his honest deed should be recognized,” Police Commissioner William Evans said in a statement.
MacCausland said even if he knew he wasn’t going to get any kind of reward, he still would have returned the large sum of cash.
“I think it was the right thing to do. A lot of people said, ‘You should have kept it,’ but I couldn’t do that,” he explained.
Larry Meister, the president of Independent Taxi Operator’s Association, and a longtime friend of MacCausland, said that’s just the kind of person he was.
He said the cabbie, who has been working as a taxi driver for about 50 years in Boston, was a “very honest, good guy” the company could be proud of.
“Believe me, he could use the money, he’s not a very rich man,” Meister said.
The money’s owner told the Boston Globe he wasn’t worried “for a minute” when he realized he lost his backpack.
From the ride with MacCausland, he knew the driver was honest and would return it, the man told the newspaper, on the condition of anonymity.
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