'AITA for refusing to give a reward after two kids returned my opened mail with money inside?'
"AITA for refusing to give a reward after two kids returned my opened mail with money inside?"
I'm 27F but I am pretty petite and could easily pass for like a high schooler. So I am home alone at my parent's place dog sitting and I get back from walking the dog and as soon as I close the door and lock it, I hear the ring cam doorbell go off and knocking and I can see through their Alexa that it's two kids.
Probably middle school aged. They have a bike and scooter. I did not see them when I came back from the walk, so I don't know where they were waiting or where they even came from.
They are just standing there and so I'm thinking that they are trying to sell something or another so I plan to just ignore them and focus on getting the dog resettled. Except now the dog is barking like crazy because she senses someone by the door and I can hear the kids say "I just saw her go inside". They then say "we found something of yours and it has money inside".
So they are knocking like crazy and even start kicking the door. I figure that I'll just speak to them through the ring bell so I say (without opening the door) "Hi. Just leave it in the mailbox. I cannot open the door right now because my dog is not friendly".
Which is, true, but also like, I have no idea if this is a scheme or if there's an adult in a car waiting for them, etc. My mind is going into all sorts of scenarios that could end horribly for me. After them standing there for like five minutes, I can see through the cam that they put it in the mailbox and walk slowly away on their bike/scooter.
About two minutes later, one of the kids comes back and puts his hood on. Rings the doorbell and I can see him put his hood on and I say "what's up?" through the ring cam. And he says "My friend wants a reward". And I say "thank you for bringing back the mail but there is no reward, please leave".
And the kid just stands there demanding a reward. So I say "I have your faces, if you try to threaten me, I will call the cops". The kid then says "call the cops I don't care! I returned your money. If I ever find something for your house again, I'm not returning it". He then walks away before giving me the finger.
I'm not looking to get these kids into any sort of trouble or anything because I think they were just being dumb little criminals and they couldn't have been older than like 14/15 but AITA for not giving a reward?
What they returned ended up being an opened envelope (don't know how they got it, if it was already ripped, or if they opened it) from my aunt that had a $20 bill in it (my aunt is old school like that).
I've had my fair share of finding misplaced items/wallets and I've never once demanded or even expected a reward. My friend wanted me to post their faces on the NextDoor app and blast them but I don't know. So, AITA?
ETA: because I see some comments about this: I didn't think the fact that he put his hoodie on made me feel unsafe. I didn't feel unsafe about the boys themselves, more annoyance because it was stressing the dog out (although them standing there for a while made me think someone might have been coercing them to stay there until someone answered the door, but that might just be my anxiety).
I was also extremely stressed about the reactive dog and that played a big factor into me not wanting to open the door when I could accomplish what needed to be said (a thank you and leaving in the mailbox is fine) through the ring doorbell.
I also felt kinda weirded out when one boy came back and not the other. I mentioned my age and size because you'd be surprised at how people assume you are naive when you're a) young and b) a woman and c) know that you might be home alone.
Here is what readers had to say in response to the OP’s post:
You don't get a "reward" for doing something that IS illegal. Chances are they saw there was money in it. I'd report them to their parents and let them know I didn't like their attitude or tone and perhaps they should let them know opening mail is illegal. I'd also make certain there was only $20 in there. Maybe she sent you $30 and they were looking to double their take.
Temporary-Pizza7370 (OP)
Ooo good point. I'll have to call my aunt because I didn't even think of this as a possibility.
NTA and I could be wrong but isn’t opening someone else’s mail illegal?
Temporary-Pizza7370 (OP)
Yeah the thing is that I have no proof they opened it. They could have just found it for all I know. I mean, I guess they did "open" it in a sense because they knew there was money inside the card within the envelope, but it might be a grey area since I don't really know if they happened to just come across the opened envelope or if they opened it themselves.
Does your ring camera pick up your mailbox, and does it record...because if you have evidence of them going into your mailbox, that's a federal offense. You are NTA.
Temporary-Pizza7370 (OP)
Unfortunately, it doesn't. The mailbox is more off to the side of the door. There was a piece of ripped envelope on the bottom step of the porch when I first went out to begin the dog walk and I didn't think anything of it until after this incident because I just assumed it was litter since it's kind of windy today.
ok so, NTA first off, but what i'm more so wondering is this: you said you were dog sitting at your parent's place, right? which implies that you don't live there, right? and the mail that was returned was for you specifically? if you do not know these kids and if you are not getting your mail delivered to your parent's house, why did they know it was for you?
either way, they were up to no good one way or another and you did the right thing not rewarding them for doing something illegal in the first place. if you have a way of contacting someone about this, i do recommend that you do it.