"Wanna buy my stolen...er-questionable goods?"

One fine day I was working the store, listening to the arena rock On Demand channel (because where else can you hear Damn Yankees being played at least once a day?), when a teenager strolled in wanting to sell an I-Pod Nano. Sometimes we carry the newer technology gadgets, but for the most part we only deal with game consoles and game related accessories. So here's how the conversation goes:

"Hey, would you guys want to buy an I-Pod Nano?"

"Well, not at the moment, we sold a handful when they first came out, but not anymore."

"Yeah, I just found it in the park.....it's cool! You can even see the people's pictures on here, they just took a vacation to DC! Check it out....." (Ok, first thing, if you want to sell something that isn't yours, DON'T mention it isn't yours. Second, looking at someone's vacation pictures is like inviting yourself into their house and walking around like you own the place. I think it bothered me more that this kid peered into the soul of this family uninvited more than he wound up with their I-Pod. Then again, the owners should have kept a closer watch on it anyway.......If I carried around a piece of equipment over $200 bucks you better believe I'm going to know exactly where it is at all times.)

"Wow, that's neat......didn't you even think to turn it in?" - This was a very stupid question to ask on my part. If he's here trying to sell it, the thought of actually trying to return it to the rightful owners would be the farthest thing from his mind. But I had to see what the response would be. All I got was a simple -

"Ah, no."

I told him I couldn't use it and he went on his merry way. I'm sure the kids going to grow up to be used car salesman and use some line like:

"Would you be interested in this 1997 Saturn, sir? The previous drug runner owner just had the flood damage taken care of, and the replacement brake pads should hold out for about another three months."