Three roommates found a couch that was the right size at the Salvation Army and paid only $20 for it. The couch sat in their apartment for a few months until they felt something strange in the cushions.
They looked under the arm of the sofa and found an envelope containing $700. As they kept looking, they found more envelopes in the couch, pulling out cash as if it were an upholstered ATM.
The total amount they found was $40,000. As they counted the money, they discussed what they would do with it, and then they noticed a name among the envelopes.
They realized that they were faced with an ethical dilemma. They found a woman’s name on one of the envelopes and called the number to find out that the money was her and her husband’s savings.
They had kept the money in the couch for 30 years, but her husband had passed away. For years, she slept on the couch, but recent back problems led her daughter and son-in-law to replace it with a bed, meaning that the couch had to go.
She had taken the couch to the Salvation Army, unaware that there were thousands of dollars hidden inside.
