(Your paycheck has come in the mail. You open it and notice that it is off
by a couple of zeroes... in your favor! The computer program that takes
care of payroll apparently paid you for 8000 hours instead of 80!)

(do you cash the check?)

26 responses total.

It's not as if the accounting department isn't going to notice eventually,
and they'd probably want an explanation as to why I hadn't told them. 
Maybe I'm too honest, but I'd return the check.

I cash it and run

No I'm sure they'd figure out sooner or later...especially with my luck...

yah, i'd have to turn it in.

 no. Call whom ever issued the check and ask them to issue a correct
check.

I'd rip my shirt and roll around in the dirt to make it look like I HAD
worked for 8000 hours.

Considering that working 8000 hours is equivelant to working almost 22
hours a day for a year, good luck convincing anybody that you had done
that in two or three weeks, no matter how dirty you were.

It was a JOKE. :)

I'd cash it, no prob.  This happened in a smaller case not too long ago.  I
cashed my husband's check for him, so I didn't know he'd been paid too much!

This response has been erased.

I agree, it definately depends upon the company.

I'd call the payroll department, after I stopped laughing -- I might
call the local newspaper, too.

Given how close to the edge I am financially all the time, I'd probably
cash it and have a cahier's check for the difference made out to my company
at the same time.  It's their error, they aren't gonna make *me* wait to weeks 
to cut another check.  They can wait while the new ones clears.

But, no, I wouldn't keep the extra.  

re #6:  (I laughed. I didn't even need to see the smiley to know you were
        joking...)

I'd give it back...if I didn't I'd probably gret caught sooner or later.

Give it back.  U of M would definitly notice that in the budget.

yes

Even though I've been gipped $17 before, I woul probably tell 'em.

I'd give it back simply because I'm not that lucky and some how I'd have to pay
it back or, probably so to jail for cashing it.

*Would* you go to jail for cashing it?  It was their mistake.  They *gave*
you the money.  It doesn't even seem like they would even have any grounds
for asking for the money back.  

I *believe* you wouldn't get thrown in jail.  You know the old "if it comes to
your door, it's yours" rule?  I believe it applies here.  So not only can you
take the check, but you can tell the accountants they made a mistake and laugh
at them about it!
        Anyways, I don't work, so they wouldn't catch me.  Hold on mails
        here...
look!  a check!  for--

Illegal enrichment is illegal, also your boss can be a valuable reference for
your future. Treat all such cases as if they are a test of your character and
you will go far. Do the right thing. Your boss might be in the Mafia.

I'd have to give the check back to payroll. Maybe if the difference was a
little smaller, I'd try to get away with it, but for something as major as
8000 hours, they'd catch up to the mistake. QUICKLY!!!

I'd cash it, and buy as many lottery tickets as I could. That or give it to
Scientology. Or put it all into _Thigh Master_@ stock. 

I would take the money, put it into Certificates of Deposit. Let it earn
interest and IF they wanted it back, barrow against it and return the money.

Depending on the company anddepending on the job - 8000 hours could add up
to nearly a million dollars... that might influence your decision. 
Regardless, a year's work in one check could solve alot of problems, though
I'm sure you'd need to become adept in the skills of disappearance.  Any
company with a payroll that large would want to correct the mistake by any
means at their disposal.
I'm sure that "their mistake" or otherwise known as "the finders-keepers rule"
does not apply here.  We're adults, it's not your money... it would be
stealing... but... the size of the company could influence the amount of moral
obligation someone would feel to uphold that particular moral.  I would
return the check... but you can live a long time with normal comforts with
1,000,000 dollars.  3,000/mo expenditures would give you 27 years.  Better
known as a 37,000 salary for 27 years by doing no work.  Depending on the job
you do - it could be quite tempting.  Good luck getting a mistake like that
in the age of computer generated checks based on computerised time-clock
devices that automaticaly red-flag odd amounts of hours and things like that.
Surely a pipe dream, but an interesting question.  Almost makes me wonder if
the guy who received such a check wasn't /actually/ being TESTED of his
morals! :)

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