It was bound to happen.

Kapi

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Yesterday at the pier I ran into a lady and we started talking, we had some things in common so I sat and talked with her awhile. We talked about her MS, my Fibro, her addiction to pain medication, my overcoming my addiction to pain medication, God and church etc. and we talked about how I used local lost and found ads to try to find the owners to things I find.

During our conversation she asked me what was my best find on the beach. I told her a wedding band. She started asking all sorts of questions about it and I instantly got suspicious so I started feeding her some false information about the ring. Her peaked interest in the ring had me wanting to see where she was going with her questions.

Basically it went something like this.

Her: what was the ring made of? Was it gold?
Me: Platinum I think

See I should have said right here. "I'm sorry I NEVER describe what I've found so that the proper owner of the ring can be found." But Noooo, I go on....

Her: Diamonds??
Me: No just a band.

Her: Oh what size was it?
Me: Oh I don't know I forget I think a size 8. (I know exactly what size it was and no I wasn't going to tell her.

Her: Oh a mans ring?
Me: I don't know it could be I suppose.

Her: What design was on the ring?
Me: Squiggly lines and stuff, really pretty. <definitely not what the ring looked like>

Her: Where did you find it? Right here?
Me: Oh near here (actually it wasn't found anywhere near the pier)

Her: Oh it sounds nice I bet the owner would love to have it back. You should try extra hard to return that one, I bet they really want it back. Etc. Etc..

Very odd conversation overall which ended in her asking me if I had any pain medication left over she could have. It's here that I excused myself after telling her NO!

So would you believe, today I get an email reply to my always posted lost and found ad on found jewelry on the beach.

My ad right now simply says "Jewelry found on beach" If you've lost a ring on the beach please let me know as I have found one and would like to find the owner to return it. Please tell me what you lost, where you lost it and when, if this ring is yours I'll be happy to arrange to get it back to you"

Her actual first email to me:

please let it be a mans band!!!! platium with a squiggly design around it..
lost on the beach. if you found it will you please five me a call.
xxx-xxxx thank you. i hope you get this message

My email back to her:
Can you describe the ring, what size, what color, what design, at what beach was it lost and when? Do you have a photo of it? Were there any engravings inside the ring? Any specific definable markings anywhere on the ring?

Her email back :
hi, i just got back and read your message! oh how i hope you found it.
its a band that was several thousands of dollars and its platium. i
wanna say its around an eight. i think dsit was lost north of the
pier. please call me if this is it. i dont know how to use the computer
that well. thank you. xxx-xxxx i dont have any pictures of this but i
pretty much described it. im trying to think but i dont have any pics.
thanks

her email was listed as Davids mom:

Really??? I tell you I'm disgusted.

A great teacher of mine, Chris Turner from TheRingFinders taught me a great lesson. "NEVER show anyone what you find on the beach." Well I didn't show her the ring as I'd found it many months before I ran into her. But never again will I describe a ring or even tell anyone what my best find was. Learned the hard but not too hard way luckily for me to keep my mouth shut. Kicking myself for ever talking to this woman but I will pray for her. She sure needs it.

I never reply to any questions through email as to what the item I found looks like. I don't give ANY information about it at all. They have to describe it exactly. In the two years that I've been running these ads only once before did someone try to get an item that wasn't theirs. This is a first for me where someone I spoke to on the beach then turned around trying to claim a find.

Shame on her :( but moreso shame on me for telling her anything about it!
 
I have never had any phishing scams for MD finds. But I also had a pain medication addiction. I have an autoimmune disease and had cancer and several near fatal acute autoimmune reactions. I took my medication exactly as instructed, but still became addicted. I have shared my testimony with many folks to show them what is possible through Christ. I have had many people ask if I could spare any pain medication.
 
First rule... never discuss finds on the beach with anyone ...


This woman sounds like an addict and would probably sell the ring for drugs...
 
I'm tempted to paint a cheap ring pretty platinum colored and then meet her to deliver it.

:(
 
Her addiction is clearly driving the car.. Its a shame, but some of the best people ive ever met were people dealing with the disease of addiction.. Since you say youre a recovering addict you should know how it is and offer to bring her to or find her a meeting to go too, not judge her and paint a ring for no reason other then to make a joke of her being at or close to rock bottom
 
Oh trust me I sat and talked nearly an hour with her about how I overcame a 10 year addiction to 24 hour pain patches worn non-stop and pills. I'd much rather deal with pain than deal with pain and withdraw. I doubt I'll ever touch a narcotic again, EVER. Life is so much better without them. Yes I deal with a lot of pain but that's much easier to manage when not dealing with everything that comes with taking prescription narcotics.

You CAN feel normal off those things! Like I said, I'll pray for her.... she needs it.
 
Her addiction is clearly driving the car.. Its a shame, but some of the best people ive ever met were people dealing with the disease of addiction.. Since you say youre a recovering addict you should know how it is and offer to bring her to or find her a meeting to go too, not judge her and paint a ring for no reason other then to make a joke of her being at or close to rock bottom

You're right, I'd never actually do that, bring her a fake ring. But I do know what it's like to be in her shoes and maybe if I ever see her again I'll again offer help as I did on the beach.
 
Show and tell was fun in first grade.

But since then I have found it prudent to do very little telling and no showing.
HH,
John Morton :roll:
 
too much information

I know this is over a year after your post but this is a timeless subject, both for finds and for meds, people go through many hoops to get close to you if they think you have anything of value or if you can be useful to them. True friends or decent people, are fewer and fewer to find. I am curious though about you saying you had/have an addiction to painkillers, is it an addiction or body dependency due to pain, is it a addiction if the pain killers are needed for pain management?
This has allways confused me as I've seen people in so much pain the barely have a daily life, even if they are in pain management, with full documented body injury and or disease, yet others will call them pill heads, drug addicts and even some of the patients will say that they are addicts, yes the meds are addictive, but are they really adicts because they have to have pain releif to get through life without going insane or commiting suicide?
There are many other meds that one has to slowly wean off of because if done too quickly will send a person to hospital, yet, those meds have no oxy nor opiates in them, is this a physical dependency or an addiction?
Opinions are welcomed, as I know most of us are detectorists not doctors.
 
I know this is over a year after your post but this is a timeless subject, both for finds and for meds, people go through many hoops to get close to you if they think you have anything of value or if you can be useful to them. True friends or decent people, are fewer and fewer to find. I am curious though about you saying you had/have an addiction to painkillers, is it an addiction or body dependency due to pain, is it a addiction if the pain killers are needed for pain management?
This has allways confused me as I've seen people in so much pain the barely have a daily life, even if they are in pain management, with full documented body injury and or disease, yet others will call them pill heads, drug addicts and even some of the patients will say that they are addicts, yes the meds are addictive, but are they really adicts because they have to have pain releif to get through life without going insane or commiting suicide?
There are many other meds that one has to slowly wean off of because if done too quickly will send a person to hospital, yet, those meds have no oxy nor opiates in them, is this a physical dependency or an addiction?
Opinions are welcomed, as I know most of us are detectorists not doctors.

I would ssay there is definitely some overlap in addiction and therapeutic use. I think the word that describes what you are asking about is "Abuse". I used oxy, and vicoden for medical reasons. I followed my doctor's advice to a "T". I eventually became addicted. I never abused my meds, and I never even took enough to be pain free. I took just enough to take the edge off the pain. Eventually when I began decreasing my dosages I became ill from withdrawal. So, I guess there are folks who are addicted but not abusing drugs. Hope this makes some sense.
 
You just can't trust people. I live by that rule. It works. Let's hope she
doesn't continue to contact you.
 
Well for me I live in constant pain but to me dealing with pain is much better than dealing with pain and withdraw from narcotics. Happy to be off them!
 
Same kind of deal

I have twice had people approach me when detecting and say "I lost a ring in this park right around here so if you find one, please let me know" or words to that effect. My answer is to say "please write down an EXACT description; size, stone, silver gold or platinum, design and any writing inside such as initials or names, karat marks etc.". Give it to me and if I have found or do find it I will contact you. They just walked away!
 
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