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When Australian actor Chris Hemsworth left his wallet in a Los Angeles restaurant, 17-year-old Tristin Budzyn-Baker came to his rescue.

 

"I looked up at my mom and was like, 'ma, do you know who this is?'" he recounted Monday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (H/T Mashable). "We found Thor's wallet."

 

Instead of pocketing it, Budzyn-Baker tracked down Hemsworth and returned the wallet full of cash.

 

"I expected it was going to be empty, and all the cash was in there" Hemsworth said on Ellen, sitting beside Budzyn-Baker.

 

In return, the teen scored his family some tickets, a stack of wash (typo? for cash)  from Hemsworth and a $10,000 reward from the publishing service, Shutterfly.

Budzyn-Baker, a boy scout, also got a letter of recommendation from Hemsworth for the Eagle Scout award.

 

"Thank you for being such an honest guy," DeGeneres said.

 

Thor's brother, Loki, could not be reached for comment.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/04/20/teen-returns-chris-hemsworth-wallet-gets-10k-reward/83267728/

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/ellen-teen-10-000-finding-chris-hemworth-wallet-article-1.2607514

Edited by RememberSchiff
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Whatever happened to doing a Good Turn and refusing anything in return?  Like maybe handing the man his wallet, saying "Compliments of the Boy Scouts of America" and then disappearing into the crowed..... Kinda like the W. D. Boyce story?   :)

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Whatever happened to doing a Good Turn and refusing anything in return?  Like maybe handing the man his wallet, saying "Compliments of the Boy Scouts of America" and then disappearing into the crowed..... Kinda like the W. D. Boyce story?   :)

 

Well, first of all, the W.D. Boyce story is just that, a story, and it's a nice story to tell the kids, and there is at least some truth to it - I think it has been verified that a Scout pointed Boyce in the direction of his hotel (not Scout Headquarters) and refused a tip - but beyond that there has been quite a bit of "embellishment" along the way.  As I said, it is a good story with a good lesson, and I am not suggesting that it be expunged from the Scout Handbook after all these years (or at least I assume it is still there), but let's not take it as "history."

 

Other than that, I think you make a good point.  I think the reason why a big deal is made of something like this, and rewards are offered and accepted, has a lot to do with our 24/7/365 celebrity/news culture, where everybody is famous for 15 minutes.  (And that time estimate is getting closer and closer to being literally true.)  Why turn down a chance to be on tv?  And the reward that goes with it?  Maybe the kid donated a big chunk of the money to charity.  (I might know if I actually read the article.  Perhaps I just want to believe there is a possibility of that, and the reading the article might just dash my hopes.)

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I'm surprised a mere mortal could pick up Thor's wallet! :cool:

 

@@Stosh, my Scout found $40 at our hotel in Disney World and turned it in. They found the owner and the resort gave my son a free no-line pass...which he turned down. His sister didn't forgive him for the rest of the trip. 

 

We received an invitation to the castle for dinner. We were told we "won" it in a contest. Had a three hour exclusive dinner with about 10 characters in a private room at the top of the castle.

 

At check out I was told by the GM of the property (an Eagle Scout) that he wanted tor reward our Scout and knew he would not take charity for his good deed. I tried to pay for the dinner and he simply said to make sure the Scout grew up to be an honest and responsible adult doing good deeds for others.

Edited by Krampus
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I'm surprised a mere mortal could pick up Thor's wallet! :cool:

 

@@Stosh, my Scout found $40 at our hotel in Disney World and turned it in. They found the owner and the resort gave my son a free no-line pass...which he turned down. His sister didn't forgive him for the rest of the trip. 

 

We received an invitation to the castle for dinner. We were told we "won" it in a contest. Had a three hour exclusive dinner with about 10 characters in a private room at the top of the castle.

 

At check out I was told by the GM of the property (an Eagle Scout) that he wanted tor reward our Scout and knew he would not take charity for his good deed. I tried to pay for the dinner and he simply said to make sure the Scout grew up to be an honest and responsible adult doing good deeds for others.

 

Maybe @@NJCubScouter is correct about the embellishments, but the helping and refusing a tip is the core of the story that is true.

 

And yet stories like @@Krampus further reinforce the point that there are Real Scouts/Eagles out there (GM of the property and Krampus' ScoutSon--and Krampus) still being produced by BSA.

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I'm surprised a mere mortal could pick up Thor's wallet! :cool:

 

@@Stosh, my Scout found $40 at our hotel in Disney World and turned it in. They found the owner and the resort gave my son a free no-line pass...which he turned down. His sister didn't forgive him for the rest of the trip. 

 

We received an invitation to the castle for dinner. We were told we "won" it in a contest. Had a three hour exclusive dinner with about 10 characters in a private room at the top of the castle.

 

At check out I was told by the GM of the property (an Eagle Scout) that he wanted tor reward our Scout and knew he would not take charity for his good deed. I tried to pay for the dinner and he simply said to make sure the Scout grew up to be an honest and responsible adult doing good deeds for others.

 

Excellent!

 

I ran a camp for about 400 of the older sections in the UK, and at the end of the first night, a leader handed in £10 (about $15) he'd found on the floor. At the camp briefing the next morning I asked whose it was, had a few wags pipe up "mine" of course, but then as one lad was on a coach on his way to the theme park, he looked in his wallet and discovered he had just £10, when previously he'd had £20 in there. He spoke to his leader, who spoke to us, and we reunited him with his £10 (well, maybe not exactly the same note but...)

 

I was in Windsor to watch the annual Queen's Scout Award Parade, in my uniform, and someone handed me a mobile phone they'd just found on a bench "because you're a scout". And yes, I managed to reunite it with the owner of course. It felt good. Why would you do anything else?

 

(and picking up Thor's wallet - very droll)

Edited by ianwilkins
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The thing about is accepting a reward is, at least in my thinking, ok.  It's not like it was asked for.... or demanded /negotiated in any way.

 

If an item is returned no string attached, then if the grateful person wants to reciprocate to help them feel better why take that opportunity away from them.... and get a little perk yourself too?

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Instead of the cash, I would have asked if he could come visit the troop while setting up camp. It would be nice to have a hand pounding those steaks pounded into rocky ground.

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Thor gave the lad the cash that was in the wallet and the $10K from Shutterfly appears to be in the form of a College Scholarship.

 

I agree with the sentiments here - it would have been better had the Scout handed the cash back to Hemsworth and told him to donate it to the charity of Hemsworth's choice (while slyly suggesting his local Scout Council) and had he asked Ellen to give that Shutterfly college money to someone else.  But the age of Chivalry has been dead for, well, ages - even for Boy Scouts.

 

It doesn't help that too many Troops have adult leaders who use Scout Spirit as some kind of activity measurement when it's supposed to measure whether a Scout lives the Scout Oath and Scout Law in their daily lives.

 

I can't recall the last time anyone brought up the Scout Slogan (until Stosh's mention of it in this thread) - Do a Good Turn Daily.  This is something that should be emphasized a lot more.  For all those folks wondering how to measure "Duty to God" - what better way than to ask how the Scout has being doing good turns daily.

 

Perhaps we need to reconsider our answers when asked about Scout Spirit - "Live your daily life by the Scout Oath and Scout Law" is good but not very pithy - perhaps we need to emphasis a shorter sound bite - what's the best way to show Scout Spirit?  DO A GOOD TURN DAILY.

 

All that being said, Ellen, if you happen to be lurking - I'm an Eagle Scout who found a wallet with a man's last $100 in it about 40 years ago and made it a point to track him down and hand deliver it to his home - and didn't take a dime of reward.  Where's my invitation to your show??

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All that being said, Ellen, if you happen to be lurking - I'm an Eagle Scout who found a wallet with a man's last $100 in it about 40 years ago and made it a point to track him down and hand deliver it to his home - and didn't take a dime of reward.  Where's my invitation to your show??

 

Calico, the problem is that you had the poor judgment to find the wallet of a regular person rather than a celebrity.

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Whenever someone insists on "rewarding" me for my Good Turn, I give them my phone number and insist that they do a Good Turn for someone else and then call and tell me about it.  Most of those calls are from really happy excited people telling me how great it felt for helping someone else.  I have been "paying it forward" for 50 years and some of the stories I've been told are really neat.  None of them have ever been "downers".

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Decline or accept the reward? This would make an interesting EBOR question. I thought he was already an Eagle but some reports say not yet.

 

He and his family may need the money.

 

Police help other people and get paid, as do firemen, medical, etc.  It's part of their jobs, who they are and what makes them tick.  These are professional people

 

A scout can mow the elderly lady's lawn next door to earn his way to camp and call it helping other people at all times.  He can go down and serve lunch at the Salvation Army to help other people at all times and they will probably offer him a plate, too.  These are community minded people.

 

But when someone does something just to be nice and didn't have to.... well, that's a Real Scout.

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