How do you feel about someone taking the coins people tossed into a fountain or other public waterworks display for "wishes?"
How do you feel about someone taking the coins people tossed into a fountain or other public waterworks display for "wishes?"
Had just made a joke about this and it got me wondering: is this a dick move? Is it even legal? Nobody truly believes their wish will come true, right? That's just free money sitting in the water. Or would most people these days consider them to be donations? I can only assume that someone has to clean them out every now and then so as not to become totally filled with coins. Who would keep it? The city? The private institution that owns the fountain (if in some corporate lobby area or something)? Is it donated to charity?
Secondary question: Is this even a tradition outside the US? How common around the world is throwing coins into wells or fountains and making a wish?
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I'd much rather someone who actually needs the money enough to pick up small change takes them rather than for them to just sit there. If someone's desperate enough to fish coins out of a fountain for a few dollars, they can absolutely have them.
They're not going to just sit there, they help pay for the maintenance of the fountain. It's like reaching into a donation box.
A city having to put a bit more money into maintenance of a tourist attraction vs a homeless person getting to not starve for one more day. Hm. Tricky.
At least here in Europe, nobody's starving on the streets. May I suggest building less fountains and more social security nets if preventing starvation is your concern?
I'd be all for that.