Just when I was losing my faith in the ethics of Manhattan cab drivers, here comes the tale of Chowdhury Osman to the rescue. Osman’s $11.00 fare left him a measly thirty cent tip, which would earn the woman a flipped bird and some choice nicknames under most circumstances. But she also left a suitcase containing thirty-one genuine diamond rings worth about $30,000. Lucky for her, Osman didn’t decide that this was poetic justice and he could therefore keep the rings as his tip. Osman didn’t toss the bag into the Hudson, either, an approach that would have avoided any accusation of theft and allowed him many smiles imagining his penurious fare searching furiously for the rings she would never find. Nor did he distribute them to the destitute and homeless, which would have ensured a nice newspaper article but would have entailed giving away what was not his to give.

No, this ethical cab driver took hours out of his work day and with the help of his supervisor tracked own the woman and returned the rings. She is a jeweler from Dallas and asked to remain anonymous, so the Scoreboard will just refer to her as…hmmmm… how about “Cheapie McCareless.?” “Cheapie” thanked Chowdhury with a $100 reward, which, by the way, is only .3 % of $30,000.

His thirty cent tip on the $11 fare was almost 3%.

She’s getting cheaper by the second. But he’s an Ethics Hero.