I'm at a bar and there is a cell phone behind the bar that is ringing and ringing. I mention it to the bartender who says it's not his. It's a phone he found at the bar. I say, well it's probably the owner on another phone trying to locate his lost phone. The bartender gives it to me to deal with it. I answer it and let the guy know where I am. An older guy shows up a short while later looking for his phone and I give it to him. He asks if I want a reward or something and reaches for his wallet.
Is this normal nowadays, that you get rewarded for doing the right thing or was this just an old guy thing? Simple courtesy. I'm only doing what I'd hope someone would do for me if I lost my phone.
I can't guess what's in the guy's head, nor can I speak to what normal is these days. However, my own experiences suggest that the fellow was grateful and wanted to show his appreciation, and that was a convenient and easy way to do it.
I lost a wallet some years back, and a fellow showed up at my door one day and returned it. I wanted to do something nice for him, but he'd have none of that. Just a guy doing the right thing.
I found a woman's purse in a supermarket parking lot a couple of years ago and looked inside to see if there was any ID, which there was, as well as about $400.00 in cash. The woman came back to the store looking for it, was frantic, and when I returned the purse with all the contents, she just took it and walked away with not even a thank you.
Another situation was when leaving a restaurant with a companion, she found a wallet near the entrance with about $50-$60 in it. She wanted to take it and the money, and I wouldn't stand for it. We (I) returned it to the restaurant.
My point is that different people behave differently (no news there) and that there's no normal. You did the right thing, IMO, and the guy who lost his phone did what seemed appropriate to him at the time.
That said, I do believe a lot of people want to be rewarded in some way for doing a good deed, for doing what's right. I would have loved it if the woman whose purse I found would have shown some appreciation (and a simple thank you would have been fine ... just an acknowledgment, y'know). And there are a lot of people that just do what's right with no expectations of a reward.