Honest Cape May Waitress Returns Lost Cash To Customer, Refuses Reward
By Cleve Bryan
CAPE MAY, N.J., (CBS) -- A Collingswood man is walking around with renewed faith in the goodness of people -- after being reunited with a big wad of cash that he dropped in Cape May.
CBS 3's Cleve Bryan has more on the lost and found, and a restaurant worker who did the right thing.
Paul Hendry will tell you this isn't just any motorcycle, it's a Honda Goldwing 50th Anniversary model.
"Saved for a long time because we were beginning a long trip," he said.
That dream of riding along a scenic highway was almost parked before ever got in gear. The night he took out the cash to buy it he and his wife went to The Ugly Mug in Cape May for dinner. And when they went to go buy the bike later, the money was missing.
"I had my leather jacket on and I'm going, I don't have it. My wife said you're kidding me. I said no Carol. I'm shaking, I'm real nervous," he said.
They figured the cash must have fell out at The Ugly Mug.
"So I called up and Diana Lee answered the phone," he said.
Waitress and hostess Diana Lee grabbed her phone and used it as a flashlight to look under the booths.
"I told them can you please lift your feet up, they were kind of laughing at me," she said.
Lee says it was a fairly busy Saturday night but when she got to this booth, sure enough there was the money on the floor.
"It was a wad of cash about the size of a salt and pepper shaker," she said.
Sixty-five hundred dollars -- all in $100 bills.
"Everybody was like astounded like how much is this," she said.
Lee could have easily pocketed the money and used to pay for a semester of college - but she didn't.
Hendry got the money, then the bike. Lee wouldn't even accept a reward.
"My parents worked for 30 years with their own business from the bottom up and I know what that's like to see someone finally get their little piece of paradise," she said.
"I'll work for it just like everyone else, karma hopefully will be on my side someday," she said.
And hopefully some generous tips.
