Georgia waitress finds $1,300 left on table, returns it
Published 12:00 pm Friday, April 3, 2015
- Kantessa “Tessa” Smith, a four-year Country’s Barbeque employee has had quite the exciting week following her shift on Tuesday after finding $1,300 left on the table of the Columbus, Georgia. location. Since then, the money was returned to the couple who left it behind and Smith is recognized as the restaurant's "unsung heroes."
After a social media post helped reunite a couple with an envelope full of cash they left at a barbecue restaurant, news of a young waitress’ good deed has now gone viral.
Kantessa “Tessa” Smith, a four-year Country’s Barbeque employee has had quite the exciting week following her shift on Tuesday when she found $1,300 in cash left on the table of the Columbus, Georgia location.
“I had to clean off the tables and I saw a bunch of trash on the tables, so I tried to grab it but when I did, it wouldn’t bend so I opened it and I found a lot of money in an envelope so I just went and found my manager,” Smith told local CBS affiliate WBTV.
Smith, a single mother of two, returned the 13 $100 bills to her manager, prompting the restaurant to turn to social media in efforts of tracking down the rightful owners of the cash. The restaurant staff posted screenshots of the patrons and posted the photos on Facebook in hopes of them being recognized.
“I felt like if I lost a dollar, I would lose my mind, so I could imagine losing $1,300 dollars,” Smith said.
Following the post, news of the financial find and Smith’s good deed went viral Tuesday night and Wednesday, with hundreds of “Likes” and an overwhelming amount of attention that resulted in the location of the couple. They retrieved the money Thursday morning.
“At first, I was nervous because it was a lot of money. I didn’t think it would be that serious,” Smith said of the attention the post garnered.
Despite all of the attention she’s received, Smith remains humble and maintains that she didn’t return the money to achieve viral status or acclaim, but because she was raised to do the right thing.
“My life has changed in a unique way,” Smith said. “I’ve got a lot of people calling and sending me messages on Facebook telling me what a good person I am and how they’re glad that people like me still exist in the world.”
In addition to all of the positivity that has come Smith’s way in the past few days, her employer is also sharing in the wealth of the good deed gone viral.
It’s a pleasure to have young people with such an honest spirit and a strong work ethic representing the Country’s Barbeque name,” the restaurant chain’s owner Grif Morpeth said. “It’s certainly a good thing [Smith] did and we never thought it would get this big. I’m glad she’s getting the attention for doing good.”