Former Waitress Sends Restaurant $1,000 Cash & Apologizes for Stealing 20 Years Ago
It’s never too late to do the right thing. Sometimes amends are decades in the making. Even after years have passed, an apology can go a long way.
An El Charro restaurant in Tuscon, Arizona, brought attention to an anonymous note they received from a former employee.
The owner of the restaurant, Carlotta Flores, had been having a bad week. While out shopping for groceries, the restaurant owner was shoved and her purse was stolen.
Thankfully, an act of kindness with the hope of forgiveness turned Flores’ week around. On Friday, July 27, she received a phone call from her son.
“He says, ‘Mom, you have to come downtown,'” Flores shared. “‘You have an envelope here and I’ve gone ahead and opened it.’ And he says, ‘You’re going to be greatly surprised.'”
The envelope contained a handwritten letter from a former University of Arizona student. “Dear Carlotta and Family,” the letter begins. “I worked for you as a waitress very briefly back in the 1990’s, while a student at U of A.”
The note goes on to explain how she’d been encouraged by a waiter to neglect to ring up drinks here and there, taking the cash for herself instead.
“I grew up in the church, I knew better,” the letter reads. “I hadn’t stolen a dime before then, nor have I since. Thankfully, I was a terrible waitress and you all fired me before it could amount to more than a few hundred dollars total.”
The lighthearted confession couldn’t have come at a better time for Flores. Along with the apology was $1,000 in cash.
Though the former employee admitted to only taking a few hundred dollars, she included more than she owed and added interest, hoping Flores and her family would accept the apology.
“You don’t always have to tell someone who you are to make things right for you both,” Carlotta’s son, Ray, wrote on Facebook. “This made our week!”
“Some of my managers read the letter and they actually had tears in their eyes,” Flores shared. “They know that there’s very long days and food has a very little profit margin on it.”
Flores added that she hopes the anonymous woman will see how greatly her belated apology has affected the owner and her family.
They also plan on “paying the money forward.” “We will be putting out an announcement soon on how we can use this money for future good,” Ray wrote on Facebook.
Submit your story here, and subscribe to our best uplifting stories here.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
