Casino Janitor Finds and Returns $10K Cash
In today’s world of constant negative news reports relaying worldwide hardships, it’s becoming all too rare to find a heartwarming story, especially where monetary value is concerned. With that said, we are incredibly happy to report an earnest story of scrupulous honesty coming from one popular California casino.
The incident occurred at the Thunder Valley Casino, near Sacramento, on Friday, Freburary 8, 2013, where one Meuy Saelee has been employed as a maintenance engineer for ten years. That evening, Ms. Saelee was performing her traditional duties, cleaning up around the casino. She entered one of the restroom facilities at approximately 2:30am to tidy up and came across an incredible amount of cash; $10,000 to be exact.
Think, for a moment, what you would do if you were employed as a janitor ““ a trade that does not customarily pay any significant wages ““ and you came across such a large sum of money? It’s a sad reality, but the fact is, for the majority of us, the first instinct would be to pocket the cash and continue with our occupational responsibilities as if nothing had happened, at least until our shift was over.
Thankfully, for the doubly lucky owner of the $10,000 who had lost the money, Ms. Saelee does not fall into the category of the “majority”?. Meuy immediately turned in the wad of bills to her manager, who began a rigorous search for its rightful owner.
The security team at Thunder Valley Casino began reviewing the surveillance videos, which quickly revealed that the money belonged to one of the casino’s patrons by the name of Linh Hoang.
CBS News covered the story in Sacremento, where they interviewed Meuy Saelee and commended her for her honesty and resilient moral integrity. “This is crazy,”? said Saelee, who admitted this was not the first time she had come across, and turned in, a large 5-figure sum of money carelessly misplaced by casino clientele.
Saelee was given a $500 tip from Hoang for returning the money, after which she shared in the wealth by giving $50 to her manager who had overseen the equitable search for the rightful owner. However, some were surprised by the minimal response of gratitude from Huang. “She said ‘thank you’, that’s all. Then, I walked back,”? Saelee told CBS.
A similar story of moralistic values that provoked the gapes of many came out of Las Vegas, Nevada in the summer of 2012 when a cab driver ““ again, not one of the most lucrative jobs in the realm of employment ““ found a staggering sum of more than $220,000 left in the backseat of his taxi. The driver immediately returned the full amount to his prior passenger, who offered a simple “thank you”? and a tip of $2,000.
To the cab driver, Adam Woldemarim, who spent 12 hours a day, six days a week working for a measly paycheck of $350, the $2,000 gratuity was appreciated. In the overall picture, however, the tip was less than 1% of the money he had so graciously returned; a figure that many berated, feeling that Woldemarim deserved a lot more for his domineering integrity.