Published: January 31, 2008 12:20 pm         

Waitress finds $250, returns it to customer

By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Last Wednesday was not an ordinary day at work for Regina Leslie.

A waitress at Gardendale’s Waffle House, Leslie was cleaning tables as she had hundreds of times before.

But she noticed something unusual under one table — a large sum of money.

It was $250, all in 50-dollar bills.

Leslie did not even consider keeping the money.

“I knew who had just left,” she said. It was a regular customer that she knew by name.

The day shift manager, Daniel Young, looked up the number in the phone book and told the customer that Leslie had found his cash.

“He came back by and gave me $25 for finding it,” said Leslie. The man also gave Young $25 for his part in helping return the money.

“It made my day,” Leslie said.

She said she returned the money for a simple reason.

“It was the right thing to do. It’s what God wanted me to do,” she said. “You don’t take money that doesn’t belong to you.”

Young said he was not at all surprised that Leslie did the right thing.

“I knew that about Regina. I’ve always said I wish I could clone her,” he said with a laugh.

Leslie, who lives in New Castle, has worked for Waffle House since 1984. She has helped open several stores and has been at the Gardendale location for seven years.