Hero busboy returns $1,500 to Wendy's customer who forgot her purse
FOX NEWS - Peggy Humanick is probably thanking her lucky stars that 19-year-old Matt Cureton was working at the Wendy's in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Monday.
Humanick and her husband Francis had stopped off for a quick bite at Wendy's on their way back to Boca Raton from a trip to Orlando, but she accidentally left the restaurant without her purse -- and the $1,500 in cash that was inside.
Lucky for Peggy, Cureton found her purse hanging off the back of a chair while he was bussing their table, and turned over the lost item to his manager, Betsy Hersha, to hold.
"I just did what I would hope everyone would do in that situation," Cureton told the Sun Sentinel. "If I lost my wallet I would hope someone would return it rather than taking from it. I try to live by that standard -- the golden rule."
The Humanicks, meanwhile, had no idea that Peggy's purse was misplaced after they had already driven the 80 miles home to Boca Raton. They told the Sentinel that they immediately canceled their credit cards and then called the store to see if Peggy's bag was still there.
The Humanicks then hopped in their car and headed straight back to Fort Pierce, where Cureton and Hersha were waiting.
"I told him 'You did the right thing.' In this day and age, a lot of people don't do the right thing," Hersha said.
The Humanicks were equally as proud of the teen's gesture.
"You hear so much terrible news," Francis said. "The moral of the story is we have good honest people here."
Francis added that he earned the money over the course of seven months while working at a Long Island gold course for minimum wage as a starter and ranger, the Sun Sentinel reports. Francis said he had been saving to have his trailer's roof repainted.
Cureton was rewarded $100 by the Humanicks for his honesty, which Hersha says she had to convince him to take.
"I hugged him, I told him I'm very proud of him, use the money on himself," Hersha said.
"It was very considerate of them, they were a very nice couple," he said. "They didn't have to give me anything."
Cureton said he is working at the fast food chain to save money for college. He told the Sun Sentinel all of the reward money will go into his college savings.