A Georgia woman got a big wad of cash instead of fries with her sandwich after a screwup at a local drive-thru Wednesday, police said.
Joann Oliver, of Jackson, ordered lunch at the unnamed restaurant and went back to work. But when she opened the bag, she found her sandwich sitting atop a stack of cash, the Tri-City Herald reported. The pile totaled over $500, but Oliver called police instead of pocketing it.
“Jackson police were called to Mrs. Oliver’s workplace,” Jackson Police wrote in a Facebook post. “Mrs. Oliver had (gone) to a local restaurant (drive-thru) on her lunch break and returned to work to enjoy her lunch. When she opened her lunch, and removed her sandwich, she was surprised to find $543.10 in cash under her sandwich.”
Georgia woman’s sandwich order came in bag of cash https://t.co/OGk8xZQjEY
— James Hirsen (@thejimjams) September 15, 2022
Police determined that a worker at the restaurant had mistakenly put cash earmarked for a bank deposit in the same bag as Oliver’s sandwich as she sat at the drive-thru.
“Not only did Mrs. Oliver do the right thing but she saved the manager’s job,” police said.
The Facebook post from police praised Oliver for her honesty.
“Mrs. Oliver thank you for reminding us that we have amazing citizens in Jackson and its people like you that make us great!” it read. “Character and integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking!”
Jackson is located about 50 miles southeast of Atlanta.
In 2015, a New Hampshire woman named Janelle Jones was mistakenly handed a bag containing $2,631 at a Burger King drive-thru. Her husband, Matthew Jones, told a local newspaper could have used the money, but knew they had to return it. He said they were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that “Jehovah sees everything.”
Janelle Jones told Foster’s Daily Democrat at the time that keeping the money would’ve been wrong.
“One person said they were going to get fired, so it felt good knowing we helped them keep their jobs,” she said. “A manager told me they would give me five free meals. The manager said he talked to the corporate office and they said to tell me ‘thank you.”‘