In any business, there is always the potential for a bad egg or two. Office bullies, lazy managers, and light-fingered employees are sadly all common occurrences, and they often get away with their crimes or bad behaviour without anyone finding out.
However, that doesn't mean they don't feel guilty about it.
On July 27th, Carlotta Flores, the owner of El Charro, a Mexican restaurant in Tucson, received a handwritten letter from a former waitress who had worked for her a couple of decades ago. In the letter, the old employee admitted to having stolen hundreds of dollars during her brief stint at the restaurant, but having grown up - and realising the error of her ways - she wanted to pay it all back.
The letter read:
"Dear Carlotta and Family— I worked for you as a waitress very briefly back in the 1990’s, while a student at U of A. One of the waiters I worked with had encouraged me to ‘forget’ to ring in a few drinks a shift and pocket the cash. And for some stupid reason, I did it. I grew up in the church, I knew better. 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 anonymous waitress then went on to say that she was never able to move on from her crime - even if it was never actually noticed in the first place - and that she wanted to repay her debt in full.
"It’s been 20 years, but I still carry great remorse. I am very sorry that I stole from you. Please accept my apology and this money as a repayment and 20 years of interest. May God forever bless you and your family."
Along with the note, the sender also included $1000 in cash.
Posting about the letter on Facebook, Carlotta's son, Ray Flores, said: "You don’t always have to tell someone who you are to make things right for you both. This made our week!"
Carlotta, too, was moved by the anonymous sender's honesty and generosity. "Some of my managers read the letter and they actually had tears in their eyes because they know that there's very long days and food has a very little profit margin on it," she said.
The restaurant owner added: "I don't know where she's at or who she is but I will tell you one thing: I hope that she's read or has seen what an impact this has made not only on me, my family, my business but where it will go in the future so I hope she keeps looking to see what we're doing with it."
It just goes to show, then, that doing a bad thing doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. As long as you do what you can to make things right in the end, your actions will be appreciated.
