I have found a new hero in these divided states of A-merry-ca. I have found someone who is truly worthy of Sainthood, and who we should put in our country's history books when the story of this period in our great history is written. My fellow A-merry-cans, let us all raise our glasses to Billie Watts, of Murfeesboro, Tennessee.
In case you haven't heard this story, let me give you the 411 real quick: It seems that Billie found $97K in the rest room of a "Cracker Barrel" restaurant. (Do they have banks down South?) And then, incredibly, she gave it back. Let me repeat that for you: SHE GAVE IT BACK!
Now, I understand that Billie is 75 years old, and maybe now that she is in the golden years of her life, money just doesn't mean quite as much to her. Hell maybe she is quite well off and doesn't need some extra spending money for this holiday season (Although if she is well off, I doubt that she would have been eating at a Cracker Barrel.) But damn it Billie, did you have to give ALL of it back? Couldn't you have slipped a few stacks of those $1,000 bills in your purse?
"Satan will tempt you. I have been having real bad teeth problems," said Billie Watts, 75. "I thought 'I'll get my teeth fixed.'" '
Ahh, that explains it, a church going lady. That darn satan will do the damnedest things to cause us to stray, won't he?
But anyway, I love the part where Billie actually took the money home, thought about it, and then called the restaurant to ask about their lost and found. Hello is this Cracker Barrel Restaurant? Yes mam, my name is Billie Watts, and I was there today and I found this wonderful tapestry bag with some pictures in it. Did someone report a missing tapestry bag? Oh they did? Wonderful! I have the bag right here with all their pictures.......oh no mam, nothing else, just some pictures.... I knew one thing when I read this story; Billie was NOT one of my cousins. No way. Shoot! Had she been one of my cousins (or me for that matter) the conversation would have gone just like I just wrote it. Hell times are hard out here. "Finders keepers".
And did you read about what happened next? The grateful owner of the money offered Billie $1,000 for her troubles. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS! Billie refused. Thanks but no thanks, just doing my civic duty, it just wouldn't feel right to take a reward for doing the right thing.....
From corrupt Governors in Illinois, to honest little old ladies in Tennessee. It's one of the things I love about A-merry-ca; you can always find some balance.
66 comments:
I must say, in todays day and age, people like her are a diamond in the rough. Reminds me that the world isn't as evil as I think.
I'm with you field, I wouldve taken the money and prayed for forgiveness later LOL ....Anyone who says they wouldnt......well I guess they are...................LYING :)
Sorry.
I would have returned half of it...maybe.
God is not in the money making business, but he is into redistribution.
"Had she been one of my cousins (or me for that matter) the conversation would have gone just like I just wrote it. Hell times are hard out here. "Finders keepers".
What conversation? What bag? Shot, I'm honored to be your cousin.
Oh please, Mr. owner was very lucky, if it was me.. he was getting f*cked. Call me bad all you want, but I'm not a bad person. It's a dog eat dog world these days. Think about it, when you find that kind of loot, even if you want to return it, you better keep your mouth shut anyway. I mean... you don't want your name mix up in that sh*t, it could be dangerous. You don't know what kind of person the money belongs to, and you don't know why or ah who dem get it from in deh first place.
See? With a little imagination, one can easily pacify thy guilt to keep the money. That woman just trying to keep on heaven's good side.
I WAS BEING SARCASTIC PEOPLE.......just a little jokey,joke... no really she will be blessed for it in the long run
browngrl please, who you kidding, you know you was gonna hook your wedding up. :)
HALF OF IT? SickupandFed why not just keep all of it? Hell you are already sinning by keepng half :)
"Oh please, Mr. owner was very lucky, if it was me.. he was getting f*cked. Call me bad all you want, but I'm not a bad person."
I know you are not La~Incognita, neither am I. :)
browngirl...it's alright, you are among friends, we won't tell.
The real sweet thing to me is that she refused to accept a reward. I'm not so sure I would have.
field, I want a neighbor like Billie.
The people who successfully keep the money never talk, which is why you don't ever hear anybody saying "my boy found fifty grand in paper bag in the bus station and he kept ALL that shit".
okay okay you got me...97000 TAX FREE I would probably invite more people to the wedding(some family members are going to be really salty) ..and have the honeymoon I REALLY REALLY WANT to Italy. Hey a girl can dream can't she?? .......... who am I kidding I would have been looking over my shoulder waiting for the mafia to take me out, coming from Philly it is a real possibility
A little political balance when it comes to politicians taking money right here in Connecticut... I never thought I would hear of a politician calling the cops when someone tried to bribe them in the state known as "Corrupticut"...
Now see browngirl...doesn't that feel better?
LOL at "Corrupticut" and that story.
MacDaddy, I am not sure if I want Billie as a neighbor. She might call the cops on me when I yell too loud during an Eagles game.
"Had she been one of my cousins (or me for that matter) the conversation would have gone just like I just wrote it." Sad but true. We should all be that lucky to at the least be tested. What's really sad are the fools that look at this woman like a fool for making the choice she did.
see this is why things like that don't happen to me. I'm a firm believer in finders keepers, losers weepers. And as far as getting "blessed" in the long run...I don't buy that.
97K for walking around money, eh?
OK.
God is not in the money making business, but he is into redistribution.
He sure is, and he redistrubtes from the poor and the middle class right to the rich apparently.
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Who walks around with $97k in cash on them? Hell, who LEGALLY has that kind of money, and willingly chooses to eat at Cracker Barrel? I'm surprised this story didn't explain why this person had that much cash on him/her. It was probably a bank robber from another state! LOL
Still, I respect that lady for giving it all back. I wish she'd taken that reward, but still. It's a nice story. Especially since corruption is the main headline just about everywhere nowadays.
Who leaves $97K in a Cracker Barrel bathroom. That was ill gotten gains. I'da kept it.
Lord, forgive me.
Nah, I've seen this movie. If she'd kept it the mob would have come after her. I would have left it there and gotten out of that restaurant as fast as I could. (But I wouldn't have been in a Cracker Barrel in the first place.)
If she is a hero, then I would have been a super villian! I would not have given 1 penny back. I would have gone to these money churches and pay for some forgiveness.=}
Some years back, a black man of meager means found a small fortune and gave it back.
The only reward he received came from those threatening to kill him if they could get their hands on him.
Believe it or not, I wouldn't have hesitated to give it back. And no I'm not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.
You wouldn't believe my soul reason for doing it, so I won't divulge that part.
Be grateful those of you who would have kept it had you found it, that you didn't find it.
Temptation is often kept out of the hands of those who would further erode the integrity of their souls were it placed before them.
Blessed are those that are not tempted before they're tempted.
As cash-strapped as I am right now, I think I would have turned it in, too. I would have been tempted to keep it, no doubt the thought would have automatically come in my head, but then I would have been afraid to keep it, too. I'm a bit of a cynic, and I would have always been thinking that "something bad" would eventually happen to me. Something bad that perhaps money can't fix. I would have asked, however, before turning it in, how much the reward would be, and then I would have negotiated some kind of deal. I mean, come on, now. Let's keep it real. It would be sort of like winning the lottery: You have the winning ticket, you call your finance people, you iron things out, then you go public. I would have very cautiously used my head in this situation. A person who "loses" that much money will no doubt be glad to get however much of it back minus more than a measly $1,000. Maybe a nice
10K "finder's fee" would do nicely. I would think that the loser would rather retain 87K than lose all that money. But to keep it all and not say anything, I think I'd be kinda scared to do that.
97K. I could use
correction on the last line of my above post: 87K they could use, and $10K I could use. Seems like a pretty even swap.
It was probably drug money
correction on the last line of my above post: 87K they could use, and $10K I could use. Seems like a pretty even swap.
Something just isn't right.
Now don't get me wrong, she looks like a real sweet lady. Really. But first of all, if you find an ugly bag in a Cracker Barrel bathroom - do you go through it? Or do you just turn it in to management? Maybe I'm not nosy enough. But fine, I'll let that slide.
More importantly, who the hell keeps $97K in cash? In a bag? In a Cracker Barrel? (forgive me while I indulge in my urban cuisine snobbery) WTF? Now me, I'm thinking, whoever is walking around with this kind of money is doing something they shouldn't be doing....so what difference does it make if I do something I'm not supposed to be doing???
I'm pretty sure I'd return the money in all seriousness, if only because my life is shitty enough and I don't need the extra bad luck (ie mob/bookie coming after me). But it would require a lot of soul searching. A LOT!
you, mr., are filled with too much loathing to EVER find money like this. it could NEVER happen to you. that's just the way the universe works! ha!
im with listen to leon, kellybelle, poeticwax...who the hell carries that much money around? And to Cracker Barrel?
It's funny, too, because you do hear stories like this from time to time. I think someone found Donald Trumps wallet filled with cash once and gave it back.
Would I have taken it...hmm...it is awfully close to what I owe in student loans...
With banks failing all over the place, government bail outs exceeding a trillion dollars, and growing, and the national debt hovering around 10 trillion, people are taking their money out of banks--even those federally insured--for fear that the government is gonna lose its solvency.
Now, that's one reason people are keeping their cash close at hand. Call it unreasonable all you want, but that's how some people think--it's their life savings, and they be damn if they're gonna lose it in this chancy economy.
Maybe Billie saw the movie "No Country for Old Men" and wisely returned the money that did not belong to her. ha.
Personally I would have taken the reward though.
Nice story after a week of just horrible news. Here we are hearing about the cholera outbreak/food shortage and how people are flooding into South Africa for treatment/help. S.A. is asking for help saying things are at a crisis level. sigh.
"Nah, I've seen this movie. If she'd kept it the mob would have come after her. I would have left it there and gotten out of that restaurant as fast as I could. (But I wouldn't have been in a Cracker Barrel in the first place.)"
Sharon, that momvie was called "No Country For Old Men", and I saw it too. But I am with you,that no talking cripple guy would have been looking at my skid marks. :)
Black Diaspora, you are right. The story in the link I gave said that some old woman had just sold her h ome and was moving to Florida to start a new life.
That's their story and they are sticking to it.
She lived the life of good American, Yet she can't afford to get her teth fixed. Not sure I can blame Satan for that.
It’s great to know there are still good hearted people in the world today. However after events of the following week I truly believe had that money been left in a restroom in a Chicago government building it would most certainly never seen again.
And now these folks are crawling all over Washington. Every once and awhile the FBI great it right, let’s all hope they hand out soap-on a-rope to everyone of those blood sucking leeches.
Mmmmmmmm...three buttery pancakes swapped in blackberry syrup...nom,nom,nom. Yeah, Cracker Barrel may be low rent, but a girl needs to get a little dirty once in a while to remeber how good clean feels.
That said, pancakes at Cracker Barrel is about as dirty as I'm goin'--the sack full o' cash would go back. I was raised by a momma who would hold up the line at the grocery store for minutes on end until the cashier was convinced that she had given Mom too much change and took the overage back. Where I come from, you don't take a thing that ain't yours. And I am not lyin'. I'da taken the reward, though. That woulda felt right.
The cash COULDA been legal, especially since it was found in a tapestry-type bag: My late mother-in-law carried cash to the [auto] dealer everytime she bought a car in her lifetime, the last time almost $50,000. And that old Polish biddy was no drug runner. Trust me on that.
Shoulda said "swamped"--I am not SWAPPIN' those pancakes to nobody for nothin'!
Darn it!
If only Filled Negro had gotten to this lady first. He would have convinced her to keep $50,000 of the money in order to contribute it to the Obama Inauguration ceremonies. A lot of people will be "eating cake" during this grand ole time.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/12/11/by_marcus_k_garner_mgarnerajcc.html
Maybe Miss Thing needs a brain?
She found $97,000 and she didn't keep it?
This reminds me of those lunatics who work the 6PM-2AM shift at Wendy's and they win the lottery.
When asked what they plan to do with their winnings, they say, "Well, y'all, I'm plannin' on goin' back to work tomorrow. Folks need their burgers and fries."
I'm so angry I could spit. I thought I wouldn't be finding myself screaming at the radio anymore now that BHO is the President-Elect. But on the way in to work I heard that the auto bailout had collapsed because the F***ING Rethuglicans are clinging to their ideology and insisting that the union workers give it all up. Did you hear them insisting on salary limits for bankers and hedge fund managers? NO? Well neither did I. I have no love for the American auto industry--they've been screwing us over since they systematically destroyed the excellent intra-city rails and trolleys that existed until the middle of the 20th century. But we're talking about real people's real lives here. I guess all the Republican congressmen have foreign-built limos and drivers and a mechanic on retainer. How else to explain it?
I'm with Kellybelle. First, who walks around with 97K, and THEN takes it into a Cracker Barrel? Did they arrive on a bus tour? They didn't have a car with an alarm system and a trunk? And were they SOLO, or with someone that they didn't trust long enough to go to the bathroom and come back?
You never know what you would do until you are in the position to make the choice, but I would have had to pray on that one.
I once found 3500.00 in an airport bathroom stall in LaGuarida. I kept it and I did not ask for forgiveness b/c I did not feel "bad" about finding the money.
Hell I was sure I was going to go to hell with what I was planning on doing with the money.
I had a nose candy habit at the time and also me in God was not on speaking terms ...so I did what most folks in my frame of mine would do.
Now if presented with the the same scenario today I would give the money back albeit relutantly.
( I hope Ms. Billie get her teeth fixed)
I want to know who carries around $97,000 in a tapestry bag to the frickin' Cheez Cracker!
Ok, I live in Murfreesboro, TN.
Here's the local news article, which has the most info:
http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081209/NEWS01/812090318
I think this whole story is BS.
Either the old lady who "found" it is lying, or someone was trying to scam Cracker Barrel.
The story is that this old lady found a tapestry bag in a bathroom stall that had a manila envelope and $97,000 in $1,000 bills in it "stuffed so full it wouldn't zip." She couldn't find any contact info in it, so she took the bag home, then called Cracker Barrel. She told the cashier she had found something, and left her number. Supposedly the person who lost it called her about 10 minutes later and described the bag and money. They met back at the Cracker Barrel and she gave her the money back. The old lady said the person told her she got the money from "selling her house and all her possessions in it" and that she and her son were moving to Florida to "start a new life." She offered to give her $1,000, but the lady refused.
Okay... lots of things wrong with the story:
1. $1000 bills haven't been printed since 1934 and were removed from circulation in the 60s. They are extremely rare. I guess it's possible that someone had them socked away at home since the depression or something, but... They're collector's items. Banks don't have them anymore.
2. 97 $1,000 bills would not fill up a tapestry bag so full it wouldn't close. 97 bills hardly take up any room at all. The bag was obviously large enough for a manila envelope with a picture in it...
3. Nobody at Cracker Barrel ever saw the money or this mystery woman who lost it. It has not yet been confirmed whether anyone spoke with her. However, when the newspaper told the cashier that a bunch of money had been found, she was surprised. Why would she have been surprised if they had talked to someone who lost money? They would have HAD to talk to her to pass the first woman's number along.
4. In the initial news article, the old lady who found the money said that the woman "run up to me and hugged me" when she returned the money. All of a sudden yesterday, she changed her story and said it was an "old woman who could barely walk or stand." Hmm.
5. You can't make real estate transactions with cash. Titles don't transfer with cash.
It just doesn't line up... nothing about it. How funny that all of a sudden, this family is getting offers of money and dental work... hmm.
This whole story is a bunch of baloney! $1,000 dollar bills have not been in print since 1969 and most dealers would pay upwards of $3,000 for a $1,000 bill. Who gets cash from the sale of a home?! A bank will not let you take that much money out and if she doesn't want anything, why is she telling everyone about needing her teeth fixed? This is total and complete HOOEY and this woman is using this LIE to appeal to people's sensitivies during the holiday season. Methinks we've just been had!
LOL at the 2 above posts.
Welcome to the internet, where no good deed is above getting shit on.
"that fucking lazy no good jagoff only donated 1 kidney to a total stranger when he could have given both of them? God damn ingrate just did it so he could tug at our heart strings around the holidays anyway. Worthless asshole."
Shakes head...
She didn't take the money to fix her teeth? That doesn't seem smart.
Many years ago when I was in college I was driving my grandmother to her house after a family party at my parents. We were about 3 blocks away when my headlights showed a wallet in the street. So I stopped the car and went to pick it up - dreaming of a reward (even $20 would have made me feel rich). I was so disappointed to find out that the wallet belonged to my younger brother, who had left just before me to drive my other grandmother to her house. No reward for me. Twenty years later I can still remember being disappointed.
But I wouldn't hesitate to return the money if I had found the bag today. I did it a couple years ago on a Friday with a roll of $20 bills I found in the lobby of my building. It was payday and I knew someone needed that money. But I did make them verify exactly what was there.
Money doesn't replace the knowledge that you did the right thing. Knowing that is more important to me than recognition or a reward. It helps me sleep at night.
She was raised in an era when your reputation and good name meant something. Folks knew when they were ripping off somebody else, they were also hurting themselves and their fellow man. A similiar thing happened in Canada when a route driver in his early 30's found and returned $40K left in a public bathroom (a Tim Horton's, of course) by a courier service.
tjwash... Perhaps you missed the point. NONE of the journalists who reported this "story" have done their due diligence. The facts do not add up. We don't know that any "good deed" ever even occurred. If it did, it would be easy to prove... and nobody has.
The possibility does exist that this old lady was an oblivious, honest bystander, and the person who "lost" the money is the liar. All I'm saying is it doesn't add up, especially with this lady's grandson clamoring for attention for her (and for his small business, if you live here in middle TN). It's not hard to see that.
I think that many of us here are not focusing on what the lady did but instead are focusing on where the $$ came from and why it was in a bag, and 'who eats at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and forgets a bag', etc. That's not the issue. The issue is this: would you have turned the bag in or not. We all have our theories in terms of the origin of the bag and where the $$ came from. But can we simply get back to the issue of what we'd do if we found the $$. I think that's why FIELD posted the piece.
To those of you saying you would keep the money...I'm curious...when you are given back too much change from a cashier or a waitress..do you keep it?
Most of the time..I do not. The times that I have..I feel guilty. So I let them know and I give it back. Yes, I could use the rationalization, 'Well, if they are too stupid to count back change, they deserve to lose it.' But it's not about them. It's about my sense of right and wrong that is affecting me in the end.
So I suspect if I found that much money it would be a HARD struggle for me. After all, this is not an extra five bucks in my pocket. But I hope I'd do the right thing here too.
Billie's a better woman than I. Of course I would have considered giving the money back....in my deluxe hotel suite in Mallorca, Spain.
She should have kept some of the money, if only to get some dental work done.
Look at the clock... on second thought, look at the calendar. See how long it takes a dentist to be a Good Samaritan and offer to fix this good womans teeth for free.
GOD work's in mysterious way's, it was no accident that BILLIE found the MONEY, and as we can see, BILLIE truly, need's DENTAL WORK, so this is how it work's anyone could have found that money, but, BILLIE is a CHRISTIAN, I can tell, from the way she speak, I saw her on the NEW'S, BILLIE needed a BLESSING, so GOD set it up, GOD chose BILLIE to find the money, WHY? because GOD knew BILLIE'S heart, their was no way BILLIE could keep that money, WHY? because, her spirit would have been convicted, so she turned the money in, but when the lady wanted to BLESS BILLIE with the THOUSAND DOLLAR'S, BILLIE said NO, to the BLESSING, if she had received, the BLESSING, the money could have been used, for the DENTAL WORK, but, this is the MYSTERY, MILLION'S of people saw BILLIE on TV, so because of the NATURAL COMPASSION of MAN, their is no way, when you look at BILLIE, and then, know what she did as a human being, you will not want to BLESS her, and GOD will make sure that BILLIE recieve's above and beyond what she turned down, because GOD want's to BLESS BILLIE.
Thousand dollar bills? Something's fishy. I think the old lady and her grandson are con artists looking for people to reward them for their "honesty."
I am having work done on my house, and pay the guys in cash. You know, out-of-work carpenter paid under the table, tax man never knows, etc etc etc.
I'll go to the bank and get $3,000 to $5,000 in $100s, $50s, $20s, and $10s, and walk out of there with the bills in my front pocket. The idea that 97 thousand-dollar bills would overflow a bag is just dumb.
(Do they have banks down South?)
Heck to the No Field! Why would we (down South) choose to patronize a bank when we have the option of a restroom at the local Cracker Barrel to conduct our financial transactions. Duh!
(I am joking people!!!)
Tammy asked "To those of you saying you would keep the money...I'm curious...when you are given back too much change from a cashier or a waitress..do you keep it?"
Years ago in my very early 20s, I went to the bank to pay on my first $383 monthly loan (online banking wasn't really popular at that time). When I got to the cashier, I handed her the loan slip and we started light chatter. She handed me my receipt and I left. As I got to my car I realized the money was still in my hand. I went back in, slipped the exact amount in an envelope and handed it to her (hoping the bank managers didn't catch on to her error). The grateful look on her face was priceless. But now that I'm in my early 30's... sigh. This cruel world has taught me differently now.
School children working as part time cashiers, I would give back the change, but the older sour face rude cashier hogs.. NO.
Btw, thousand dollar bills? I didn't know that crucial detail the first time I commented. oh Hell no. I would be doing the moon walk so fast out that bathroom, forget the money. How would I ever be able to pass those bills off without being detected? Being shark food was not part of my childhood aspirations.
Field, I posted a brief text convo with my uncle on my site. Its not much, but mildly amusing.
L
Returning the money... good.
Refusing a reward afterwards... just dumb.
Ok, I haven't read all the responses yet so forgive me if I'm repeating, but...
I would have kept it. Straight up.
A few of the posts read like they would have felt obligated to return the money - why I don't know. It's not like she SAW the person leave the bag and didn't say anything. She stole the money from a dead person and their unsuspecting family. I could see if she was at the bank and she asked for $97.00 and they gave her $97K instead... all those are situations where you should probably "do the right thing" and give it back.
Hell, if you ask me... this is a perfect example of "not blocking your blessings". And I'm being serious. It would be nice to be blessed by someone knowingly giving you $97K, but you can also be blessed finding it in a bathroom at Cracker Barrel.
...shoot!
Let ME find a bag full of cash. You'd NEVER hear about me on the news!
-k
Above should read -
It's not like She stole the money from a dead person and their unsuspecting family.
Someone asked would you keep the money if you were giving to much change by a cashier/waiter. And my answer to that is no. I could never have personal interaction in a situation like that and not give back the money. Thats totally different.
Anon. please tell me Billie didn't pull a wool over my eye? See, and I was starting to believe in the A-merry-can spirit of goodwill.
Oh well, back to the drawing board. :(
Field, here's the deal: Strive not to make mistakes, but when you make them let them be on the side of mercy and generosity. Really. I've been there.
Hey Field,
Check out Ma'at Hotep in the comment section of Incog's blog. He done broke the shinitz down for those haters over there.
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