A Missouri man found an envelope containing $1,200 in his local hardware store last week.
But when Kyle Osborn, 29, tracked down and returned the money to its rightful owner, he didn’t get the grateful reaction he was expecting.
Instead of a smile or a thank you, the man looked at Osborn, who describes himself as ‘tattooed, bearded and dirty’, and said: ‘I hope it’s all there.’
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Kyle Osborn said he was shocked by a rude response when he returned the lost $1,200 to its rightful owner
Osborn owns an auto shop called Easy Scrape opposite Sutherlands hardware store in Harrisonville, Missouri. As he was leaving the shop last Wednesday he noticed something on the floor. It was an envelope stuffed with $1,200.
The man turned round, went back into the store and conducted a ten-minute search for the person who had lost the money.
Osborn told Kcvtv that he found a man who said his father had dropped an envelope. ‘We go up and ask him if he lost anything and he looked around his pockets and realized he did,’ Osborn said.
‘I reached in my pocket and handed it to him. He looked at me and he said, “I hope it’s all there.”‘
Osborn was understandably upset by the man’s reaction. ‘I was kind of shocked. I walked away, that was all I could do. A simple ‘thank you’ would have been nice,’ he said.
He believes that it was his appearance that led to unfair treatment. ‘I think older people just tend to observe people the way they look and not who they are.
‘Just because someone with a beard, tattoos and dirty doesn’t mean they are bad people,’ he told Kcvtv.
He posted what had happened on his Facebook page and got scores of replies from people who thought the fortunate man was rude to his Good Samaritan.
This included some of Sutherlands staff who were impressed by Osborn’s behavior and invited him back to the store. They presented him with a goody bag, a $50 gift voucher and a big thank you.
Kcvtv reported that Kyle’s own mother was so proud of her son for his honesty and kindness that she contacted the station herself.
Osborn says he now wants to avoid all the media attention. On his Facebook page he claimed that didn’t want to do the TV but he was talked into it by his online fans.
‘I just hope it changes how people judge the hard working ones of our generations that are often frowned upon because things are different these days and they don’t understand us,’ Osborn said on his Facebook page.
The Good Samaritan also posted the following:
‘I just want people to focus on the good stuff going on in the world and stop thinking about all the negative, every day some one is shot or killed which sucks but it happens.
‘Take a minute and look around you, not everyone is dressed nice slicked up everyday, Some people work for a living to suport (sic) their familys (sic) and get dirty, have tatoos (sic) but we still have a heart and feelings, just do the right thing when it comes too you and it will pass on.’
