Shopper thanks anonymous worker for returning wallet
A couple of weeks ago, Eureka resident Bill Garrett was out shopping when he lost his wallet.
“I went to Walmart about 1 p.m. and shopped and I remember putting about $120 back in my wallet when I walked out. I thought I put it in my back pocket,” Garrett said. “I stopped at Rite Aid on the way home to get something and there was no wallet.”
Panicked, he tore his vehicle apart trying to find the wallet as he mentally retraced his steps trying to figure out where it could have been lost.
“I got a little panicky because it was $120 but most of it was documents, like my ID, social security card and Medicare. I’m retired and on a fixed income, so $120 is a lot of money to me, but more importantly all of that paperwork,” Garrett said. “So I got home and called Walmart and one of the women who worked in the lot had found it already and turned it in. I couldn’t believe it!”
Garrett drove to Walmart to pick up his wallet and was amazed to find it was just as he had left it. The $120 was there along with all of his documents. He asked a manager if he could give the associate who found the wallet a reward but he was told it was against company policy.
“They don’t make a lot of money obviously, probably minimum wage. I asked two or three different people but they said no because that’s what they expect of their employees and they believe in karma,” Garrett said.
He asked for her name and was told the store wasn’t allowed to share the woman’s personal information.
“I don’t know if this person knows how much it affected my life,” Garrett said. “Times are hard, I would have been happy just getting the wallet itself back, but she had turned it in with everything in it. It just made me feel really good.”
The Times-Standard contacted the Eureka Walmart in addition to Walmart’s 1-800 number but were told the corporation is not allowed to comment on such situations. Garrett said he reached out to the Times-Standard because he wanted to find a way to give the employee recognition.
“I just wanted to give somebody a heads up. Maybe a title like, ‘Honesty lives in Eureka’ or something like that. I just really think she should be acknowledged somehow,” he said.