Back in 2002, a pizza parlor customer paid for a meal at the shop with a bad check and since that time, he has built up 13 years worth of guilt. Then one day, he decided to pen a letter and emailed it to the owner of the pizza parlor who received the letter last month.
The anonymous letter writer claimed poverty and a hungry child at home as context for the deed — but also shared something else:
“I think of this often and I am incredibly ashamed and embarrassed at my behavior. I have visited your store several times in the last few years and have always wanted to confess and ask you to forgive me, but I have not been able to summon up the courage, so I just eat my pizza and leave.”
And for the grande finale, the letter writer — now on firmer financial footing — enclosed a money order for $54.39, which includes 8 percent interest compounded since 2002 on the assumed $20 food bill:
After receiving the letter, the pizza parlor owner posted a photo of it on Reddit, simply commenting, “I’m speechless.”
“I feel bad for the poor guy,” the pizza parlor owner commented. “I probably forgot about him when I wrote the check off as a loss and never gave him another thought. This poor dude has been dwelling on this for over a decade. If I find out who he is I’m going to have a beer with him, I’m buying.”
The pizza parlor owner added that “the guy didn’t have to do anything, this is a big showing of his character. To include interest was really generous.”
One commenter noted that the story of after-the-fact honesty made the day better: “Thank you for sharing this, it added a real spring to my step today. I like being reminded that really good people truly exist. Somedays it’s a tough thing to hang onto.”