Waitress returns R5 000 'tip'

[Nutty_ZA]

06/08/2007 22:50 - (SA)
A smiling Rebecca Khumbula, a waitress at a coffee shop in Pietermaritzburg, after handing over an unintended R5 000 "tip" to the rightful owner. (Nash Narrandes, The Witness)



Pietermaritzburg - A coffee shop waitress found and returned more than R5 000 in cash to its owner in what he's praised as "a rare case of honesty".

Rebecca Khambula, a waitress at the Coffee Bean cafe in Victoria Road, said while growing up she always fantasised about finding lots of money and often thought of the millions of ways she would spend that money.

However, when her moment of truth came on Saturday, she said her conscience would not allow her to keep money she had not earned.
Khambula, who earns about R120 a week, said the incident took place during the breakfast rush when she was the only waitress on duty.

Noticed a roll of money
She served an elderly couple whose bill came to R70. Satisfied with the R20 tip she received, she was clearing the table and picking up fallen papers.

It was then that she noticed a roll of money secured with an elastic band lying on the floor.

"I was actually scared because I had never seen so much money in my life,"recalled Khambula.

She said that you have only a few seconds to decide what you were going to do when something like that happened.
But being someone who believes in the principle of what you sow, you reap, she knew exactly what she had to do.

Thinking the couple had already left, Khambula raced out of the cafe, trying to trace them in a sea of faces at the shopping complex.
When she could not find them, she took the money to her boss,
which is when she saw the man whose money it was coming out of the bathroom.

"He first said no it was not his, but I knew it was because they were the first couple to sit at the table that morning.
"When he looked again, he saw that it was his.

'Worried that they were going crazy'

"He was so shocked he put a hand over his mouth and kept asking where do I come from because people are not honest anymore."
Khambula said the couple did not look rich, which is what drove her out of her way to find them.

"I was so worried that they were going crazy over the money.
"Imagine losing just R1 000? I would just die."

Asked if she would do it again, Khambula gave an emphatic yes, even though many people thought she had lost her mind.

Shopowner Bru-Anne Holder said she was very proud of her waitress, who she said had always been popular with customers.

"It proved her loyalty to me, which is loyalty to our customers."
Holder said they found lost items like cellphones and jackets nearly on a daily basis, which they always kept in case a customer came to claim them.

"And it's all my staff..they work as if it is a family business because we treat them like family," said Holder.
Khambula was rewarded with another R50 by the couple, which she said was payment enough for her act of kindness.

Although I think they could have given her a much bigger tip... R50-00 is +- £3.50

[TheGuru]

Wow she is a very honest Lady, she deserved a much bigger reward, or should I say a bigger Thank You

[smartsez]

so all in all, the couple gave her R70 altogether, which I guess would be about a fiver-n that was over half her weekly wage of R120? I dont get it! She gets paid less than a tenner a week?

[Nutty_ZA]

It's an awful salary even by South African Standards...BUT waiters(Waitrons to be PC) work for Tips in this country (and 99% of people do tip at least 10%+ of the bill)...
They get a very meagre salary but earn quite a bit on tips(which is why you generally find Students waiting)...
You actually really can't take the Rand/Pound exchange rate as a true reflection of the currencies worth... you need to compare what you can buy with your money in one country to what you can buy in the other...
I would estimate that the average salary in this country is probably round about R8000-00 to R12 000-00/month these days(I am taking a rough an average of ALL income earners) which is only about (£ 570-00 to £860-00) BUT you could probably buy a lot more with R8000-00 than you could with £ 570-00...

[smartsez]

so south africa's a good place to holiday then if you dont have much for spending money...!

[TheGuru]

Originally Posted by smartsez

so south africa's a good place to holiday then if you dont have much for spending money...!

For us Brits yes it is

[Nutty_ZA]

Yes, a very cheap holiday for Brits... (the exchange rate is +=-R14-00 to the Pound)..
and South Africa really is a beautiful country... My sister came out from the UK in March and couldn't beleive how cheap things were

[smartsez]

Originally Posted by Nutty_ZA

Yes, a very cheap holiday for Brits... (the exchange rate is +=-R14-00 to the Pound)..
and South Africa really is a beautiful country... My sister came out from the UK in March and couldn't beleive how cheap things were

Great White diving is something we intend to do in the future, & South Africa is supposed to be a good place to do it-so just might have to bring lots to spend and live like a princess for a week or two then lol!

[Nutty_ZA]

Well, if you do come to South Africa and you're into the diving thing you should also go to Mozambique... the coastline really is unspoilt(unlike most of South Africas which mostly consists of large hotels and timeshare developments) and the diving is fantastic...

[smartsez]

Originally Posted by Nutty_ZA

Well, if you do come to South Africa and you're into the diving thing you should also go to Mozambique... the coastline really is unspoilt(unlike most of South Africas which mostly consists of large hotels and timeshare developments) and the diving is fantastic...

To be honest its not the diving i'm interested in its the Great White sharks! They're a creature I've always been fascinated with, and by some amazing stroke of luck Will seems to share that same fascination, so we've vowed one day to cage dive with them.