CityNews – A teenage migrant worker from Burma has been praised for his honesty after finding a bag containing an estimated one million baht and returning it to its owners.
Sairin, wearing a red shirt, with restaurant owner Getsarapan Petsri and colleagues. Photo: Chaipin Khattiya.
Nineteen-year-old Sairin, or Lar Namoo, works at the Phet Doi Ngam Sawatdee Jao restaurant in Padad sub-district.
He found a heavy brown leather bag that had been left by a couple dining in the restaurant at around 10pm last night. He tried to run after them but could not catch them up, he said, so he gave the bag to restaurant owner Getsarapan Petsri.
When she looked inside for clues that might help her trace the owners, she saw wads of banknotes, which she believed totalled more than one million baht.
The worried couple, who said they were entrepreneurs from Bangkok, later returned to the restaurant and collected the bag. After counting the money they confirmed there was none missing and gave the waiter 1,000 baht as a reward.
Getsarapan paid tribute to her waiter’s honesty, saying she would hold him up as role model for other staff.
Sairin, who has worked at the restaurant for three years, told reporters that he was glad the bag could be returned to its owners. He doesn’t want anything that doesn’t belong to him, he said, and he felt proud of himself for doing the right thing.