When Sak Yiengjuntuek bought a building in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for his new spot, Lemongrass Pho & Thai Cuisine, he probably expected to find old menus, maybe some forgotten spices. What he didn't expect was a small fortune.
While cleaning out a cabinet in the back, Sak stumbled upon a sunglasses case. Inside? A cool $12,000 in cash. Because apparently, that's where some people keep their rainy-day funds.
“It was a shock to me that I found old money in the cabinet in the back of my restaurant,” Sak told WLBT. The cabinet, he realized, belonged to the previous owner. And Sak, being the kind of person who makes you believe in humanity, immediately knew what he had to do.
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Start Your News Detox“The first thing I thought was that I need to find the rightful owner,” he explained. Which, if you think about it, is a pretty stand-up first thought when you’re staring at a stack of unexpected cash.
His initial attempt to call the previous owner hit a dead end, but Sak wasn't deterred. He tried another avenue, and this time, it worked. The former owner, it turned out, was in the midst of some serious health issues. The $12,000, which he'd clearly misplaced and forgotten, couldn't have arrived at a more crucial moment.
“I feel like this was the right thing to do,” Sak said, proving that some people still value integrity over an instant windfall. “It doesn’t belong to you; you need to return it to someone else to whom it belongs. Honesty, integrity, is very important in life.”
So, while Sak is busy serving up delicious pho, he's also serving a masterclass in good karma. And probably checking every other cabinet in the place, just in case.
