Greenstoner
01-25-2011, 07:19 AM
METRO VANCOUVER – When an auto mechanic tells you he has a surprise for you, it’s usually bad news.
But not this time.
Newton senior Doris Seelig, 70, found out recently that some businesses still live up to their name, and that the folks at Newton Auto-Care really do care.
She’d called the garage last week after her Chrsyler Concorde went on the blink, and they came to pick it up at her house. Sometime later, she got a call from the shop, telling her what had to be done and when she could pick the car up.
When she got to the garage, manager Ken Payne presented her with a $600 bill for parts and labour.
“He said, ‘Well, I’ve got another surprise for you, and I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to cost even more now,’” she recalled.
That’s when he put a white letter envelope in her hand, containing $1,000 in cash. Mechanic Kelly Hunt had found it while he was working on Seelig’s Chrysler, and told his boss.
“I had to get at the fuel pump,” Hunt explained.
“In order to drop the fuel tank down, you gotta remove the back seat. Once I removed the back seat, that’s when I found the envelope.”
Seelig had been missing that cash since July. It was one month’s pension that she’d saved to go on a trip to Oregon with her Clover Loafers seniors group.
She thought somebody had stolen it out of her camper.
“It was terrible. I never thought that it would come back, never,” she recalled.
So how did it get inside her car seat?
Seelig figures she’d likely put the envelope on the seat during a shopping trip, threw a blanket over it, and it slipped down.
She was so grateful, she called the Now.
“He didn’t have to tell his boss,” she said of Hunt. “He could’ve just kept working on the motor. He didn’t have to tell anyone.”
For Hunt, her expression was reward enough.
“She was just in shock,” he said. “She couldn’t believe it – she couldn’t believe she found the money after all this time.”
Seelig says she’s saving the $1,000 for her next vacation. “The Washington coast is very nice,” she giggled.
Indeed, lesser men might have been tempted to pocket the cash.
But not Hunt.
“Y’know, it’s Karma, man,” he offered.
“It’s just one of those things, that if you screw around like that it’s going to come back and haunt you at the end of the day.”
He ended up being right about that Karma thing. Seelig bought him a case of beer, for his honesty.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Honest+mechanic+returns+cash+Surrey+senior/4159647/story.html#ixzz1C44Tbqzl
But not this time.
Newton senior Doris Seelig, 70, found out recently that some businesses still live up to their name, and that the folks at Newton Auto-Care really do care.
She’d called the garage last week after her Chrsyler Concorde went on the blink, and they came to pick it up at her house. Sometime later, she got a call from the shop, telling her what had to be done and when she could pick the car up.
When she got to the garage, manager Ken Payne presented her with a $600 bill for parts and labour.
“He said, ‘Well, I’ve got another surprise for you, and I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to cost even more now,’” she recalled.
That’s when he put a white letter envelope in her hand, containing $1,000 in cash. Mechanic Kelly Hunt had found it while he was working on Seelig’s Chrysler, and told his boss.
“I had to get at the fuel pump,” Hunt explained.
“In order to drop the fuel tank down, you gotta remove the back seat. Once I removed the back seat, that’s when I found the envelope.”
Seelig had been missing that cash since July. It was one month’s pension that she’d saved to go on a trip to Oregon with her Clover Loafers seniors group.
She thought somebody had stolen it out of her camper.
“It was terrible. I never thought that it would come back, never,” she recalled.
So how did it get inside her car seat?
Seelig figures she’d likely put the envelope on the seat during a shopping trip, threw a blanket over it, and it slipped down.
She was so grateful, she called the Now.
“He didn’t have to tell his boss,” she said of Hunt. “He could’ve just kept working on the motor. He didn’t have to tell anyone.”
For Hunt, her expression was reward enough.
“She was just in shock,” he said. “She couldn’t believe it – she couldn’t believe she found the money after all this time.”
Seelig says she’s saving the $1,000 for her next vacation. “The Washington coast is very nice,” she giggled.
Indeed, lesser men might have been tempted to pocket the cash.
But not Hunt.
“Y’know, it’s Karma, man,” he offered.
“It’s just one of those things, that if you screw around like that it’s going to come back and haunt you at the end of the day.”
He ended up being right about that Karma thing. Seelig bought him a case of beer, for his honesty.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Honest+mechanic+returns+cash+Surrey+senior/4159647/story.html#ixzz1C44Tbqzl