Chick-fil-A employee Jaydon Cintron told WITN-TV he was taking his break on Good Friday morning when he found two white envelopes in the men’s restroom at the restaurant in Kinston, North Carolina. Kinston is about 90 minutes southeast of Raleigh.
“They were on the floor next to the toilet. My first thought was just like, … OK, no, this isn’t happening,” Cintron told WITN. “Something is wrong.”
‘Money is useless without character.’
But it was happening — and something most definitely was wrong for the person to whom the envelopes belonged.
Return to sender
You see, one envelope was labeled First Citizens Bank, and it contained $5,000; the other envelope was labeled Truist Bank, and it contained $4,333, the station said.
And how did Cintron react?
He told the station he simply picked up the envelopes and brought them to human resources.
A WITN reporter asked the 18-year-old why he didn’t keep the cash for himself.
Cintron replied to the station with the following: “That’s not what Jesus would’ve done. That’s not what God would’ve wanted.”
RELATED: The secret to Chick-fil-A’s success has nothing to do with chicken
‘True integrity’
Cintron added to WITN that his faith guides his thought process: “Money is useless without character.”
Kinston Police Chief Keith Goyette told the station that “a lot of people will unfortunately take that money and run with it. But kudos to that employee at Chick-fil-A. [He] definitely deserves an award.”
John McPhaul, owner of the Kinston Chick-fil-A, noted to WITN that Cintron embodies the restaurant’s principles: “True leadership, true integrity is doing the right thing when no one’s watching. And Jay did that in this case, and he should be commended for it.”
The station said the restaurant tried to search security video in an attempt to identify the owner of the money but had no luck.
However, Chief Goyette told WITN the owner of the money came forward Monday morning to claim the $9,333.
It’s own reward
Cintron revealed to the station that the owner of the money approached him and offered him a $500 reward for his good deed, but Cintron initially declined and told the man he expected no reward for what his faith told him was the right thing to do.
“I don’t want anything out of this,” Cintron told the station, adding, “I did this because that’s what Jesus would do.”
WITN noted that after declining the reward multiple times, the teenager finally accepted it — and numerous viewers agreed that Cintron deserves all the recognition he’s receiving.
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