Tourist Leaves $8,700 at McDonald's

[craigdawg]

The dollar is so weak that when she went to the ATM to take out £100, the machine spit out $9,000.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Carol Birmingham almost had a heart attack when she realized her Mac Attack had cost $8,700.

The 62-year-old British tourist didn't notice until Sunday morning that she had left her cash-stuffed purse on a McDonald's counter when she bought lunch the previous day.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=2&u=/ap/20050216/ap_on_fe_st/lost_money

 

[wdlove]

Congratulations to Ilona Barattin for turning the money over to police, a good samaritan. I just wonder what kind of a reward that Carol Birmingham, gave to the McDonald's staff. Hopefully she also included a nice amount for Ilona.

 

[PlaceofDis]

why would you be carrying that around with you really? and how could you forget it? were you that absorbed in your food? wow, people continue to surprise me these days. Seriously though, im surprised that no one took that cash or at least some of it, could you blame them? and the lady would almost deserve it for being inattentive

 

[SilentPanda]

Sometimes you just "do" forget stuff... often times we most easily forget things when we're constantly mentally reminding ourselves...

Just because you forget something doesn't mean that somebody else should have it.

 

[caveman_uk]

why would you be carrying that around with you really?

Does seem like an awful lot of money to be carrying around. The most I've ever carried around on my on holiday was around £500 in Yen. Then Japan is a very safe place and you're very unlikely to get mugged. I rarely carry more than £40 on me in London....

 

[virividox]

Does seem like an awful lot of money to be carrying around. The most I've ever carried around on my on holiday was around £500 in Yen. Then Japan is a very safe place and you're very unlikely to get mugged. I rarely carry more than £40 on me in London....

dont carry more than 10 pounds when im in nottingham!!!

 

[caveman_uk]

dont carry more than 10 pounds when im in nottingham!!!

You can't buy much beer in London with a tenner!

 

[absolut_mac]

and how could you forget it?

Ha, if you've ever been a tourist in a foreign country you'll find out how easy it is to forget things.

Jet lag, excitement of being in a new and exciting environment, too many things to do/see and not enough hours in the day etc.

Fortunately for her there are still plenty of honest people

 

[absolut_mac]

I just wonder what kind of a reward that Carol Birmingham, gave to the McDonald's staff. Hopefully she also included a nice amount for Ilona.

The Birminghams returned to McDonald's on Monday to give Barattin and fellow manager Aileen Norris an undisclosed reward.

Meaning a hug and a kiss and her undying gratitude.

Just kidding. Probably all of the above and enough money to buy dinner somewhere other than Mac Donalds

 

[ziwi]

Knowing that she was able to help someone should be enough, but we are in 2005. Anyway, that was one expensive happy meal.

 

[rtdgoldfish]

why would you be carrying that around with you really? and how could you forget it? were you that absorbed in your food? wow, people continue to surprise me these days. Seriously though, im surprised that no one took that cash or at least some of it, could you blame them? and the lady would almost deserve it for being inattentive

I work over the summer at Shrek 4-D at Universal Studios in Orlando. You should see what some tourists carry around. Large rolls of cash are very common in the gift shops. We find backpacks left in the theater with nice cameras, wallets, even found a laptop last year. I don't understand why people would bring this kind of stuff around with them to a theme park, or McDonalds for that matter. They always leave it behind and then come back an hour later looking for it. Usually it turns up but there are many who end up losing a lot of stuff.

 

[craigdawg]

There are over 1200 McDonald's franchises in the UK. Other than convenience, why spend your vacation eating at Mickey D's?

She was in Orlando, there's got to be some decent restaurants there.

Money doesn't seem to be a problem.