Bloomfield, N.Y. — Monday morning at White’s Farm Market in Bloomfield is typically a busy day. People are in and out grabbing fresh produce. The farmers are busy stocking the shelves after the weekend.
However, the most important job on Monday is to go to the bank and deposit the earnings from the weekend. That’s when things went terribly wrong for one market employee.
According to Chip White, the market owner, his employee put the cash bag full of checks and cash in his pocket. He got into his car and the bag must have fallen out in between the seat and door. Then the “Door Ajar” light came on in the car while the employee was driving down Rt. 64 so he opened and slammed the door shut. That’s when White suspects the cash bag fell out of the car.
When the employee got to the bank, he realized money bag was gone. The employee drove up and down Rt. 64 searching for the bag in vain.
“I don't get angry,” says White. “I know mistakes are made.”
But meanwhile, 22-year-old Mendon resident Nick Optis was driving down Rt. 64 in Bloomfield. He saw a cash bag in the middle of the road and thought it was odd. He turned back around, got out of the car and picked up the bag. Inside, he saw $8,000 in cash and a few checks.
Optis says all he thought about was karma when he decided to do the right thing and return the money. The checks were made out to White’s Farm Market so he drove about a half mile to a mile up the road from where he found the cash bag and dropped it off.
“It was huge,” White says. “It was huge that he got it back to us.”
