Waitress saves family’s Atlantic City, NJ vacation

Imagine your panic. You’ve planned a big vacation. The whole family is in Atlantic City. You’re seeing the sights. You’re enjoying everything America’s Playground has to offer. You saved up and have plenty of cash on hand for your excursions. $2,000 safely tucked inside an envelope.

To your horror after a long day of many stops, you realize you don’t have it. It’s gone. Your vacation is going to come to an end tragically.

The dad began retracing his steps. He had so many places to track. Last on his list was a pizza joint called Tony’s Baltimore Grill on Atlantic Avenue.

Dishwasher Mohammed Malek was cleaning a table the same night the family had dined there. He found what he thought was part of server Pam Abernathy’s tips in an envelope. He handed it to her. Now Abernathy had lost her tip-filled envelope earlier that night so thinking the dishwasher had simply found what she’d lost she shoved it into her pocket.

It was only later that she opened the envelope and found $2,000 in large bills and knew it wasn’t hers. For many people, this would have been a moral struggle. For Abernathy, it was an easy decision.

She turned it into management.

They were still holding onto it the next day when the family returned and the man started asking if they’d seen his money. He had retraced their steps and Tony’s Baltimore Grill was the last place the family had been. His tenacity paid off. The manager informed them that a server had turned in the family’s money and promptly gave it back to them.

The grateful family had their trip saved as their time in Atlantic City was coming to a close. But the story doesn’t end there.

The owners of Tony’s Baltimore Grill were so impressed with his employee's honesty that he offered both Malek and Abernathy either two weeks of paid vacation or a check for $1,000.

Somewhere out there is a family who’s never going to laugh at another joke about rude New Jerseyans.