Service with a big smile: Calgary Transit driver returns wallet to customer with $1,500 US inside

If you found a wallet with $1,500 US inside, would you keep it or return the cash?

For Mustaf Gashi, a Calgary Transit driver since 2013, he didn’t think twice.

Gashi picked up the wallet Monday morning and immediately reported it, but the man it belongs to, Fred Bediako, had no idea and thought it was lost forever.

Bediako was on the bus to pick up his truck and when he checked his transfer after switching rides and realized it was gone.

He called Transit and left a message, but thought it was a lost cause, until he got a call back and was informed it was returned.

“I said are you kidding me?” he said, describing what was inside. “He said everything is in there, I asked him, is there any people like that in the world that would return that kind of amount?”

The money didn’t even belong to Bediako, as he was holding it for a friend to send to his mother.

“That was why I was so worried, because there is no way I can tell him that I lost the money, he won’t believe me, I have to come up with that amount, so it was a very, very bad situation,” he said.

Bediako got a chance to thank Gashi personally Tuesday morning, giving him a big hug.

“This man here is my hero,” he said.

Gashi said he was just doing his job and is relieved the situation was fixed.

“I’m very, very, maybe more happy than Fred,” Gashi said. “I know his feeling and I thought oh no, the wallet is in great hands and it’s safe hands, but I know he’s going to be very sad for a couple of hours but after he phones the City, he will find out everything is okay.”

Gashi has found wallets before on his bus, but nothing like that much money, which is approximately $1,875 in Canadian dollars.

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