STAN FREBERG HERE...There's Still Some Honest People Left
Stan Freberg here. My wife and I went to the Orange County Fair with our friends John and Donna Crean. My wallet was on the inside pocket of my jacket. Okay so far; no pickpocket can get in there! But in a matter of minutes, I had lost my wallet. How? Tell you when I come back. [:60 SPOT BREAK]
Freberg here. So there I was at the Orange County Fairgrounds, thousands of people milling around, and my wallet safely inside my jacket. But then I took off my jacket and threw it over my arm.
Bad move. Within minutes, my wallet had fallen out onto the ground. Of course, I didn't discover this until later when I reached for my wallet. Hmm.
Forget the hundred and fifty bucks I had in the wallet; this meant I had to cancel credit cards, get a new driver's license, etc.
Figuring somebody had stripped my wallet and tossed it, John and I peered into trash cans as we retraced our steps. Nothing. I went to bed heavy hearted, imagining some guy taking off for the Bahamas on my American Express card.
But guess what? In the morning, a phone call came in from a paving contractor named Ron Acosta. He said he'd found my wallet, and he wanted to return it. He drove fifty miles to bring it to me, with all my cash and credit cards still intact. I told him he was welcome to keep the hundred and fifty bucks.
"Nothing doing," he said. "I just wanted to get your wallet back to you."
My preacher dad always taught me the importance of integrity. Ron Acosta's parents obviously raised him the same way.
Who said there weren't still honest people around?
Stan Freberg here.
Copyright (C)1996, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.