Customer apologizes for unpaid pizza from 13 years ago through a wholesome letter

Sometimes, people make mistakes out of necessity. When given the chance to make amends, they should take it. A Reddit user shared that they received a letter from a customer who bounced a check at their pizza shop years ago. The letter, written in 2015, addressed an incident from 2002. The customer explained, "I was going through a very difficult time financially and was at the end of my rope."

Explaining further, the customer said, “I had no money and a hungry child at home, so I wrote a check that I knew would not be honored by my bank. I’m not making excuses for my behavior, just applying some context.” Adding to the letter, the individual mentioned that they had been feeling sorry and embarrassed for their actions ever since. They said that it had been on their conscience and they tried their best to undo the mistake. “I have visited your store several times in the last few years and have always wanted to confess and ask you to forgive me,” the letter read. Unfortunately, the customer wasn’t able to own up to their mistake and would leave every single time after having a pizza. 

They added that they were now doing well after establishing a flourishing business and wished to pay back. “I feel that it’s my responsibility to remedy this situation. I hope there are no hard feelings,” they added. The letter explained an attachment of $54.39 for the order back in 2002. “I came to this amount by assuming the original order was $20 and then added 8% compound interest yearly for the last 13 years,” they said. The pizza owner was taken aback by the customer’s honesty and genuine apology. They posted the picture of the letter that has since been deleted and said, “Received this today, I’m speechless.”

Adding more to the story, the pizza owner shared his thoughts. In further comments that have since been deleted, the owner mentioned that he barely remembered the incident. “Back in the early 2000 lots of people bounced checks. Finally, I stopped accepting them in 2006. By that time people rarely used them anyway,” he added. The man added that he was bereaved at the fact that the man had to carry the guilt for many years. “The guy didn’t have to do anything, this is a big showing of his character. To include interest was generous,” he said.

u/UsedToBeSomebody commented, “Post a note in the store saying, ‘FORGIVEN.’” u/persistent-derp exclaimed, “This is so rare and honorable behavior nowadays that it's almost too good to be true. If it's true, kudos, deep respect.” u/xiaopb wrote, “Faith in humanity: well, actually never really gone, to begin with, but this is very very nice to read.”