When Aiden Gabriel came across a wallet sitting in a shopping cart while working at B&T’s Food Fresh Market on Sept. 16, he didn’t think much about what he did next.
The 16-year-old bagger and Oglethorpe County High School student brought it inside, turned it in at the front office and went back to work.
“I was just happy that the woman was able to get her wallet back with nothing missing, and everybody, I guess, was happy about it,” Gabriel said.
Everybody might be an understatement.
The wallet belonged to Kelly Franklin Cox, who said she usually knows better than to forgo her purse and carry her wallet into the grocery store. She made that mistake once years ago, left it behind and learned her lesson.
But this was supposed to be a quick trip.
“I said ‘I'm just running in for a minute,’ so I grabbed my wallet and I went inside and I got a few things,” Cox said.
A few groceries later, Cox loaded up her car, returned her buggy and headed home, leaving her wallet behind in the cart.
She wouldn’t realize it for nearly four hours.
Around 7:30 p.m., Cox went to buy something online, opened her purse and realized the wallet was gone.
“The first thing I thought was, I mean, it's been so long, nobody's called me,” Cox said. “I was like, oh, that thing is gone.”
Her mind immediately went to everything inside — her driver’s license, credit cards, business cards and cash — and everything she would have to cancel.
“I don't even care if the cash is gone,” Cox recalled thinking. “I just want my cards back.”
Cox called B&T’s and learned the wallet had been there all along. Gabriel had found it while collecting carts and turned it in with nothing missing.
“I was totally shocked. I figured it was gone,” Cox said. “I mean, I seriously figured somebody walked by, picked it up, went on and I never saw it again.”
Cox’s husband picked up the wallet that night, and Cox later shared the experience in a post in The Oglethorpe County GA Community Facebook Group.
“If anyone knows the parents of Aiden, a new bagger at Bell’s (B&T’s former name), tell them they raised an honest young man! I left my wallet in a cart at the cart return earlier today and didn’t realize it until 7:30 p.m. He found it and turned it in to customer service! I am beyond grateful,” the post read.
The post received 240 reactions and 20 comments, with many commenters praising Gabriel or reacting positively.
“It was so nice to see everybody engaging, and so many people said what a good kid he was,” Cox said. “So, that just affirmed what he did.”
Gabriel works at B&T’s a few afternoons each week, walking over from OCHS after classes. His grandfather picks him up when his shift ends. 
Returning the wallet was just another part of the job to Gabriel, not something he expected to receive attention for.
“It honestly makes me feel bad,” he said. “It feels like that should be a normal occurrence. It shouldn't be something this big just from returning somebody's wallet.”
For him, there wasn’t much of a decision to make.
“It's just something I always grew up doing,” he said. “If it's not yours, return it. And especially if it was mine that I lost, I'd want somebody to return it too.”
Store manager Tammy Watkins said Gabriel’s response isn’t unusual among the store’s staff.
“When any of them find a wallet or purse, they turn it in to me or the other assistant managers on duty, and 95% of the time, I know who they are and contact them by phone or Facebook,” Watkins said in a text.
In fact, the occurrence is so common that Watkins couldn’t remember which employee was involved in a nearly identical experience shared in the comments on Cox’s Facebook post.
“The boy who gets the carts from outside is also amazing. I left my wallet there two weeks ago and he found it and turned it in for me as well!!! They have amazing, honest staff,” Sarah Elizabeth Rutherford commented.
The similar stories suggest Gabriel’s actions might not be so unusual at B&T’s after all. And while the community celebrated the good deeds, Gabriel said he would rather see them become ordinary.
“I would hope people do better. If they find stuff, return it, and maybe it just goes on down the line,” he said. “And maybe down the line, it'll be more of a regular occurrence.”