Alan Trusler was excited to send over his daughter’s birthday gift. He decided that $1,200 would be a great gift for her and decided to send it over to her. However, when he received a response to his gift, it wasn’t from his daughter!
20. 30th Birthday
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Melissa Trusler is a sales executive in Seattle, Washington. Her 30th birthday was coming up and her father was excited to send her a great gift. After all, his daughter was hitting a serious milestone in her life.
19. New Sofa
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Melissa had been coveting a new sofa for a while now. She had mentioned the idea to her father and had commented on how great it would look in her apartment. Her father decided that for her birthday he would help her buy the couch!
18. PayPal
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A few days before her birthday, Alan decided to PayPal $1,200 into Melissa’s account. He figured she could then go ahead and purchase the couch for her birthday. However, the money that Alan sent never went into Melissa’s account…
17. Fearful
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Alan called his daughter afterwards to ask her if she had used the money yet. Melissa had no idea what her dad was talking about, as she had never received the money. “He said, ‘I accidentally sent the money to somebody else,’” Melissa told The News Tribune in 2017.
16. Surprise Gift
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Just 33 miles away in Tacoma, WA, a man woke up to a very shocking surprise. Gerrell McAllister woke up to an email from PayPal saying “You’ve got money!” He quickly logged into his PayPal account where he saw a new deposit of $1,200!
15. His Reaction
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“You know how in the movies the person will open the briefcase, discover it’s full of money and then quickly shut it and look around to make sure no one was watching? Yeah, I definitely did that, and I was definitely alone when it happened,” McAllister explained.
14. The Mistake
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It seems that Alan accidentally sent the money to McAllister and it happened in the silliest way. Alan had used Melissa’s number to send over the money. It seems that the number, however, used to belong to McAllister and it was still linked to his PayPal.
13. Getting No Help
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Melissa, on the other hand, was working hard to figure out how to get her father’s money back. She called PayPal to ask for help but they told her that she would have to solve the problem on her end. Melissa was starting to lose hope.
12. Incredibly Lucky
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As Melissa began to wonder what her next step would be, her father then received a new email from PayPal. The email informed them that the money had been returned. McAllister returned the money within 30 minutes of receiving it. The Trusler’s couldn’t believe what just happened…
11. Giving Thanks
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Grateful that the money had been returned, Melissa decided to send the stranger a thank you message. When she received a message back from him, however, she was completely blown away. She never expected such an honest response.
10. The Response
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“You’re so very welcome! But if you could tell your family and friends that a low income 28-year-old black man from Tacoma with a five-year-old daughter returned your money, I would find that helpful in improving race relations while reaffirming the dope ass culture we as Western Washingtonians have worked so hard to cultivate,” McAllister wrote.
9. Remaining Honest
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The response continued: “That, in turn, would help me to stop kicking myself in the ass for remaining morally sound through the tough times my family and I are experiencing at the moment, lol. In short, share the story, spread the love. Thank You.”
8. Struggling Father
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You see, McAllister recently lost his mother to a pulmonary embolism. The young father had been struggling with his loss as his mother was incredibly impactful in his life. It turns out that it was his mother’s wisdom that led him to return the money.
7. Integrity
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“My mom taught me better than to take what isn’t rightfully mine. She taught me to always try my best to do the right thing even if no one’s watching… a little thing called integrity,” McAllister said. So the Trusler’s decided to keep their end of the bargain…
6. Posting Online
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In order to keep their word, the Trusler’s uploaded the story onto Facebook and Reddit. They included all of the information and even included the payment screenshots in the posts. The post went super viral.
5. Donations
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Suddenly, people began to send McAllister tons of donations. “I guarantee you he’s received more money now than he would have if he kept the money,” Melissa said. “I think people are overwhelmed by his goodness. You just don’t expect a stranger to send the money back.”
4. Overwhelming Kindness
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McAllister couldn’t believe his eyes when he checked his PayPal account. He loved the messages that he was receiving from others and read through them all. He described them all as “heartwarming.”
3. Young Daughter
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She thinks it’s great
The Independent
She loves the fact that I’m as caring as she is, because she’s super caring,” McAllister said about his daughter
2. Share Stories
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“I feel like there’s so much tension right now,” Melissa said about the world we live in. “People don’t interact. I feel this experience shows how important it is to share good stories. It’s so important to share these stories.”
1. Kindness
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Stories like these truly remind of us the goodness in people. It is so inspiring to see people act with honesty and integrity and get rewarded for it.