Chinese Student Rewarded for His Honesty After Accidentally Hitting BMW
Thankfully, the damage done to the BMW was not this extensive
Photo: Irish Typepad
One of the most awkward situations that motorists can find themselves in is accidentally hitting and scratching a parked vehicle. Unfortunately, many drivers will flee the scene without so much as an apology letter. However, for every one of those drivers, there is usually a driver who will own up to their mistake.
For example, one Chinese high-school student attempted to make amends after accidentally damaging a parked BMW vehicle. For his efforts, the student was rewarded in a big way.
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Chen Yifan, a high school sophomore, was delivering food to a customer when he received a call from work, asking him to make another delivery. However, heading out for that second delivery, Chen accidentally hit a nearby BMW vehicle, leaving a noticeable scratch.
Not one to be a bad employee, Chen completed his second food delivery. Immediately afterwards, he returned to the scene of the accident. Because he could not find the owner of the BMW, Chen instead attached a letter and 300 yuan in cash, the equivalent of $44, to the vehicle.
The letter read:
“Uncle, I’m sorry. I accidentally bumped into your car last night when I was driving an electric tricycle. I have all together over 300 yuan ($44), and give it to you as a compensation. I know the money was not enough, but that’s all the money I have. I feel really sorry for the accident.”
In this case, the word “Uncle” is used as a sign of respect. Although it would have been quite ironic if Chen had accidentally scratched his own uncle’s BMW.
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Regardless, Xue Zhanmin, the owner of the BMW, found the note and the money in the morning. Xue was so touched by the letter and Chen’s honesty that he asked a local traffic officer to help him find Chen.
When Xue eventually did find Chen, he not only returned the 300 yuan to the boy, but also gave him 10,000 yuan, or the equivalent of $1,453, as a reward
Now imagine 100 of these yuan bills
“I wanted to return all the 311 yuan, and I wanted to give him some financial support,” Xue said.
It is often said that honesty is the best policy, a fact that is proven true by Chen’s story.
News Source: CNN
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