(UPI) An employee at a Kentucky grocery store picked up what he thought was a piece of trash on the floor and discovered it was a $1,000 money order.

Terry Rush, a greeter who has worked at the Dixie Highway Kroger store for about a year, said he was cleaning up inside the store when he made an unexpected discovery.

"I'm old," Rush told WDRB-TV. I hate seeing trash on the floor, and I'm always picking it up.

Rush said he quickly discovered the slip of paper on the floor was more valuable than the usual trash he picks up -- it was a $1,000 money order.

"A bare check, which anybody could've cashed," he said. And I immediately took it to the service desk.

A man called the store a short time later to report losing the money order. The caller said he was shocked to learn someone had turned it in, and he wanted to thank Rush in person.

"He contacted the store," Rush said. Everything else was up to him. He rifled through and found out who I was and came up to talk to me. He was quite emotional.

Rush said the man was in tears as he thanked him.

"I'm not ashamed to say it," Rush said. I cried too.

Rush said he feels that he was only doing his job.

"It's what this job is meant to do," he said. That's what really this is all about. When times get tough, we need to be a little nicer. And that's all it is.

Employees of Vietnam Airlines recently facilitated a similar reunion between a forgetful customer and some valuable lost property. The flight crew was cleaning the plane after a flight from Hanoi to Da Nang when they found a wallet containing $45,000 cash.

The crew took their discovery to the airport's lost and found counter, where employees were able to use identifying information from the wallet to contact the grateful owner.

Copyright 2021 by United Press International