Advertisement

Bar Owner Pays Out-Of-Work Staff $3,714 With Cash That Was Stapled To Walls

A Georgia business owner’s problem-solving skills were right on the money.

Jennifer Knox, who owns The Sand Bar in Tybee Island, decided to take down the thousands of dollar bills papering the interior of her establishment and give them to her staff members, who have been unemployed ever since the coronavirus outbreak caused the local watering hole to temporarily close down.

Knox told Savannah news station WTOC that customers would often write a little memory that they made at The Sand Bar on a dollar bill — like an anniversary date or a proclamation of love — and then staple it to the wall, making for some truly unique and sentimental decor.

But ever since COVID-19 became a pandemic, there haven’t been many new memories made inside the quirky dive bar that Knox runs with her mother, Pam Hessler.

The exterior of The Sand Bar. (Photo: Google Streetview)
The exterior of The Sand Bar. (Photo: Google Streetview)

That was until Knox had her epiphany in late March.

“We literally had money on the walls and time on our hands,” Knox told WTOC of the moment she had the idea. “There was not a more perfect time to give back to my people.”

Shortly thereafter, five volunteers spent three and a half days gingerly peeling weathered dollar bills off of The Sand Bar’s walls, CNN reports. It took another week and a half to clean the bills and count the cash. When it was all done, the stacks of money that snaked across the bar’s countertop collectively came out to $3,714.

Many of the bar’s customers caught wind of Knox’s altruism and decided to donate to her cause, bumping her total up to $4,104 to divvy up between her employees. Knox told CNN she was able to give four bartenders and two musicians $600 each.

Knox’s mom, Hessler, has a pretty sweet way of looking at the situation.

“Each one is a little message of love,” Hessler told WTOC of the bills. “And now we can give that love in return.”

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.