Flatbread faux pas: elderly man in China pays US$760 for snacks worth 70 US cents, forgets for 8 days, shocking social media
- 83-year-old typed in wrong number when making digital payment then disappeared for more than a week
- Honest bakery boss launches search for customer, alerts police before elderly man returns and gets his money back
The plight of an elderly man in China who paid a bakery 5,555 yuan (US$760) for six flatbreads which should have cost him just five yuan (70 US cents) has shocked mainland social media.
An online stir was created when the owner of the bakery in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province, Zhang Dayong, issued a search notice for the over-paying customer via several media outlets on August 27.
Zhang said he was shocked to discover a WeChat payment of 5,555 yuan on the morning of August 21. His flatbreads only cost one yuan each, and his daily income normally peaks at 2,000 yuan (US$275).
He realised instantly that one of his customers had typed in the wrong amount when making a digital payment. With no access to the payer’s information other than the name of the bank via which the payment was made, Zhang decided to wait.
“I thought whoever made the payment would soon come back to claim it,” Zhang said.
However, three days passed and no-one showed up, so Zhang became anxious.