A ketchup thief deeply worried about bad karma may have been onto something after all.
In early August, a restaurant owner found two bottles of ketchup and a note at the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery in Forked River, N.J., that told a strange story. Someone had stolen a bottle of ketchup from the restaurant a few weeks earlier only to be hit with a string of bad luck. They were hoping to fix their karma by returning the ketchup (and a little extra).
The photo made headlines and, it turns out, may have worked.
According to the note, someone crashed into the ketchup thief’s car soon after taking the bottle (which reportedly kicked off the string of bad luck). This eventually prompted them to return two large bottles of Heinz Ketchup to the restaurant.
Apparently, Heinz found out about the story and tweeted out a message. “Reformed Ketchup Thief,” they began, “We get it, Heinz makes you do crazy things. In honor of your good Ketchup Karma, we’d love to help you with your car damages. DM us. We’ll keep your identity top secret.”
It may have taken a few days, but it looks like the reformed thief’s karma is back in order.
Heinz followed up their original tweet with the message, “Great News! We found the Reformed Ketchup Thief. Thank you to all who helped get the word out.”
Meanwhile, the restaurant’s manager, Charlene Reebe, told the NY Post that she forgives the customer and claimed that she would “hire her in a second.”
“Because if you do something like that, you’re not an awful person,” she told the Post. “You’re an honest person.”