A WAITER at a New York City pizzeria returned a US$424,000 cashier’s check to a woman who accidentally left it behind and didn’t leave a tip.

Waiter Armando Markaj came across an envelope containing a cashier’s check while cleaning a table at Patsy’s restaurant in Harlem on May 4.

Karen Vinacour, a retired social worker, left the money behind while eating lunch with her daughter at Patsy’s. Vinacour brought along the cashier’s check as a down payment to buy a condo in the neighborhood.

Then she accidentally left the check on her table before leaving the restaurant.

“I’m happy for her, really. Saturdays are pretty busy, and I was very close to taking everything left on the table and throwing it out when I saw an envelope,” Markaj, 27, told the New York Daily News in a report Friday.

Despite not receiving a tip from Vinacour for his service, Markaj gave the check to Patsy’s owner for safe keeping.

“Normally we just put things left behind in the lost and found box in the back,” Markaj said. “But I wasn’t going to do that with almost half a million dollars.”

“I’m so grateful that the insult that we gave him did not prevent him from doing the right thing,” Vinacour said.

Vinacour returned to Pasty’s a few days later to pick up her check.

“I’m glad we had it here for you,” Markaj said. “It would have been dramatic for a lot of people. She was in tears. She was super excited that someone had found it and kept it.” (SD-Agencies)