I stole thousands of dollars in change over 2 years working at McDonalds

When I was 16 I got a job at McDonalds. I hated making food and working front counter, so I always told my managers I wanted to be in the back cleaning and taking out trash. They would let me do it every time and I would be happy with the quiet and loneliness of being by myself. My last manager I had was the most lenient one ever and would let me go straight to the back every time. One day while taking out the trash I found a quarter that was on the ground. I picked it up and thought nothing of it until I found a few more quarters. I realized that every time someone threw away a drink with change left in it, it would fall to the bottom of the trash can. I started checking every trash can and found a bunch of change. After a while I started getting lazy and figured I’d just take the trash cans without checking them in the restaurant and check them in the alley behind the restaurant out of view. I had a 5 gallon bucket with a lid that I kept in the alley and I would throw all the change into it.<br><br>Some days I’d take home over $6 worth of change and some days nothing. I always had a fear that someone would get suspicious at how much trash I was actually taking out, so I decided that every 2 weeks I would just dump the bucket into my car in a plastic bag and take it home. It was always so heavy and it felt like a lot. I didn’t count it until I had about 4 buckets worth of change. I actually counted it all and it totaled $438.58. I thought wow, that’s insane and I only count it every 2 months. I continued doing this for 2 years and had almost 15 plastic bags full of change. When I moved out of my mothers house at 18, I counted all of my change and had a total of $4,876.58. I was blown away. It was nothing truly, but since it was just change, it felt like nothing. I used it towards my first car.<br><br>EDIT: I just want to say thank you for the support. I feel really happy and I appreciate it so much. I feel very lucky and fortunate to have such an amazing community. Even if I get backlash I just want to say that it is the internet and everyone has their own opinion. I’m happy that so many people stuck up for me and got me my gold metal. Thank you so much!