I stole a coworkers tips and spent it on menstrual products so he wouldn’t have to

I work as a server in a high end restaurant. <br><br>I had a coworker, and he is a very nice and good guy, he’s gay and he goes all out at work. He has a big smile and is never rude to anyone, and he hands people their menus like a little model is handing out their best fashion item. <br><br>He also gets really good tips, and whenever he has a section next to mine, I’ll see people give their check to me and hand him a $20 and a smile. He’s smashed. I don’t get much attention from our male customers so my tips are basically nothing. I’m actually surprised I get any tips at all.<br><br>I was broke one night, and my period came on like a MF. I didn’t have money or tampons at all because I thought I still had time, stupid me. I didn’t have any tampons at all, so I had to go into the bathroom to clean my underwear with paper towels because I was literally bleeding through. The tampon machine was empty. <br><br>There was a $20 on the ground, and in my miserable, bloody state, I thought about how rude the universe is being by putting it there. A few moments later, I had the idea of using that $20 to buy tampons, because I didn’t have money nor did I have a car to go get some. <br><br>I put the $20 in my pocket and went back to work. I didn’t see my good coworker all night, I assumed he got called off after his shift because I didn’t see him around. When I got off work, I was taking out the trash and there he was, passed out drunk on the landing with a black eye and bruised all over. He saw me and told me that two guys pulled him into the parking lot and beat him up for being gay. I got upset and helped him up, brushed off his suit, and took him to the car to go to urgent care. He was drunk but okay. When we got into my car, I realized I had the $20 in my pocket. I asked him if he was in any pain and wanted to stop at CVS for some pain relievers, and he said yes. I parked and went in to get him some water and pain killers and some tampons. I didn’t want him to see the tampons so I hid them behind the water, and it hurt me a little seeing him in pain. I broke down and cried when I got back to the car and put the stuff in the backseat, and I told him that I was upset he got beat up and that it hurt me so much to see him hurt. <br><br>He told me it was okay, and I don’t know if he believed me or not, but he smiled and patted me on the back and said it was okay, and he asked me if I wanted some of the pain killers because I seemed in pain myself, and I said yes because he offered. <br><br>I took two and I felt a little better, but at this point I was still bleeding and in a lot of pain. I thought about asking him if I could use the car to go to the bathroom real quick, but he was in so much pain I didn’t want to hurt him more. So we went to urgent care, and the whole time he never stopped thanking me or asking if I was okay, and I was in tears that whole time from seeing him hurt. At urgent care, I took the painkillers and asked if I could use the bathroom, and I realized I couldn’t wash the blood because I didn’t have tampons, and the whole time I was with him I was bleeding through my underwear and the pain was excruciating. <br><br>When we finished at urgent care, I drove him home, I had to stop at three gas stations to use the bathroom because each time I only had paper towels, but the last gas station I stopped at had a tampon machine. <br><br>I stayed with him that night, I slept on his couch and made sure he was okay and comfortable. He fell asleep and I cried, and in the morning I left and never told him what happened, I didn’t tell him about the tampons, I was too ashamed. <br><br>I don’t know, maybe I didn’t want him to know I stole from him, maybe I was too upset that I took his money, maybe I just didn’t want him to think I was an asshole, i don’t know, but I didn’t tell him. He found out I stayed the night from his mom, who saw my car outside his house. He never said anything about the money, but he never left a $20 out ever again. <br><br>I still don’t know if he knows I stole from him, but I do know he knows I spent the night at his house that night.