Last Thursday, Allison Tolman was having one of those days you'd as soon forget.

The University of Montana student had a final exam at noon and she was already running behind schedule when her car decided not to start. So she called her mom for a ride.

The pair made a quick stop at Shopko on their way to school.

That's where the envelope containing $230 in tips fell out of her pocket.

"So it wasn't a fabulous day," she said. "With my car dying and almost being late for my final and then losing that money on top of it all, it just couldn't have been much worse."

Tolman is working her way through college at The Depot restaurant in Missoula. The money in the envelope was her tips.

"I live off my tips," she said. "I needed that money to pay for my groceries, my gas. It's the money I live off and to not have it especially around Christmas - I was crushed."

And she was positive she would never see it again.

"It was cash," she said. "Who returns cash?"

Allison Tolman, meet Art Andreason.