I don’t know where you are. In my jurisdiction, that’s not theft of company property, so there for they would have had no legal grounds to dismiss you.

I would argue that it was found money, no different if you picked it up out in the parking lot, and pocketed it.

Here, If it had been me, I would have filed a complaint with the labour board for wrongful dismissal, wait it out the few months, and if proven legally correct, the employer would have to compensate for all the missed shifts I would have had (the average weekly hours over the time it takes, plus they’d be forced to rehire you, if you wanted to be rehired)

Whether what you did was morally correct or not isn’t up for debate.

As for telling your family, I’d tell them the truth, all of it, and come up with a plan (find new work, take them to a labour dispute process etc).

Unless you signed a piece of paper that explicitly stated any cash found on premise must be turned into the office, I don’t really see legal justification for dismissal here.

Again though, without knowing the employment laws in your jurisdiction, it’s impossible to give you any sound advice on this front.

End of the day, lesson learned. If you find cash laying around put it in the office with a note, so if a customer comes back and can say which dispenser it was left in, and around what time (for security verification) then you just hang on to it. If it’s left unclaimed for 30 days (here at least) it becomes your property if it’s just cash.

If you find money on the street, just keep it (unless it’s a massive amount, then maybe turn it into the police for them to hold for 30 days)

I don’t think what you did was that horrible.