On “Friends,” Phoebe finds a thumb in a soda-pop can. The discovery happens in “The One with the Thumb,” the third episode of the first season, when Phoebe notices a severed thumb floating in her drink.
The soda company offers Phoebe $7,000 as compensation for the contamination. Phoebe is uncomfortable keeping what she considers undeserved money, so she gives it away. The money then returns to her in increasingly comic ways, creating the episode’s central subplot.
“The One with the Thumb” originally aired on October 6, 1994, during the show’s first season. The episode also features Chandler struggling with his smoking habit and Monica questioning why everyone else likes her new boyfriend more than she does. A common mix-up is remembering that Phoebe found a finger or another body part; the episode specifically identifies it as a thumb, and the title itself is a direct clue.