Is it just us or are there two types of restaurant stories these days? There are the ones where someone refuses to tip a waiter or waitress for some stupid, arbitrary reason, and then there are the stories where someone receives a ridiculously gigantic tip.
Well, a waitress at a Tennessee Waffle House was surprised when she saw what was written in the tip line on the receipt of one of the customers.
Lauren Ball, from Kingsport, Tennessee, was broke after spending for her 2-year-old son’s birthday party. She wanted to make as much money as possible because she was set to leave on vacation with her father to Florida.
Being polite and hospitable to her customers, Ball engaged in a conversation with them, discussing their fondness for the “Harry Potter “ story and mentioning that her father’s plan to bring her and her son, Colton White, for a vacation on the beach as a gift to her for graduating in college at National College in Bristol, Tennessee.
“I was ready to go home, I didn’t even want to wait on him, but I was the only waitress working,” Ball told her local ABC station.
The 21-year-old had no clue, however, what was about to happen.
After he’d finished his meal, the customer paid his bill for $24.29 and made his way out. It was only after he’d left that Ball realized that he’d left a $600 tip (roughly 2500% of the bill). The on-duty cook followed the man outside to make sure a mistake hadn’t been made only to be told, “I just like to do things for nice people.”
The customers who gave her the money checked up on her during her vacation to make sure she received the tip and to see if everything was going well on their trip.
“I was pretty bummed to think that my dad was going to have to pay for everything at the beach, but then this happened,” Ball said. “I can’t believe the timing.”The fact that someone would do something so nice for me, it’s just the craziest thing to me,” Ball said. “I can’t thank them enough.”
Unexpected beautiful things truly come to nice people who are doing their best for their families and working very hard to make them happy. Ball said that she will never forget the man’s kind gesture. She says that she hopes to one day be able to pay it forward and do something nice for a stranger herself.
Sources: OpposingViews, Kingsport Times-News, WJHL