Acts of Kindness
Waitress sees $2k tip on tab just before her manager says she’ll “never get it”
This could have all been handled very differently. Thankfully, there were still blessings in store for Emily.
Jessica Adler
03.02.23

Anyone in the service industry can tell you that they’re not in it for the hourly.

The real pay is in tips.

Tips account for the majority of their paycheck and their financial welfare depends on the generosity of others based on the quality of their service.

Thus, it pays to be hospitable. That’s why when 21-year-old Texas waitress Emily Bauer got a remarkably generous tip, she counted it as a major blessing.

Then her manager burst her bubble of joy before she could even let the fact that someone gave her the biggest tip of her life sink in.

Flickr - Tom Driggers
Source:
Flickr - Tom Driggers

It was a busy Sunday

Emily was working a busy Sunday in Red Hook Seafood and Bar in San Antonio, where she had only been a server for about two weeks.

The service was taking longer than usual, as Emily’s area was completely full of diners.

Flickr - Alpha
Source:
Flickr - Alpha

A nice man

She made sure to apologize repeatedly to each customer, and one man, in particular, was especially nice to her.

“He was like ‘It’s okay, I’ve owned restaurants and I understand how it is to be a server.’ I was like ‘thank you for understanding,’” Emily told The Post.

YouTube - KENS 5
Source:
YouTube - KENS 5

Some more time went by, and the man grew impatient of waiting. But instead of putting in a complaint, he did the total opposite.

The man asked for his drinks to be canceled, however, he still requested a receipt.

It was only as he left the restaurant that Emily realized he had left her a $2,000 tip, with a sweet little message: “Merry Christmas! Keep working hard!”

YouTube - KENS 5
Source:
YouTube - KENS 5

Shocked by his receipt

Naturally, Emily was completely overjoyed to have received such a huge amount of money.

Her thoughts immediately turned to her two children, who are two and five months old, and she began to dream of giving them a truly magical Christmas.

“I was like ‘oh my gosh’ and I started crying. I was like ‘wow’ and I tried seeing if he was still at the restaurant but he had left already,” Emily recalled. “The first thing that I thought of was my kids. I would be able to finally have a Christmas to give them whatever they want or whatever they need.”

YouTube - KENS 5
Source:
YouTube - KENS 5

Then the manager chimed in.

But sadly, Emily’s dreams were about to come crashing down. As the other servers congratulated her, Emily’s manager walked over and delivered some bad news.

“He said, ‘Rule No. 1. Never accept a tip like that because you’re never going to get it,’” Emily said.

YouTube - KENS 5
Source:
YouTube - KENS 5

The manager explained that their restaurant could only accept tips of up to $500, but when Emily’s colleagues suggested breaking the tip down into four separate payments of $500, he still refused.

It was unclear why this suggestion was turned down.

The generous customer noticed his account.

Apparently, the man called and asked why the tip wasn’t being processed.

“He said that he left a generous tip and wanted to see if I received it but she said that they couldn’t process it,” Emily recalled. “He said ‘I don’t understand why it’s not being taken out if I have that money in my account.”

YouTube - KENS 5
Source:
YouTube - KENS 5

Emily then asked if she could call back the man and thank him for his kindness, but once again, the manager refused, claiming that the restaurant didn’t have his contact number.

This tip would be a blessing. It had been a rough year for Emily and her family The whole experience left Emily feeling hugely disappointed.

Their family had been “praying for something like this.”

“It’s been really hard to look for a job. My boyfriend was working but got laid off because of COVID,” Emily said. “For somebody to just block my blessings, it’s just like what can I do about it?”

Thankfully, it was all a misunderstanding

YouTube - KENS 5
Source:
YouTube - KENS 5

The manager never intended to burst Emily’s bubble, only to inform her of what would come. The bank itself wouldn’t process the full payment as it only processes $500 in tips.

Without the customer’s contact information, the tip would be lost.

The good news is that, as time rolled on and the tip failed to be processed, the owner of the restaurant Emily works at offered to “process” the tip himself by giving it to her out of his own wallet.

He acknowledged that the tip was left for Emily and that she deserved to get it, so he made sure that she did.

Learn more about Emily’s amazing tip in the videos below!

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