Waitress $1,000 Tip Denied by Manager, Local Media Ensures She Receives Full Amount
A waitress for a Waffle House restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, was denied a $1,000 tip by her boss after the customer left the tip on his credit card. The manager told the waitress, Shania Brown, that she could not receive a tip so big on a credit card, that it had to be in cash or check. Thankfully, the man who left the tip heard of the story and returned to ensure that Brown received the money.
Brown was working the graveyard shift on Mother's Day when her customer decided to leave her a nice surprise.
"He said, 'I'm going to bless you today,'" Brown told Fox News. "He was just trying to show that there are still good people out there."
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The customer then left Brown a $1,000 tip on his credit card. The money meant a great deal to Brown, who works two part-time jobs and is a single mother. Brown hopes to become an English teacher and is currently taking classes whenever possible, given that she has three children. Unfortunately, the manager of the Waffle House said he could not let Brown have her tip.
"When a guest makes a tip of this size, it is our procedure to refund the tip amount and ask the guest to make the tip in either cash or a check," the Waffle House chain said in a statement.
The customer had not identified himself, leaving her without a way of contacting him or the ability to receive the tip. However, local media learned of Brown's story and managed to track down Brown's benefactor, who wanted to remain anonymous. He then wrote out a check for the same amount, ensuring that Brown received the money he wanted her to have.
"I feel like they stole from me," Brown told the News Observer. "They did exactly what they teach us not to do."
"A lot of servers wait for that day when you get a tip like that, and when I didn't get it, it was very humiliating and heartbreaking," she told Fox.
Josh Shaffer, reporter for the News Observer, encouraged his readers to go to the Waffle House, request Brown's table, and leave her as many tips as possible … in cash and check only, though.
