We love a good story about super-generous tips, and today's is especially sweet. Every server works hard for their earnings, and a lot of people deserve a surprise bonus. But when you hear this waitress' story you see what makes it different. This is a tip that she's bound to pay forward for years. A diner left Cracker Barrel waitress Abigail Sailors a $5,000 tip -- but that money isn't to pay for her day-to-day expenses. It's for a very specific purpose.
The anonymous tippers (there were two, actually) asked to be seated in a section of the restaurant's grumpiest server. But since there was no grumpiest server (what? really?) they were seated with the happiest. Except you wouldn't think this young woman would be the happiest. This is a young lady who was in and out of foster homes as a child. She suffered abuse. Finally, a loving couple took her in and raised her into the positive, resilient 18-year-old Abigail is now.
Abigail has big plans. She's been studying psychology and ministry at Trinity Bible College in North Dakota. But after her first semester she didn't have enough money to continue her studies -- which is what brought her to waitressing at Cracker Barrel.
Well, you can probably guess what happened. One of the diners left Abigail $5,000 to pay a semester's worth of tuition. The other diner left $1000 to pay for incidentals. This, for simple meals of turkey with dressing and eggs with sausage. And then they left an additional $100 to split with the other servers.
What I love about this story is that it will enable Abigail to return to school and hopefully become a minister, or find her way to another occupation where she's helping people. I think that's one the best kind of gifts you can give -- the kind that will benefit others, not just the recipient. We come across a lot of great tipping stories, but this one is special for that reason.
If someone left you a huge tip when you were 18, what would you have done with it?
Image via Robert S. Donovan/Flickr