- By Poorva Karki
- Mon, 19 Feb 2024 02:13 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Just a few days ago, a picture of a receipt went viral on social media, reminding netizens of the generosity that is still very much alive among people. A man, Mark (Last name unrevealed), left everyone shocked after he gave a USD 10,000 (over Rs 8 lakh) tip to her server at the Mason Jar Cafe. The said cafe, in southern Michigan’s Benton Harbor, was at a loss for words seeing the hefty amount. In fact, to show their gratitude towards the generous customer, the cafe shared about the incident on its social media handle.
As per the post, the ‘life-changing act’ came as a major boost for the employees, as the tip was reportedly shared among the 9 workers in the restaurant, leaving each one of them with a sum of USD 1,100 (Over Rs 91,295). What left the people further awestruck was the fact that the bill, without the tip, only cost USD 32.43 (over Rs 2,691).
As per the reports, the kind act was done in memory of a ‘recently departed friend’, for whose funeral, Mark was in the town. The post regarding the tip soon went viral and garnered coutless positive and appreciative reactions.
It was shared on the social media platform Instagram, on the cafe’s handle, ‘Mason Jar Cafe’, with the caption, “I’M CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING, WE’RE ALL CRYING. Yesterday a customer came into the Mason Jar for breakfast and left one of our servers a $10,000 tip! The server even shared the tip amongst the other staff to continue to spread the love.”
“I hope this server includes the kitchen staff. Without the hard work of a kitchen no server would even have a job,” said a user who commented on the viral post. “This is amazing love for this place,” added a second. “So awesome, well deserved!!!” added next.
Check out the viral post:
View this post on Instagram
However, just a few days after the tipping incident, the cafe made a comeback in the headlines, only this time, the reason was not so good. A mere week after the incident, the restaurant reportedly fired the said server who was given the enormous tip, Linsey Boyd. As per the report, the generous man, Mark, himself asked Boyd to share the tip with the rest of the employees.
According to a now-deleted Facebook post by Boyd, the restaurant began to treat her differently soon after the tipping incident. She was asked to take a mental day off on Sunday, which was then stretched to another day as well, leaving Boyd a bit suspicious. On asking if the restaurant was letting her go in a ‘professional’ manner, she was later fired on Tuesday via a call, as per WSBT-TV.
“One week I’m such an amazing, hardworking employee, awesome mother … couldn’t have happened to a better person,” the post by Boyd reportedly read. “Now, I’m without a job, for the first time since I was 15 years old,” the post read further.
As soon as the claims began to do rounds on the internet, the restaurant switched to their ‘damage control’ mode and began to clarify the matter. According to the cafe’s latest post on the matter, the firing had nothing to do with the tip.
“We can not comment on the nature of her losing her job due to labor laws and to protect the staff involved. However, I will say it had nothing to do with the tip. She did receive the entire tip, but she did not pay taxes on it (the business did). Yes, she shared the tip at the request of the man that left it,” the latest post on the cafe’s Instagram handle read.
View this post on Instagram
“We do truly care about our staff. We’ve had the same crew for 5-6 years. We have college girls that come home every summer and have been for four years now, we take our staff up north at the end of every summer season, we give donations for college funds for them, we keep them employed through Covid, we do everything in our power not to lose staff,” the cafe further clarified.
However, the explanation surely did not do what the cafe owners had intended it to do, as most people still questioned their decisions and chastised the cafe owners for lauding the incident and then firing the server.
“Idk this is the second major drama you’ve had in the last 2 years … starting to seem like a pattern,” a comment read. “Yup, this is why people don't like working for businesses like yours,” said a second. “It's a shame an act of kindness turned into all this. The tipper will think twice before doing anything nice again,” added next.
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Meanwhile, Boyd left the town for a few days to stay with her family, as per reports by WNDU.