Customer Gives Waiter More Than $18,000 For Tip For ‘Great’ Service

Aug 18, 2023

A waiter at a fine dining restaurant in Texas left people astounded after revealing the most remarkable tip he has ever received: a staggering $18,000. The awe-inspiring story was shared by the anonymous server, known only as u/Stripperdipper, on the r/Serverlife subReddit.

His since-deleted post, created on Aug. 9, 2023, ignited an outpouring of amazement and admiration from the members of the online communities, who were also stunned by the original poster's good fortune. The unexpected windfall occurred during a 50th birthday celebration at the upscale establishment. The dining party, reveling in an extravagant meal that amounted to $33,557.50, decided to go above and beyond by tipping an additional $18,000 for the serving staff. 

The astonishing gesture was documented via a photo of the receipt, originally shared by u/Stripperdipper. However, the OP's post has since been deleted because the image contained some personal information. 

Despite this, Redditors continued to discuss and debate the waiter’s windfall. The gratuity included on the bill was already a substantial $6,200 for the meal, but an additional tip section provided an opportunity for the patrons to increase this amount. To show their appreciation, the diners chose to add an extra $12,000 to the tip, elevating the overall bill to a jaw-dropping $51,757.50.

In total, the waiter made $18,200 in tips for that one particular table in just one night. The astounding sum was such a shock that it caught the attention of Newsweek, which led to an exclusive interview with the unidentified server. The waiter revealed that this encounter happened in January 2023. While it's not unusual for fancy restaurants to have big bills, the server said that they had never seen such a kind and generous tip before.

"The customer just thanked me for my service and told me everything was great,” the waiter said. “After they had left I went and checked it and I stared at it for a while because I was in disbelief.”

"I thought he had just written an extra zero, but when I saw the total it confirmed it."

The server didn't keep the entire $18,000 tip because he shared it with his colleagues. However, he was still left with a substantial windfall of around $10,000. Online reactions to the story were varied.

"I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking 'It would take over a year of work for me to buy that dinner,'" one commenter said. "OP made close to half my salary in a night. And I'm teaching college and bartending/serving! The US is a weird place."  

"I work in fine dining. This isn't common, but it does happen," another Redditor said. "Yuppies with the company card and no limit. It gets funny when the dining room is full of business parties and tables side by side try to one-up each other to impress their clients." 

“For us poor people, what could possibly be ordered off a menu that would total to $34,000?!" another said.

Another commented, “The idea that someone can drop 50K at dinner is a hard one for me to wrap my head around.”

However, the story also sheds light on why some restaurants are planning to adopt a wage that can support a decent living and do with the practice of tipping, which has come under scrutiny. When people give enough tips to make the wages more than the lowest pay for each hour, how those tips are shared is not very clear and fair as there is no set system for dividing tips.

It's indeed rare to get a tip like this, especially because it's also not easy to land a job at a fine dining restaurant. What would you have done if you got such a tip? Do you know someone who works in the food and service industry? Let them know about this story!