One customer's heartfelt gesture to a team of servers in Michigan has sadly ended in heartache.
Over the weekend, it was reported that the staff members at the Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor were met with an act of random kindness after a customer tipped waitress Linsey Boyd a whopping $10,000.
The extraordinary tip was left by a customer known only as Mark - who visited the restaurant two Mondays ago. Mark's 30,835% tip on his modest $32.43 tab left manager Tim Sweeney in a state of "absolute disbelief" when he saw the check.
"Typically, we’ll see every now and then $100 [tips], but not ever anything of this gratitude or magnitude," he shared with The Hill.
Paige Mulick - another server who was working that day - revealed that Mark had been in town for a funeral, and left the generous tip "in memory of a friend who had recently passed".
Paige and the restaurant opted to distribute the generous tip among its staff members - with each receiving a share amounting to a little over $1,100. As a recent college graduate grappling with student loans, Mulick expressed her gratitude for the unexpected windfall, especially recognizing the hard work of her colleagues, many of whom are dedicated mothers. "We work hard. We know that some days you’re going to make more and some days you’re going to make less," she said.
However, this tale of goodwill has sadly turned sour.
Boyd has now claimed that she was dismissed from her job due to the ensuing "drama, animosity, and hurt" caused by the tip.
At the time of the tip, Boyd had told the Detroit Free Press: "I just gave [Mark] a hug. I didn't even know his name at that point, but I gave him a hug."
But in a now-deleted Facebook post, Boyd claims she was fired over the fallout from the tip, claiming she was asked to take a day off and later received a termination phone call on February 13.
However, restaurant owners Able Martinez and Jayme Cousins refuted Boyd's allegations, asserting her dismissal was unrelated to the tip.
"We cannot comment on the nature of her losing her job due to labor laws and to protect the staff involved," the owners stated in a Facebook post. "However, I will say it had nothing to do with the tip."
Cousins reiterated that Boyd's termination was a business decision and not taken lightly. "We have a staff that has continued to work for us for years and college kids that come back every summer, and we give chances after chances to our staff, so we clearly would not let someone go for no reason at all," Cousins emphasized to WOOD-TV.
Since sharing their response on the restaurant's Facebook page, many comments are suggesting that there are three sides to this story - the restaurant's side, Boyd's side, and the truth.
