Customer leaves huge tip for bar staff left unable to work due to coronavirus

A good Samaritan has gone viral on social media this week, after leaving a gigantic $2,500 tip for the bar staff who have been left unable to work due to the recent coronavirus pandemic.

With many people around the world retreating into self-imposed isolation, a number of bars and restaurants have shut their doors due to the lack of customers. The Coaches Bar and Grill in Columbus, Ohio, closed indefinitely on Sunday.

Actress Hilary Duff has recently ranted on social media about millennials who have refused to take the virus seriously: 

But one customer later left a $2,500 tip on their $30 cheque and wrote on the bill: "Please split this tab equally between Tara, Nicky, Jim, Liz and Arrun. The tip amount is $2500.00 [sic]"

The restaurant later shared a picture of the tip, and tweeted: "When the going gets tough, the tough stay loyal. This loyal, amazing patron of Coaches on Bethel left the staff a $2500 tip to help lighten the losses during this required closing of Restaurants & Bars in Ohio. [sic]"

It continued: "All credit goes to the anonymous donor, my amazing customers, and my Coaches work family. Let’s all treat each other a little nicer...even when this crazy time passes. Be safe!"

In a later interview with WCMH, restaurant owner Benny Leonard stated: "It brought some of [my employees] to tears. They are going to split it 13 ways and it's going to help them. We are a family and we will get through it together ... An unbelievable act of kindness on a pretty weird day."

He added "We've got unprecedented times going on, we've got people fighting over toilet paper and so on and so forth, and to have a guy show up and care enough about people that give him a beer and a hamburger once in a while, that means a lot. It's humanity at its best."

Last week the World Health Organization granted the coronavirus pandemic status, writing in a statement: "WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."

The statement continued: "Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death."

At the time of writing, there have now been 190,394 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 114 countries worldwide, and a total of 7,257 deaths.