It’s Not Hazard Pay But It’s Still Pretty Sweet

I work in a restaurant. We open for dine-in one Monday, and we have to close again nine days later — which is fine by me. I only work Sundays, and this Sunday is a confused mess. Only a cook and I are scheduled to deal with tables and take away service. The phone is ringing nonstop and my boss has to step in even though he is eating with family in our bar.

All my tables are lovely and happy to be out and relaxing for the first time in months. One table, a mother and daughter, are super friendly, kind, and easy-peasy. When they come to pay, everything is normal.

Mother: “This is our first time out since lockdown started in March. We’ve never been here before and we had a wonderful time!”

Then, she completes her payment on the machine. She enters $100 into the tip amount. I stop and double-check it.

Mother: “We decided that we wanted to do this, before the next lockdown. We had such a great time out, and we feel good about this amount. We know how important it is to support local businesses.”

I didn’t cry — because phones were ringing and my brain was scrambled — but I did thank them and thank them and thanked them some more.

I never thought such a gift would be given to me by a stranger. I only wish I could tell her how needed that extra money was — how I could pay for my expensive meds, buy my family essential items, and not worry about checking my bank every day for a while. The good in this world is sometimes too good. Keep it up, servers. Some out there do appreciate you more than you know.