With the coronavirus cases rising daily in the US the people who are working in the hospitality industry have been facing job losses. Recently, the staff at a restaurant in New Jersey that has been grappling amid the deadly novel virus outbreak were brought to tears as a regular customer left them a $1,000 tip.
Arnold Teixeira, who is the owner of The Starving Artist in Ocean Grove, mentioned that the customer has been a regular in 2001, as reported by CNN. The customer also did not want to reveal his identity. "The customer and his family ate their meal and left without saying a word," Teixeira mentioned. "When the waiter serving them saw the tip, she just started crying. Then another one of my staff members saw it and started crying, too. And then I see it, and I couldn't help but cry. It was just extremely emotional because it's been a really difficult time for us."
Customer Gives $1,000 Tip
The customer was having breakfast last week at The Starving Artist that celebrated the 21st anniversary when he left a huge tip along with a very heartwarming note. "Thank you so much for working through this tough time," the note reads. "We are grateful for your delicious food, warm smiles, and great atmosphere... Please know we appreciate you all very much. It wouldn't be a good summer without the Starving Artist," the tipper further mentioned.
The customer asked that the $1,000 tip be divided among the whole staff, at the end of the note. Teixeira split the amount between the seven staff members, not including himself. The owner of the popular hotspot of the summer crowds mentioned he was not even sure that he will be able to keep the business open after the deadly pandemic forced him to shut down during March.
"Things just kept getting worse. It got to the point where I was preparing for the possibility that we might not be able to reopen again. And now we aren't even making 50% of what we usually bring in the middle of the summer season," Teixeira stated.
"But this tip restored our hope in humanity. It made us feel so good about what we're doing. We go through a lot of steps to protect our customers, and it gets exhausting after a while, but now we know our efforts have actually been noticed."
