Iowa Couple Receives “Terrible” Service, Gives $100 Tip Anyway

An Iowa couple went out for an anniversary dinner and wound up having an awful experience, but decided to throw a little love to an overworked waiter anyway by giving him a $100 tip, and now the photo of their receipt has gone viral.

Steven and Makenzie Schultz of Cedar Rapids, Iowa hired a babysitter and headed out to an unnamed restaurant for their anniversary dinner. At the restaurant, they found complaining customers, long waits and overworked staff. At one point, according to CNN, another customer ran up to the hostess booth to tell other potential customers to turn around and go somewhere else. Once they got seated, their bad experience was far from over, according to People.

“Our service tonight sucked. Took 20 minutes to get water, 40 minutes for an appetizer and over an hour for our entree. People all around us were making fun of the restaurant & how bad the service was. Yeah, it was pretty terrible.”

The Iowa couple soon found out the reason for their problems: one overworked waiter who had 12 tables to manage as well as tending bar.

Having been in similar circumstances themselves, the Iowa couple decided that the best thing to do, rather than complain, was to send some positive thoughts into the universe and pay it forward to the overworked waiter, via a $100 tip.

On the receipt, next to the $100 tip, Makenzie wrote a note of encouragement to the waiter.

“We’ve both been in your shoes. Paying it forward.”

Makenzie posted a picture of the $100 tip receipt on her Facebook feed, hoping that the act of kindness would encourage friends to do the same.

“I’m just sharing this as a friendly reminder to think of the entire situation before you judge. And always always always remember where you came from.”

However, news of the $100 tip quickly went viral, and as of this post, has over a million “Likes” and over 150,000 “shares.”

“Steven and I agreed it would feel good to make this guy’s night when he would probably be getting minimal to no tips due to slow service.”

The $100 tip photo is a bit of positive news, especially considering the current trend known as “tip-shaming,” in which service staff post photos of their bad tips on social media to shame the person who stiffed them. For example, a photo showing a 20-cent tip left by NFL player LeSean McCoy recently went viral, according to this Inquisitr report. Fortunately for the stiffed waiter, Charlie Sheen stepped in and offered to pay the waiter $1,000.

Have you ever given or received a $100 (or otherwise really huge) tip? Let us know below.

[Image courtesy of: ABC News]