Struggling waitress told couple about her toddler and their response on the receipt left her speechless: 'Once in a lifetime thing'
A good tip can be extremely helpful for people in the service industry. But sometimes, such tips are not only useful, but also life-changing. Something similar happened to a waitress named Manhattan Deming, who shared her story with a couple she was serving during a Sunday shift. She talked to them about her daughter and had not expected the surprise they gave her at the end of their meal, per WTAP. Deming shared how a couple randomly left a substantial tip for her.
Deming had started working at a local eatery called DaVinci's Restaurant in Williamstown, West Virginia, earlier this year. She was waiting tables on a Sunday when a couple started asking her questions as she served them. In that moment, she decided it would be okay to share things with them. "I told them about my daughter since they had told me that they had sons and we were talking about how kids are just a blessing," she recounted. "They asked me if I had goals, and I said, of course, I’d love to be a nurse one day. That was my goal before I had been pregnant and things just got slow." She told them she planned to return to school once it was feasible for her. But after the couple finished their meal, the waitress saw the tip they had left for her and she couldn't believe what had just happened.
"And when he handed me back the receipt, I said, 'What? What is this? What does this say?' And he said that it says $2000," Deming recounted. "I broke down right there. I couldn't hold it in. That's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for somebody to receive such a blessing." It took quite some time for Deming to accept what had happened. It was a chance for her to return to school, pursue her dreams and create a better life for herself and her daughter, Journey. Deming worked as a Patient Care Technician on the Labor and Delivery floor of a hospital for a few years after her daughter was born. But because the schedule was not working for her, she switched to being a server.
"I feel like the lord has just been telling me with this job that good things happen, good things come to those who wait," Deming expressed. "I am on the right path, I feel like being here has done nothing but better me as a server, as a human being and even as a mother." Previously, she struggled with her car and phone and could only contact people with the help of WiFi. Because of that, she had to wait to find WiFi whenever she wanted to check on her daughter. "Just awesome to know that I can fix that, I can receive a call that isn't like just an emergency call to DaVinci's about my daughter. I can get a text update," the mom pointed out. "Hey, she had this to eat and she loved it. You know, just little things you take for granted."
The restaurant's owner, Chris Bender, felt that Deming totally deserved the tip as she has an exceptional way of connecting with the customers. "To the couple that came in here and blessed me like that, I hope that your life is filled with nothing but happiness and good things," the waitress remarked. She planned to use the money as a cushion for nursing school. "If I get the financial aid from the programs that they offer at the college and I'm able to have that cushion, I might use it while I'm in school if I have to take a little more time off work or something like that." She added, "I will use it to pay my rent or my bills, maybe while I'm in school or get some more clothes for Journey in that time period, while she's growing." She plans to use the money carefully and for what it was "intended for."