Generous tip left on a bill at a restaurant

Click here for updates on this story

    PALMERTON, Pennsylvania (WNEP) — The restaurant industry and its employees have been among the hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic.

At Joey B’s in Palmerton, workers have experienced the struggles firsthand.

“It’s been very difficult. We cut back; we cut back our hours drastically. To try and keep 33 people still working here has been very much of a challenge,” said Chip Solt, Joey B’s owner.
The restaurant happened to be short-staffed over the weekend, and servers were working double time.

The hard work was noticed by a group of customers who left $1,300 for a bill that didn’t even cost $100.

Erin McGinley was the server.

“I realized there was a lot of money, and I said to the other waitress, ‘I am going to run inside real quick to Chip and Sherri because this is a lot of money.’ I only thought it was $300, and when we counted, it was $1,300 cash,” said McGinley.

Servers tell Newswatch 16, while the money is great, it was the random act of kindness that really gave them a boost during this difficult time.

“You hear about these stories, sometimes, but not often. Then when it happens in a place where you work, it’s very heartwarming. You immediately feel so grateful and so honored to work here with such a great group of girls because honestly, we work our butts off,” said server Madison Molchan.

“It gave us a nice boost of morale that evening, and it’s still going on. It’s a nice boost of morale that our hard work is being noticed,” said Solt.

The generous tip was split between staff members who were working Saturday night.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.