multiple friends dining at a restaurant saluting eachtother with a cheers at the table
Jade Small
Jade Small
January 6, 2022 ·  3 min read

20 Friends Dined at a Mississippi Restaurant. They Each Left a $100 Tip for a Single Mom.

When you’re a waiter, one good tip can change your whole month. One waitress in Mississippi was shown true kindness when a group of patrons worked together to give a huge tip. The end result? Well, she felt blessed and was able to do something nice for her kids.

“Every time you do a good deed you shine the light a little farther into the dark. And the thing is, when you’re gone that light is going to keep shining on, pushing the shadows back.”

charles de lint

Watress Recieves Huge Tip

Most of us would consider a 15% tip to be fair. Those of us who are more generous and understanding usually offer 20% or more. However, one group of friends ended up leaving a tip over $2,000 for a surprised waitress in Mississippi.

The group of 20 friends all decided that they would meet for a Christmas breakfast at their favorite local restaurant. Through text messages, it only took about 30 minutes for the details to be ironed out. Once everyone had the plan, they all met at the Phoenicia Gourmet Restaurant. Sam Sabagh, the restaurant owner, was aware of the plan and took the day off to set things up.

Rules of the restaurant allow for one waitress to serve a maximum of 20 patrons at a table. So, the group of 20 walked in, sat down in their waitress’s section, and ordered their food.

I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.”

Jana Stanfield

Read: 24 Things People With Good Table Manners Don’t Forget to Do

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Ashley Sadler has worked at the Phoenician for over 3 years. in that time, she has become familiar with all of the regular customers. Those who attended the group of 20 that morning were some of her more well-known regular customers.

These people are regulars,” she said. “They come in all the time. They’re like family.”

When it was time to pay the check, the 20 people each added $100 cash for her tip. There were an additional 2 people who couldn’t make it, but who donated $100 each. In total, this brought her tip to $2,200.

“It was amazing,” said Sadler, who cried when she received the tip. “I feel so blessed.

After splitting her share with the busser and the hostess, Ashley was left with $920.

tip photo

Sun Herald

Read: Girl Donates All Her Birthday Money to Homeless Man Who Returned Her Grandma’s Wallet

Ashley is a single mom of four kids. She said she plans to spend the remaining money on her kids. And that’s what she did! Thanks to those kind donations, she was able to provide a great Christmas for her children.

“I get to give them a good Christmas,” she said.

“The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honour heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honour the Pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you. That’s why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.”

RJ Palacio

Keep Reading: Mom Shares $9 Paycheck After Working Over 70 Hours as a Server

Sources

  1. 20 friends dined at a MS Coast restaurant. They each left a $100 tip for a single mom.” Sun Herald. Mary Perez. December 15, 2021