New York waiter Michael Shafts is a hard-working man, with his three shifts a week at The Ginger Man restaurant in Albany as well as running a business repairing iPhones.
During the dinner service last week, he waited on a man celebrating his 47th birthday with his family and as he was about to clear the table the man’s wife stopped Michael to tell him that her husband had done something nice for him.
Michael couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked at the bill - the man had given him a whopping $1,000 (€744) tip on top of $114 bill!
Shafts told local media he couldn’t fathom what he was seeing.
"It was surreal. I was shaking. I couldn't feel my legs," said Michael.
"I shook his hand, I hugged him twice, and I said it was too much. He insisted, twice, that he wanted to do it, that it was legitimate."
The kind gentleman had also left a message for the waiter on the bill that read: "Pay it forward. My birthday present to me!"
‘Pay it forward’ is the term used for asking the recipient of a good deed to return a nice gesture to others rather then the original benefactor.
The tip was by far the most given to any staff at The Ginger Man in its history and is thought to be around 44 times what Michael would usually expect as a tip.
Michael did pay it forward - he turned up for Saturday night’s shift with envelopes for his fellow staff with a share of his enormous tip for all of them.
The Ginger Man manager Julie Byron told ABC News that the waiter deserved the massive tip.
"He’s a very hardworking young man. I always tell him that he’s my favourite," she said.
"He’s honestly a great guy and it couldn’t have happened to a better person."
Michael used his remaining part of the tip on some much-needed car repairs.
Fair play Michael, what a nice guy!
Hat: Huffington Post.