It can feel like everything is set against you when you’re having a particularly bad day, but the right person can turn it all around in a moment.
Waitress Jennifer Vernancio experienced that emotional about-face last month when she was working a tough shift at the Big Cheese & Pub in Cranston, Rhode Island.
On May 4, the difficulties started early for the waitress, who’d worked at the pizza joint for three-and-a-half years, according to WJAR-TV in Providence.
“I was having a terrible morning,” said Vernancio, mom to a 16-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. “I couldn’t find a sitter. There was a kid at day care that was sick so I couldn’t bring my son.
“I was supposed to be in at 11. They told me to come in when I have a sitter, so my daughter was available after school. That’s when I came in.”
[firefly_embed]
[/firefly_embed]
When the single mother finally got to work much later than intended, she put on a brave face and started doing her job — and her very first customers turned out to be the most generous she’d ever had in her 20 years of food service.
“My first table of the day was a super, super nice gentleman with his wife,” Vernancio told WJAR. “Stressful morning ended up being an awesome day.”
The couple ordered some salads and sandwiches and their bill came out to a modest $48.17 — but the tip they left was so much more.
“The gentleman looked over his shoulder and said, ‘Bye, have a nice day,'” Vernancio recalled. “I said, ‘You too.’
“I go over to pick up the check, I don’t even know. They left me an $810 tip. I’m like, are you kidding? This can’t be.
“I brought it to my manager and at first I’m like, ‘This can’t be.’ She’s like, ‘Oh no, that’s it.'”
[firefly_embed]
[/firefly_embed]
Manager Kim Tierney took a look at the bill and surprised Vernancio even more since the waitress initially thought the tip was $600.
“She came up to me, she was very taken back is the word I would use,” Tierney said. “She was like, ‘Kim, Kim. Someone left me a $600 tip.’ And I was like, ‘Jen, stop.’
“And I kinda pulled the paper out, I said, ‘Well, I have better news for you, it’s not $600 it’s an $800 tip.’ … She was like, ‘I’m going to pass out.'”
Vernancio was overwhelmed by the generous gesture.
“That money, it’s more than a couple of shifts,” she said. “I mean it helps out, everything helps out, but that is more than money, it’s just true kindness. Honestly, I believe and spread it everywhere, I go for the law of attraction.”
Vernancio planned to buy new shoes for her teen and a police truck for her son and pay off some bills with the remainder of the tip money.
Surprise $810 tip leaves Cranston pizza restaurant waitress speechless https://t.co/BUKNS09dLj
— Jeannie II (@Genie2ofBaghdad) May 14, 2022
“It was just very kind of them people don’t realize what a difference it makes,” Tierney said. “There are angels out there. It makes a difference in someone’s life you know. Sometimes, the little gesture of kindness can go a long way or a lot of gesture of kindness in this aspect, but it goes a long way and you never know what someone is going through.”
While Vernancio doesn’t know the customers’ names, she’ll certainly remember them for a long time to come.
“To the gentleman and his wife that left that generous tip, I just want to say thank you so much. It meant a lot,” she said. “The money is very, very much appreciated. It helps out no matter what.
“However, the kindness behind it and making my day from going a little hectic to that kind of a tip made me smile the rest of the day.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
