Rhode Island waitress speechless after surprise $810 tip
CRANSTON, R.I. (WJAR) — A Rhode Island waitress recently received a generous tip, and the extra cheddar couldn’t have come at a better time for the single mom.
Jennifer Vernancio of North Providence has been a waitress at The Big Cheese & Pub for about three and a half years.
She’s a mother of a 16-year-old and said she has her hands full with her 3-year-old son. She said finding time to take care of them – and bringing in an income at the same time – hasn’t been easy.
“It’s been difficult. However, The Big Cheese works with us no matter what with my schedule,” she said. "My son can’t be around sick kids when it comes to day care and when I can’t get a sitter they say, 'OK, well when you get a sitter come in.' Or they give me another shift to make up for the one I missed. They’re super accommodating.”
"We are just a big family. We try to look out for one another and do what’s best for each other,” said Kim Tierney, who’s been a manager there for 10 years. "Everyone here works very hard, we're one big family and we work very hard to make our day to day operations go."
Last Wednesday, Vernancio was scheduled to come in and open at 11 a.m.
"I was having a terrible morning. I couldn't find a sitter," she said. "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."
Vernancio said she put a smile on her face and hoped her day would turn around.
"My first table of the day was a super, super nice gentleman and his wife," she said. "Stressful morning ended up being an awesome day."
She said the pair ordered some sandwiches, paid their bill and left.
"The gentleman looked over his shoulder and said to have a nice day. I said, 'You too,'" Vernancio said. “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.”’
"She came up to me, she was very taken back is the word I would use,"Tierney said. "She’s like, ‘Kim, Kim, I don’t know. Someone left me a $600 tip.' And I was like, 'Jen, stop.' I pulled the paper out and I said, ‘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 said in her 20 years of working in the restaurant industry, she has never received a tip like that.
"That money, it’s more than a couple of shifts. 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," she said.
"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."
Vernancio said she never got the name of the couple, but the act of kindness is something she will never forget.
She bought her daughter a pair of new shoes, her son is getting a toy police truck, and she will be paying off some bills with the extra money.
“To the gentleman and his wife that left that generous tip, I just want to say thank you so much. It meant a lot," Vernancio said. "The money is 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.”