--- title: Drunk Customer Leaves 1000 Dollar Tip description: While the customer may return to the restaurant, the staff will undoubtedly be slightly less happy to see him. canonical: https://time.com/4370148/drunk-customer-1000-tip/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-15T18:56:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:24.524Z og:title: A Drunk Customer Left a $1000 Tip. Then He Tried to Take It Back. og:description: While the customer may return to the restaurant, the staff will undoubtedly be slightly less happy to see him. og:url: https://time.com/4370148/drunk-customer-1000-tip/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Drunk Customer Left a $1000 Tip. Then He Tried to Take It Back. twitter:description: While the customer may return to the restaurant, the staff will undoubtedly be slightly less happy to see him. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A Drunk Customer Left a $1000 Tip. Then He Tried to Take It Back. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 15, 2016 6:56 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 15, 2016 6:56 PM UTC Don’t drink and tip. That’s the moral of a story after a man left his waiter a $1,000 [tip](http://time.com/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/?iid=sr-link4) for a memorable meal at Denver’s Thailicious restaurant. As reported by the [_Denver Post_](https://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/14/drunk-customer-leaves-1000-tip-for-colorado-restaurant-thailicious-takes-it-back-next-morning/), the man paid the check for his dinner and tucked the tip into the check holder and left the restaurant. When the waiter picked it up off the table he got an eyeful of $100s. He immediately took the plus-sized tip to the owners. “He said he’d[ read a lot of stories like this,](http://time.com/3922247/amy-schumer-big-tip/?iid=sr-link1) but usually the tip is a couple hundred dollars, not $1,000,” owner Bee Anantatho told the _Denver Post_. “He was so happy.” The owner realized that the customer may have made a mistake, though, and held on to the tip just in case. It was a smart move. As anyone who has scarfed down a [Whopperito](http://time.com/4358274/burger-king-whopperrito-whopper-burrito/?iid=sr-link1) after midnight can attest, drunk people are known to make bad decisions. The next morning the man came back with hat in hand and asked for the money back.“He said, ‘I’m sorry, I was drunk,’ ” said Anantatho. She returned the money to him, and left the waiter a sizable tip of almost $40 on a $60 tab. While the customer may return to the restaurant, the staff will undoubtedly be slightly less happy to see him. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4370148/drunk-customer-1000-tip/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4370148/drunk-customer-1000-tip/"},"headline":"A Drunk Customer Left a $1000 Tip. Then He Tried to Take It Back.","datePublished":"2016-06-15T18:56:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:24.524Z","description":"Big tip, big headache","url":"https://time.com/4370148/drunk-customer-1000-tip/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","restaurants","Denver","food and drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4370148/drunk-customer-1000-tip/","name":"A Drunk Customer Left a $1000 Tip. Then He Tried to Take It Back."}}]}] ```