Waffle House Doesn’t Let Customer Leave $1,000 Tip for Single Mom Waitress

A Waffle House policy has come under scrutiny after a customer could not put a $1,500 tip on his credit card bill at a Raleigh location, ABC 11 and News & Observer report.

Around 3:00 a.m. on Mother’s Day, this Good Samaritan told Shania Brown, a single mother of three who works the night shift, to keep the $1,000 for herself and give the $500 to another woman in the restaurant at the time.

However, Waffle House policy does not allow customers to leave super-sized tips that way in case they change their minds, so they are refunded, and Good Samaritans have to leave them in cash or write a check, a Waffle House spokesperson told News & Observer. After going back and forth with management, Brown got a call from the mysterious customer last week, who told ABC 11 and News & Observer that he is a local businessman who wants to remain anonymous. He wrote her a check for the $1,000.

As a News & Observer columnist wrote, “You don’t put up roadblocks to charity. You don’t make it hard for people to be nice.”