--- description: Man gives waitress a 36 dollar tip for hot dogs even though the bill was only 30 dollars because his brother would have turned 36 that day title: The Reason This Man Gave a $36 Tip for Hot Dogs Is Surprisingly Touching image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Reason This Man Gave a $36 Tip for Hot Dogs Is Surprisingly Touching  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Mar 12, 2015 4:37 PM CUT  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Mar 12, 2015 4:37 PM CUT A Tennessee waitress is overwhelmed with gratitude after a customer left her an especially generous tip. ABC’s Good Morning America [reports](https://gma.yahoo.com/tennessee-waitress-receives-tip-brought-tears-her-eyes-204416898--abc-news-Recipes.html "undefined") that an unidentified customer at Mac’s Grub Shak in Spring Hill left a $36 tip for waitress Claire Hudson, 25, even thought the bill only came out to about $30\. She told the network that he left a note on the receipt saying his brother would have turned 36 that day, and “Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy B-day Wes.” Hudson posted the story on the social networks Reddit and Imgur before bed, and when she woke up, it had been viewed more than a million times. The restaurant wants to find the mystery patron so they can find out what toppings Wes liked on his hot dog and name one after him. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/"},"headline":"The Reason This Man Gave a $36 Tip for Hot Dogs Is Surprisingly Touching","datePublished":"2015-03-12T16:37:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:38.009Z","description":"This story has been viewed over a million times on Reddit and Imgur","url":"https://time.com/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"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/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/","name":"The Reason This Man Gave a $36 Tip for Hot Dogs Is Surprisingly Touching"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"History of the Hot Dog","description":"The history of tubular meat goes way back.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FsYX58r5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-03T14:40:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FsYX58r5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/","duration":"PT1M7S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3742398/man-tips-waitress-36-dollars-in-honor-of-deceased-brother/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```