This waitress received a huge tip from customers, but it wasn’t there that their generosity ended…
If you’re working in service and hospitality you expect to be tipped, that’s just how it goes, but not normally to the extent these generous folk went to…
Cayla Chandara was serving two women and a 10-year-old girl, at Noi Thai Cuisine, in Santa Rosa, California, when the pair decided to hand her a hefty tip, CBS news reports.
The 21-year-old student – who also works at the rather more appealing sounding Cheesecake Factory (that can’t be too bad right?) – started chatting to the pair and revealed her hopes of going back to study.
She revealed to the friends how she had moved from Waikiki, Hawaii to the West Coast of America in order to gain enough earnings to back to college.
When she went to clear the table, she saw they’d left behind a whopping $400 (£320) tip.
She told CBS News:
I was then at a loss for words and all I wanted to do was hug them.
Taken aback by their huge gift, the hopeful student decided to visit their hotel to thank them in person for their kindness.
She explained:
I genuinely wanted to say thank you. I sent a thank you letter saying how much it meant to me.
She gave the note to reception and left thinking she wouldn’t see them again, but the next night, the couple had something even more unexpected planned for her.
To Cayla’s utter surprise, one of the women and the young girl came back to the restaurant and told the waitress they wanted to give her $10,000 (£8,000) to pay off her student debt.
Cayla recalled:
I initially told them I couldn’t take that offer, but they insisted that it would be just as great for them to do it for me.
They told me the best way to thank them is to be my best possible self, dream big and strive for my goals.
Cayla has now said she can pay off her debts and go on to study, guilt free.
That was quite some gift. I’ve heard about kindness from strangers, but jeez, that’s something else…
