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A guest left a tip of $ 10,000 to staff at a Florida restaurant on Tuesday.
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“He said he appreciated what they had been through,” the owner of Wahoo Seafood told Newsweek.
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Restaurant staff have faced outbreaks of COVID, customers without masks, and longer hours during the pandemic.
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See more stories on the Insider business page.
A guest left a tip of $ 10,000 at a seafood restaurant in Gainesville, North Florida, CBS4 first reported.
Shawn Shepherd, the owner of Wahoo Seafood, told Newsweek the diner requested to see the 10 restaurant staff who were working during his visit on Tuesday.
“He said he appreciated that they had come forward and what they had been through,” Shepherd said. “He said he wanted to tip everyone $ 1,000.”
In comparison, the diner spent $ 144.66 on his meal, a photo of the receipt the restaurant shared on Facebook shows.
Shepherd told Newsweek it was the biggest tip staff have ever received in their 35 years running the restaurant.
“The past year and a half has not been easy for this industry,” Shepherd said in the Facebook post. “We are in pain and we are exhausted, but this incredible act of kindness has restored our faith in humanity.”
The pandemic has devastated the restaurant industry. Between March 2020 and March 2021, one in 10 American restaurants closed permanently, according to a report by food industry research firm Dataessential, triggering thousands of layoffs.
In restaurants that have remained open, staff have had to deal with stressful working conditions made worse by COVID-19 outbreaks, customers without masks and a shortage of manpower.
Read more: How a tiny food tech startup convinced industry heavyweights like Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell to lean on it to tackle a labor shortage
While many white-collar workers worked from home during the pandemic, restaurant staff largely continued to work in person. Even during times when states closed restaurant dining rooms, many continued to offer take-out and deliveries.
Fast food workers are “particularly vulnerable” to community transmission of COVID-19, according to a damning report from UCLA and UC Berkeley. Between July and December 2020, about 15% of documented Los Angeles County workplace coronavirus outbreaks occurred in fast food restaurants, according to the report.
At the same time, the restaurant staff also had to deal with increasingly difficult and impatient customers.
A KFC employee, for example, said in an OSHA complaint that she was threatened, harassed, and even shot dead with a BB gun on the job during the pandemic, while a restaurant told the New York Times that the diners had threatened to sue him after failing to get the specific table they had requested.
Some of the behaviors of the diners are also oriented towards COVID-19 security measures. A 19-year-old McDonald’s employee told Insider she was assaulted after asking a customer to wear a mask. In another case, customers threatened to spit on and cough in front of front door staff at The Alembic in San Francisco after being asked to show proof of vaccination, Insider’s Allana Akhtar reported.
Some restaurant workers have said they are afraid to apply COVID-19 safety precautions in case they miss tips.
Finally, the labor shortage means that workers in the hospitality industry face longer hours and harder work. A waiter at a Tennessee restaurant told CNN that waiters were overloaded, which meant customers received poorer service and paid lower tips.
A Massachusetts restaurant even closed for a day after rude diners swore at staff and made them cry, telling The New York Times diners seemed unprepared for the longer wait times and menus. limitations associated with current staff and supply shortages.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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