Day 2: The Big Tip - 30 Days of Kindness

The Big Tip was Day 2 of 30 Days of Kindness, and this might have been our most tasty act of kindness to date (a close call to make considering the funnel cake giveaway). The concept with this was pretty straightforward; eat out at local restaurants and leave large tips. Since it was a Friday night, and it was just Laura and myself, it actually doubled nicely as a date night.

The Big Tip called for a little different approach then we typically take with our AoKs. Usually, we make sure to hand a person a kindness card and tell them, "God loves you;" but with The Big Tip, we left our waitress a $20 tip inside of a thank you card, along with a kindness card and a personalized thank you message that speaks of God's love.

Laura and I would purposely order something small on the menu (we paid for the food with our money and used the fundraising money for the tip), this way the $20 tip would be more meaningful. For example, if our bill was $8, then the waitress would have in mind that she might receive a $1 tip. It is extremely rare when a tip exceeds the price of the meal, making the tip even more significant.

We visited three Oneonta restaurants, The Red Caboose, Neptune Diner, and Denny's. We posed as mild mannered customers, and ordered something small making the claim that we were, "restaurant hopping." Laura and I enjoyed our evening out together, and filled up quickly on 3 small menu items from 3 restaurants. We don't eat out too often, therefore dining out for us is always a treat.

One need that we wanted to meet was to show appreciation for all the food servers who work on Friday nights, a lonely time when it seems like everybody else is out having fun. Many waiters and waitresses get paid less than minimum wage because tips are supposed to make the difference, but tips do not always cut it. Plus, Christians have a reputation as awful tippers (even pastors), many food servers that I have talked with, dread working on Sunday afternoons because they have to deal with Christians.

We feel Christians should be the most generous people on the planet, because we serve a God who is generous with His love. Christians should be the biggest tippers and the nicest customers when they eat out at restaurants. We hope this message spreads and we look forward to the day when restaurants love serving the after church Sunday crowd.

It is too early to see any fruit from this labor of love, but we were able to see a huge smile on the face of one waitress. As we paid for our meal at the register, an employee who cleared the tables saw the card, smiled, and called over the waitress. Laura and I stepped outside, it was snowing, and we had just enough time to make it to the parking lot and watch the scene unfold through the restaurant window. The 2 employees opened the card read it to each other with big smiles on the faces. They both stood at the table with the thank you card open for a few minutes smiling and talking about it. Worth it.

Contact us if you wish to participate in any upcoming Acts of Kindness.