A woman in New Orleans, Louisiana, paid it forward in a big way when she tipped her server $800 after dining at an unidentified restaurant on Monday.
Keyondra New is the owner of an Instagram account called TipaServer, where she solicits donations to “give back to the servers struggling during this pandemic,” according to the account.
This week, New surprised a server named Ashley with an $800 tip on her meal.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Bumblebee (@tipaserver) on
“Uhh, is everything OK?” Ashley asked New with a nervous laugh, while coming to her table at the start of the Instagram video.
When New insisted that everything was “perfectly fine,” she continued, saying that “today is your day where I am going to tip you.”
“Are you serious?” Ashley responded as New began counting the money.
By the time New reached $800, Ashley was in tears, and the two shared a hug.
New was inspired to start the TipaServer campaign after being furloughed from her job since March, and seeing the devastating impacts the coronavirus pandemic had on the restaurant industry in 2020, WMWL reported.
“I was affected in a major way right?” she explained. “God has been covering me, so other people probably didn’t have the same covering or the same help. So I wanted to find a way to help.”
New added that she always uses her own money to pay for her own meals, and the $800 tip was the third TipaServer gratuity for the month.