(NEXSTAR) – The owner of a Florida restaurant says he and his staff were blown away after receiving a $10,000 tip from a customer on Tuesday night — but he also admits he was a little skeptical at first.
Shawn Shepherd, who owns the Wahoo Seafood Grill in Gainesville, shared news of the enormous tip on Facebook earlier this week, along with a photo of the customer’s receipt.
“On Tuesday night, a customer asked our entire restaurant staff to come to the dining area,” wrote Shepherd. “He thanked them for showing up and working hard. Then something incredible happened. He told them he was giving them $1,000 each.”
Shepherd, who wasn’t in the dining area at the time, later told the Gainesville Sun he only learned about the generous gratuity after one of the employees called him up. And even then, he didn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
“Check his ID and the name on the back of his credit card,” Shepherd remembered telling the employee, according to the outlet.
Fortunately, the customer was sincere, and the transaction cleared. Each of the 10 employees working on Tuesday has since been cut a check for $1,000, and they’ve each promised to “pay it forward” in their own way, Shepherd said on Facebook.
“We’re just a local, veteran-owned seafood restaurant doing our best to weather this storm — and this is truly the last thing we expected to happen on a regular Tuesday night,” he said.