WATERVILLE, Maine — It is something most waitstaff can only dream of -- a customer leaving a ridiculously generous tip.
That is exactly what happened Saturday night at the Silver Street Tavern and Restaurant in Waterville after a customer who wants to remain anonymous left a $2,000 tip on a $48.76 bill.
Zack Dennis has been working as at the Silver Street Tavern for almost three years. He took the wine and two entree order for the couple who left the more than generous tip Saturday night.
"You wouldn't have guessed they were anything other than average joes," Dennis recalls. Dennis says when the couple asked to speak with a manager at the end of the meal, he was a little concerned.
"We didn't know if they were complaining," Dennis says because there was a small issue. A wine glass was prematurely taken from the couple's table but a bartender noticed and replaced it.
"We work together as a team," Dennis says and he thinks the couple noticed.
Instead of complaining, the customer praised the staff to the manager saying that three separate people made sure their dinner was enjoyable.
"He must have been a waiter or owned a restaurant," says Dennis.
The generous patron and his wife wanted the $2,000 tip to be shared with the whole staff. Management did not alert the staff of the tip until they posted it on their Facebook page.
"I am super glad that it was shared. I don't think that would have been right for one person to get the whole $2,000 tip," Dennis says who says he has never received such a generous tip.
Fourteen people were working on the night of March 23, including waitstaff, bartenders and kitchen staff: they all will all get an extra $142.
The standard 20 percent tip would have been $9.75 on the bill. The tip the couple left was 20,000 percent more.