NEED TO KNOW
A Texas man mailed $50 to Langer’s Deli in Los Angeles after realizing he wasn’t sure whether he had tipped his waitress during a recent work trip to the area
Roberto José Andrade Franco said the uncertainty bothered him because he and his sister had both worked in the service industry and he knows how critical tips can be
The restaurant said it tracked down the server and gave her the money, adding that she was “floored” by the gesture
A Texas man was unsure if he left his waitress a tip while visiting California — so he mailed her $50 just to be safe.
Roberto José Andrade Franco, an ESPN writer from El Paso, ate lunch at Langer’s Deli in Los Angeles in May, according to a Facebook post shared by the restaurant.
“Roberto drove home from Langer’s a few weeks ago and couldn’t shake one nagging question: did he leave a tip? He was pretty sure he did. Pretty sure wasn’t good enough,” the restaurant wrote.
“So he wrote to us — from El Paso — and mailed $50 in an envelope, along with every detail he could recall about the booth he sat in and the morning he came, all so we could track down his server,” the restaurant added.
Roberto José Andrade Franco’s letterCredit: Langer’s Deli/Facebook
The restaurant added that the waitress received the money and “was floored.”
“Roberto, thank you for going out of your way to do the right thing when nobody would have known otherwise. Your table’s always ready here,” the restaurant said.
In the letter, which the restaurant included in their post, Andrade Franco shared that he and his friends got in a back and forth over who would pay for the meal when the check arrived, and that “in all that talk and math confusion, and saying our goodbyes” he could not be sure he left a tip.
The sports writer added he just couldn’t let the worry go — especially because he knew first hand how much those working in the service industry rely on tips.
“My first job was as a bus boy and waiter, and my sister also worked as a waiter for years,” he wrote. “I recognize how important these tips are to workers. That’s why I’m sending these $50 just in case I forgot to include the tip.”
The woman who received the tip did not wish to be named, but one of her co-workers, Langer’s employee Frank Worster, said she was incredibly deserving of the special acknowledgement.
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“She does so much for this place,” Worster said while speaking to CBS News. “Helping out in little places. People come to see her for years. She’s just a great person.”
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