Man leaves whopping $10,000 tip at Michigan cafe. But it didn't end well for waitress

Servers at a restaurant in Benton Harbor, Michigan, were left stunned after a man left a $10,000 tip. The manager of the cafe named Mason Jar, which hosted the generous tipper earlier this year, told The Hill that the tip was left on a $32.43 bill. While it would've been great if the tip was left only for the exceptional service, the manager, Tim Sweeney, clarified that it was for a heartwarming reason.

Here's why the customer left a $10,000 tip

The customer, who identified only as Mark, left the 30,835% tip on one of the slowest days of the cafe. Naturally, the tip amount shocked the manager who went to confirm with the customer if he intended to tip so much. 

“We went back and forth. I had a conversation with him. He wanted to proceed. [The waitress] was absolutely shocked," Sweeney told The Hill.

The customer also explained to the staff the reason behind his five-figure tip. Mark told them that it was in memory of a friend who had passed away recently. He added that he was in town for the funeral. 

Mark had told the server that she was free to share the amount, thus the tip was split nine ways, with each worker getting $1,100. One of the servers, Paige Mulick, told the publication that she was going to put the money towards her student loan. However, things took a rather sour turn a few days later.

Not All Stories End Well

Waitress Linsey Boyd, who received the enormous $10,000 tip, was fired from her job days later according to the Detroit Free Press. In a now-deleted Facebook post, the owners of the cafe stated that her firing had nothing to do with the tip. 

Mason Jar café co-owner Jayme Cousins also told News 8 via an email that they couldn't provide the full details as they were bound by labor laws. 

“I know there is a lot going around that we let her go because of the tip and that’s just not logical,” Cousins wrote in the email. The co-owner further added that it was purely a business decision.

However, the server, Boyd, had a very different story to tell. In conversation with WNDU 16 news, Boyd shared that the workplace had become toxic as some of the workers were not happy with the way the tip was split. 

Those who did not get a share were unhappy and Boyd said she could sense the animosity. She told the outlet that the issue was even taken up with the management, for them to deal with the negativity.

However, to her surprise, the management dealt with it by firing her.  

She added that she will never forget what her manager told her. “It was still getting a lot of publicity and attention, and the best way to calm the situation and to move forward was for me to not come back,” she recalled the owner saying.

Naturally, Boyd took to Facebook to talk about her firing. However, she alleged that the management asked her to take the post down and threatened her with legal action. While Boyd cooperated and deleted the post, she did hire a lawyer to look into her case, she told the outlet.