Lone diner leaves waitress $1,000 tip

VAIL, Colo. — A restaurant server received a tip so generous Tuesday that she didn't know what to say.

And it came from a woman dining alone with a $15.61 tab.

"She asked me towards the end of her meal for a piece of paper and a pen, and I didn't think anything of it and just dropped it off for her and she left," said Carly Dimuzio, a waitress at Route 6 Café here.

Her shift was busy, but when she came to pick up the receipt at the table, she stopped in her tracks. The woman had left a more than 640% tip, paying her bill in full and adding a $1,000 tip.

The accompanying note said, "I have waited for the right person since seeing this on FB, and you rock."

"It was pretty shocking," Dimuzio said. "I literally was speechless."

The woman who left the gratuity asked not to be identified. She said someone on Facebook shared a story about paying it forward, so she decided to do the same.

"The lady waiting on me was just so nice and so helpful and kept coming back to ask if I needed anything else and if my food was all right, you know, just giving me really excellent service," the tipper said. And I just thought to myself, 'OK, she's the one,' There's just something very gratifying about doing something for someone you don't even know and can't pay you back."

Dimuzio said the tip came at a time she really needs the money. Her car had just broken down, and the $1,000 will go a long way toward repairs.

"I'm extremely, forever grateful for her," Dimuzio said.