@tipsforjesus Brings Holiday Cheer
According to research, only one in 20 restaurant diners tips more than 25%; however, one man has been spreading cheer right across the country by leaving tips that defy all expectations – some of them as big as $10,000. Paying by American Express with an illegible signature, he was known only by the tag he stamped on each bill – @tipsforjesus – and described himself as “doing the Lord’s work, one tip at a time.” Last week, however, he was finally identified as multi-millionaire former PayPal vice-president Jack Selby.
Selby was recognized in Manhattan eatery Bo’s Kitchen by Aruj Dhawan, a 25-year-old fashion marketing student and part-time waiter, who shared his $1,000 tip with his colleagues. He was dining with two colleagues and said simply: “We tip a hundred times the bill.” Of course, this leaves open the question of how many people there might be using the @tipsforjesus tag; if there are several of them, this might account for its wide reach.
The first tip with the tag was given to a waiter in Ann Arbor, Mi, in September; since then they have turned up in places as far afield as Los Angeles, Chicago and Phoenix. They have also reached as far as Mexico, where a $1,000 check allowed waiter Carlos Mendez to enjoy vacation time with his young family. The tipper requests photos of the waiters with their checks and uploads them to an Instagram site. There is also an @tipsforjesus account on Twitter, but no tweets have ever been sent from it.
Studies have shown that those who tip the most in restaurants are generally those who have previously worked as waiters themselves and understand how tough the job can be. They also understand that wait staff may not make minimum wage without tips. Though many states set higher levels, the federal minimum wage for tipped staff is only $2.13, with tips intended to make up the difference. Average tipping levels vary in different locations; however, as they depend to a significant extent on the wealth of the tipper, it is often those on the lowest wages – far from the big cities where there is always another customer waiting to be served – who receive the least.
As for Dhawan, he could not believe his luck upon receiving such a generous tip. “A stranger comes in and drops a thousand dollars … I was just really thankful,” he said.
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