Receipt showing waitress's $446 tip. Photo by YouTube Screen Capture

Treating others the way we would like to be treated is good advice as one Indianapolis waitress recently learned. CeCe Bruce, who works at a local Steak ‘n Shake restaurant, received a generous tip from a customer – $446 on a bill that was just $5.97.

Bruce has been working at the franchise for two years and never expected anything like this when she went to work on Wednesday.

The tip came from one of Bruce’s regular customers, a woman who usually leaves her a $5 tip on a $ bill. The waitress was amazed at the tip and called the woman ‘very nice.’

The staff at the burger joint knows the customer only as Miss Jo. The woman wrote out the tip and then left very quickly. Bruce tried to catch her in the parking lot and explain she couldn’t accept such a generous tip. Miss Jo was unwilling to take no for answer and insisted CeCe keep the money.

Greer Gooley, the manager of the restaurant was shocked by the customer’s generosity. In the six-plus years he has worked at the chain, he has never seen a tip like that. The most he’s seen is $100. Gooley went on to say that no one deserves the money more than CeCe. He described her as hardworking and reliable, saying she always comes in when asked to work. Gooley says her treatment of customers has earned her more regulars than other servers.

Bruce attends Martin University in Indianapolis as a full time stude3nt and says she can use the money to help pay bills.

The experience has shown her that people can be trusted and that you should never judge by outward appearances. She treats everyone with the same friendly manner – as they deserve to be treated.

News of her story seems to have spurred on other acts of kindness. On the following Friday, she received a $14 tip. Even more surprising was the couple from California, who after learning of CeCe’s story, made contact with her to see if they could help her by donating some money for school expenses.

CeCe is delighted and amazed with the turn of events.

Greg Rubar works at D’Amico’s, an Italian restaurant in Texas. He’s been working there for 16 years.

A couple who regularly come to the restaurant, and have been for the past eight years, gave him a tip he definitely won’t forget in a hurry. Five thousand big ones!

Who gives a $5000 tip, especially with the way the economy is? Well, this couple does!

Why did they give him that much? Well, there’d been some recent thunderstorms in Houston and Greg’s car had unfortunately been damaged in the midst of it all. The couple gave him the tip so he could buy a replacement car.

When Greg was initially given the money, he didn’t know how much was in it. He probably thought it was just a regular tip. No wonder he was speechless once he realised.

Extremely generous, thoughtful and selfless of the couple to do. The fact they’ve chosen to remain anonymous makes them even more endearing. They weren’t seeking publicity. Merely looking to help a guy out. That’s nice…