07/12/2026
A customer at The Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor, Michigan, finished a $32 meal and left a $10,000 tip.
The amount left the restaurant staff stunned.
Manager Tim Sweeney spoke with the customer to make sure the tip was correct.
“Absolute disbelief to begin with,” Sweeney said. “We went back and forth. He wanted to proceed. The server was absolutely shocked.”
The staff later learned why the customer had been so generous.
He was in town for a friend's funeral and left the $10,000 tip in memory of his friend.
The Mason Jar Cafe later shared a photo of the receipt on Instagram.
“In a time where so much is happening, we wanted to share and thank the person who did this life-changing act,” the restaurant wrote.
The server who received the tip, Paige Mulick, then made another generous choice.
Instead of keeping the money for herself, she shared it with the eight other staff members working at the time.
Each person received about $1,100.
“It was just really an act of kindness that impacted so many people,” Mulick said.
A $32 meal ended with one man honoring his friend and a server choosing to share that kindness with everyone around her.
