Actor and Wahlburgers co-owner Donnie Wahlberg knows how tough the fast-food industry can be, but he made things a lot easier for one IHOP server by leaving her a hefty US$2,020 tip as part of a viral challenge for the new year.
Wahlberg and his wife, Jenny McCarthy, left the generous tip on a $78 bill at an IHOP in St. Charles, Ill., Fox 8 reports.
“Thanks,” Wahlberg wrote on the receipt, as shown in an image posted online by McCarthy. “Happy New Year.”
Wahlberg also wrote “2020 tip challenge” on the receipt in an apparent nod to an emerging viral trend.
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“Donnie Wahlberg starting 2020 off like the amazing man he is,” McCarthy wrote, adding the hashtag #2020tipchallenge to her tweet.
Server Danielle Franzoni received a similarly generous tip at a restaurant in Alpena, Mich., in late December. An anonymous couple left her a $2,020 tip on a bill of $23, CNN reports. The couple also wrote “2020 tip challenge” on their bill.
Franzoni, who is a 31-year-old single mom, said the tip was going to change her life.
“I’m going to build a future because of this,” she told local station WXYZ. “My kids have a future and I have a home.”
Leaving a $2,020 tip might be out of reach for those who don’t own a burger chain or have a solid acting career, but many others have started posting their $20.20 tips online under the same hashtag.
Franzoni told Alpena News that she left a $20.20 tip for someone else after getting her $2,020 windfall in December.
“That was my pay-it-forward,” she said. “I couldn’t do the other one.”