A Lethbridge server was the recipient of an early Christmas present this weekend after her table left her a massive tip.
On Saturday, 14 women got together and pooled their money — gathering $690 — after their meal at Kingsmen Ale House, leaving more than $400 for server Kendall Caldwell once the roughly $250 bill was settled.
“I was in shock, major shock,” Caldwell said Monday. “I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to feel.”
Breanna Dobler had seen something similar on social media, so she and a group of friends decided to do their own version of the gesture.
“Kendall went to my mom’s high school where she works, and my mom just adored her,” Dobler said.
“She phoned management and arranged it under an alias.”
Getting organized was easy, but the hard part? Keeping the surprise a secret throughout the meal.
“I’m not a good secret keeper when it comes to things like this,” Dobler said. “I wanted to tell her right off the hop, but it all worked out.”
Caldwell was floored when she received the news.
“I had to leave,” she said. “I couldn’t contain myself. I had to go home.”
“You’ll see in the video (posted to Facebook) all the middle-aged ladies are crying,” said Dobler. “It was great.”
The group hopes by sharing their story, it will encourage others to take up the cause and spread some goodwill.
The ripple effect is already in motion, with some friends in Sherwood Park planning to do the same.
“It wasn’t… to be recognized,” Dobler said. “We want to hopefully start a trend, and there’s a lot of people out there that this will help.
“It’s just a feel-good thing for everybody involved.”
Even though it’s been two days since Caldwell heard the good news, she still finds it hard to believe.
“I’ll watch the video and start crying again,” she said.
“Even just thinking about it, I’ll start crying again.”