PETOSKEY - Waitress Becky Beer of J.W. Filmore's Family Restaurant in Petoskey had an afternoon Tuesday she never would have expected.
"It was crazy with Facebook and people reaching out to me," Beer said. "Some people I haven't talked to in a long time congratulating me. It was just crazy (Tuesday) the amount of people messaging me and congratulating me."
Beer, who has worked at the Petoskey restaurant for the past 10 years, was the recipient of an anonymous $2,021 tip Tuesday from a customer who placed a $44.69 take-out order.
A note atop the receipt for Beer read "JBN Tip Challenge, Just Be Nice, 2021 Happy New Year."
Beer said the tip came from an anonymous couple in Alpena, who also made a similar gesture to a server in Florida on Tuesday.
"It's just amazing, there's so many people in this area, in particular this region that it could have happened to," Beer said. "I feel almost guilty... I was asking myself why me, why did this happen? Because there's so many people that need it.
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"I'm just extremely thankful."
Beer, whose husband, Shawn, also works at J.W. Filmore's, said the generous offer "happened so fast she didn't know what was going on."
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She also plans to pay it forward after using a portion of the tip to pay bills and place money into a family foundation established after her uncle passed away.
Beer said while the recent closure of dine-in service for restaurants has been difficult, this summer J.W. Filmore's had record sales.
"This summer itself was just insane, it was the busiest summer we've ever had," Beer said. "It was very busy, yet different with all the changes and I kind of knew later this year another shutdown was coming. With the holiday season here and with all of employees it's terrible. Some of them got another job to offset things."
J.W. Filmore's owner Erika Closs said with all bars and restaurants being shut down because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it's been tough.
"It's unbelievable that someone would be that thoughtful and generous to do that," Closs said. "Especially with the holidays and this time of year and with what everyone has been going through."
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Beer said she plans to do just what the note atop the receipt said.

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