Generous customer gives waitress absurd tip so she can go back to college

A customer was so impressed by his waitress's happy disposition that he was moved to do something rather drastic. This story will put a smile on your face today.

A SIMPLE smile can take you a very long way.

We know, we know. That sounds like something your grandmother would say. But it's completely, utterly true, and we have proof, courtesy of the Lincoln Journal Star.

Two men stopped for lunch at a US restaurant called Cracker Barrel last Thursday. They asked to be seated at the table of the restaurant's crankiest waiter because they felt like cheering someone up.

They sound like nice guys, right? There's more though.

These two men were told the restaurant didn't have a grumpy employee, and they were instead assigned the "happiest" waitress in the joint.

That waitress was 18-year-old Abigail Sailors.

The men bombarded Ms Sailors with questions in an effort to determine why she was so happy. Gradually, she gave them a crash course in her life history.

Ms Sailors is the youngest of five children, who were thrown into the foster care system when their parents died in a car crash. Ms Sailors was seven months old at the time.

After being sent to separate homes for a while, the children were reunited under one roof, where they endured abuse for years. That foster father is currently in prison, The Journal Star reports.

Then, nine years ago, a loving couple called John and Susi Sailors took in all five children.

When the two inquisitive customers entered her restaurant, Ms Sailors had just completed her first semester at Trinity Bible College. But she didn't have enough money to go back for another semester.

Which brings us to the happy part. Together, the two men left a $100 tip, which was split in half with another server at the restaurant. But one of the men, who happened to be a Trinity alumnus, also gave her two cheques - one for $5,000, to pay for school, and another for $1,000, for her other needs.

"I couldn't believe it. I tried to thank them, and they said 'Thank God'," Ms Sailors told The Journal Star.

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