Texas waitress gets $2700 tip but restaurant refuses to give her a cent

A Texas waitress started making plans on how she was going to spend a mammoth tip – only to find out she won’t take home a single cent.

A Texas waitress says she was thrilled to receive a $US2000 (around $A2700) tip on a bill – only to find out from the restaurant that she won’t take home a single cent.

Emily Bauer had only been a server for about two weeks when she was scheduled for a busy Sunday shift at Red Hook Seafood and Bar in San Antonio, news station KVUE reported.

While working all the tables, she kept apologising to a man seated in her section for “being slow”.

“He was just like, ‘I understand.’ He also mentioned he owned restaurants, so he knew how hard it was to be a server,” Ms Bauer said.

The waitress didn’t see the tip on the bill straight away. Picture: iStock

“He was like, ‘Just cancel everything. Cancel everything and give me the ticket.’ So, I said okay. I gave him the ticket.”

Ms Bauer said she didn’t notice until he left that he had given her a $2000 tip and wrote a note that said, “Merry Christmas! Keep working hard!”

“I was like, wait. I just opened it and started crying. I was like, ‘Oh my God! My kids! I’m going to spend it all on my kids,’” said Ms Bauer, who has two sons, a two-year-old and a five-month-old.

The restaurant told her it can’t process a tip larger than $500. Picture: iStock

“I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’ve never had a Christmas where I’ve been able to like splurge on them.’”

But she said her excitement was quickly dashed when the restaurant told her it can’t process a tip larger than $US500 (around $A674).

Other servers suggested that the restaurant give her four separate tips of $US500 ($A674), but the seafood joint refused, KVUE reported.

This article originally appeared on Fox News and was reproduced here with permission