A $10,000 tip finally arrives

A 15 or 20 percent tip? An investment executive in Chicago on business thought his waitress deserved better.

John Boc, chief executive officer of Meridian Investments Inc. of Quincy, Mass., tipped Colleen Gallagher $11,000 on April 23 at a club in Chicago. Gallagher received the money last week from Mr. Boc's credit card company.

She was having a bad night, having earned just $11 in tips when she waited on Boc. "He said, 'How's life treating you?' and I said, 'Oh, I've had better days.' And it just went from there," Ms. Gallagher says.

She went on to tell Boc she was struggling to make ends meet, find an affordable apartment, and provide for her two young sons. Boc asked what her biggest tip was. She told him $100.

"He gave me a credit card ... and said, 'Give yourself a $1,000 tip,' " Gallagher says. Asked why, he said, " 'Because I had the money, and it's not important,' " she recalls.

Minutes later, Boc produced his wallet, asked Gallagher to pick a credit card, and told her to give herself another $10,000.

"I was really feeling down in my life, and he picked me up," she says.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor