It may have been Christmas, but the shift at Gus’s Diner in Sun Prairie, Wisc., seemed like any other to waitress Callie Blue. That’s until Michael Johnson came in around 6 a.m.
He’s the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. This holiday season, Johnson has been working on a local pay-it-forward campaign that included giving Blue a $1,000 tip on his $17 Christmas bill.
“I am so honored and grateful for such a great gift that came my way early Christmas morning,” said a Facebook post from an account under her name. “This money will go a long way this time of year!”
According to CBS News, Johnson’ family couldn’t afford to celebrate Christmas when he was growing up, leaving him with bad feelings about the holiday. As an adult, he decided he would try to prevent as many people as possible from feeling that way too.
For the past 13 years, he has been the head of the local Boys and Girls Club, where he finds ways to improve people’s lives through donations. This year, they raised more than $100,000 through social media.
In addition to Blue’s tip, the club gifted a new car to a family of five, gave out big tips to other servers, took around 50 families on shopping sprees and found toys for 600 children in Dane County. Johnson said the organization received tips regarding who to send their gifts to.
On Christmas, he got up at 4 a.m. with a plan to surprise a server with a big tip.
“I said ‘OK, let me see if I can find a restaurant that’s open at like 6 a.m.,’ so when I Googled it, I saw that Gus's Diner was open.
Coincidentally, someone on my Facebook page had mentioned Callie, so I went up there, not even knowing if she was going to be there, and as soon as I walked in she was right there," Johnson said, according to CBS.
When she received the tip Blue’s eyes started filling with tears, a video Johnson recorded shows. She also laughed, and told CBS that she thought the whole thing was a joke at first.
“I was like, ‘This is not happening.’ You always see videos and you hear this happening to other people, and you never think it's going to happen to you,” Blue said. “He was giggling and I was like, ‘That’s just not real.’ It was really exciting. I only cried a little bit.”
Johnson also left a note on the back of the receipt thanking Blue for “smiling and working on Christmas Day.”
In the Facebook post, Blue offered to help Johnson out with future Boys and Girls Club projects.
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