A customer left a $10,000 tip to be divided among the employees of a Florida restaurant, a day before it was forced to close because of the coronavirus outbreak, the owner said.
Ross Edlund, the owner of Skillets in Naples, Florida, said on the restaurant's Facebook page on Thursday that the gesture shows there are still "truly fantastic people in the world."
"We have an amazing Skillets family that extends to our guests as well," Edlund said. "We couldn't be happier to be a part of a community where this type of generosity exists."
Edlund told the local newspaper, the Naples Daily News, that the customer handed $10,000 in cash to the manager of the restaurant last week, a day before the state's governor ordered the closure.
"We don't know who he was yet," he said. "I'm trying to figure it out.
"It's funny because we have regulars who have been coming in forever, and they're our friends but we don't always know their names," he said.
"We know their faces, their orders, their favorite tables, but we don't know exactly who they are."
Edlund said the $10,000 was evenly split among the restaurant's 20 employees with each receiving $500.
Edlund owns a total of 10 Skillets restaurants and he told the newspaper that he has had to lay off 90 percent of his 200 employees.
Eight of his restaurants are still operating, he said, offering takeout service with a skeleton staff.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Video: US Diplomat, Vlogger Explore Delhi's Iconic Pre-Independence Eateries "Humiliated": US Nurse Kicked Out Of Restaurant Over Her "Too Revealing" Outfit "Purely Business Decision": US Restaurant Fires Staff Who Got $10,000 Tip On $32.43 Bill Parents Gave Names Of Interns, Doctors To CBI In Kolkata Horror: Sources How Extreme Weather Is Leading To Rise In Child Marriages In Pakistan Who Is Jasveen Sangha, "Ketamine Queen" Charged With Matthew Perry's Death Blinken Heading To Israel To Press Gaza Truce 'INDIA' Is with You Against "Injustice": Rahul Gandhi To Arvind Kejriwal "Strong Indications" Bangladesh Security Forces Used "Unnecessary" Force: UN Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.