Waitress surprised with generous tip ahead of Mother's Day

WAXHAW, N.C. — A North Carolina mother received a special Mother's Day gift early.

Ashleigh West is a server on Friday and Saturday nights at Don Julio Mexican Restaurant in Waxhaw, but was called in Thursday for Cinco de Mayo. A family decided to generously tip when she mentioned she had a baby boy, Micah, at home, West said.

"I said to him, 'I love your haircut. That's how I want to get my toddler's hair cut. He's at home right now,'" West said she told the customers.

"Twenty-six dollars was the highest tip I had ever gotten," West told said.

That was until she got a 100 percent tip -- $101.79 -- and with it, a message that read "Happy Mother's Day.

"I had to do a double check," West said. "I was like, 'Am I seeing this right?'"

The family's generosity behind the gesture meant more than the money, she said.

"They left me something out of their heart," West said. "I just want them to know I appreciate that more than anything. It's wonderful."

The family that left the tip wants to remain anonymous but said, "We've been blessed and we wanted to be a blessing."

"I almost cried," West wrote on Facebook. "A complete stranger made me feel so welcome tonight. They left before I saw this but I wish I could've told them thank you times a million."

Cox Media Group