Sometimes, in life, bad things just happen. It doesn’t mean that we deserve it. Tornadoes destroy homes, sink holes take our cars, and flooding makes apartments unlivable. Often times there’s nothing we can do except prepare for the worst-case-scenario and hope that day never comes. Sometimes, though tragedy strikes and we don’t have a plan.
This was the case with a woman named Krystal Kramer, a Pizza Hut waitress in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Things seemed to be going well for Kramer. She was working two jobs and living in an apartment with a roommate. She wasn’t rich, but she was making it work. That’s when disaster struck. The kind of disaster you can’t come back from easily.
Her apartment flooded in December. There’s no right time of the year to have a house flood, but December is probably one of the worst. “The Red Cross came and said it was unlivable. No heat, no water. They turned everything off,” Kramer told local TV station WJAC.
Kramer and her roommate, unable to find another apartment, were forced to live in a hotel. If you’ve ever had a long stay at a hotel (even a cheap one) you know that the bill can be quite hefty. Unless you’re a millionaire, living in a hotel for an extended period of time is probably not going to work out well financially. Even working two jobs and with a small donation from the Red Cross, she ended up draining her bank account — only to find herself without a place to live in January. She was homeless and didn’t know what she was going to do.
She continued to work at Pizza Hut and didn’t even tell her co-workers about her mounting troubles. Nobody wants to tell their fellow employees that they are homeless and struggling.
Fast forward to January 4th and Kramer was barely holding on. Every day was a struggle to figure out where she would sleep and if she would be able to eat. Another waitress was chatting with a customer when they asked if she wanted the un-eaten portion of their pizza. The waitress said no thank you. But Kramer, unsure of where her next meal would come from said yes.
“I was like yeah, I’m homeless. I don’t know where I’ll eat tonight,” Kramer said.
Local Pizza Hut waitress, nearly homeless, receives $558 tip from generous customer. How it helped her JUST in time.NEXT@5:30 @WJACTV pic.twitter.com/SRZbxd4qgS
— Erika Stanish (@Erika_Stanish) January 17, 2017
The customer was obviously touched by the young waitress’ story and decided to leave her a special tip. On a bill for $41, the pizza patron left her a tip of $558.33. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. The customer didn’t even want praise for the tip because they left before she could thank them in person. Mostly due to the generous tip, Kramer was able to move into a new apartment. She’ll likely never forget the stranger whose simple gesture helped to change her life.
