Algonquin waitress gets $1,000 tip from diners

A 20 percent tip makes a waitress happy.

But when a couple dining at the Montarra Grill in Algonquin left waitress Michelle Secreto a 667 percent tip Aug. 24, she figured the man who signed the credit card receipt was either pulling her leg, or had a gross ineptitude for mathematics.

Turns out, his math was just fine. He just wanted to show Secreto how much he appreciated her service that night.

"We had been having fun and joking around all evening, so when I saw the tip I said, 'Ha ha, that's funny'," Secreto, 42, of Huntley, said Sunday. "I left the slip and a pen for him to change the tip, but when I went back, it was still there."

The unidentified man and woman added $1,000 in gratuity for Secreto to their $150 credit card bill that night.

Secreto said she wasn't exactly sure what prompted the couple's generosity. The man asked her for gluten-free entree suggestions, and she suggested two seafood specials, including the Ahi tuna.

"He ordered both and said he would eat the one he liked," Secreto said. "He was just very funny and, at one point, he said that they had decided they liked me."

The identity of the diners is unknown because the name on the credit card does not show up on restaurant sales slips and the couple was not familiar to restaurant staff, Secreto said. She has worked at the restaurant for the past two years.

"If I could read the name I would try and find him to send him a thank-you note or something," Secreto said.

The tip's timing couldn't be better. Secreto's 12-year-old daughter, Ashley, was struggling to raise money to pay for a school trip to Washington D.C., next month. The $1,900 cost of the excursion was too expensive for Secreto, a divorced mom, to pay on her own. As of last week, Ashley - a student at Heinemann Middle School in Algonquin - had collected about $900 from family and friends.

"I told her that morning that she only had $1,000 to go," Secreto said. "It's quite unbelievable, a blessing. She's happy that she doesn't have to send out more letters."