Gainesville, Florida – The staff at Wahoo Seafood Grill were shocked when a diner made a grand announcement, and further thanked them for their service in the form of an astronomically generous tip.

It was a night every employee at Wahoo Seafood Grill will never forget, thanks to one generous and grateful diner.

On August 17, a diner rounded up the 10 employees who were working and delivered a heartfelt speech about his appreciation for their services. On top of his words of gratitude, the man left a $10,000 tip as the cherry on top.

At first, the staff was in complete shock and disbelief. The restaurant's owner, Shawn Shepherd, was initially very skeptical of this monetary act of kindness, telling the Gainesville Sun that he advised his employees to "check his ID and the name on the back of his credit card" to ensure it wasn't a fraudulent transaction.

To their collective disbelief, the credit card matched his ID, and the restaurant's point-of-sale system approved the transaction.

The following morning, Shepherd checked the system, and sure enough – the $10,000 tip was still there.

In a Facebook post, the restaurant wrote, "We’re just a local, veteran-owned seafood restaurant doing our best to weather this storm – and this is truly the last thing we expected to happen on a regular Tuesday night."

The tip itself was to be split amongst the 10 employees who were working that night, and Shepherd noted that watching his employees cash out their checks for the night was almost as good as Christmas morning.

Wahoo Seafood Grill re-opened its doors in mid-May after losing nearly $30,000 in business during Covid-19 lockdowns.