Featured Image Credit: Abc7News
Topics: California, Money, Tipping, Vaping, Community
Callum Jones
A Californian teacher accidentally left a whopping $5,000 tip at a vape shop after making an unfortunate but very simple mistake.
Particularly in the US, tipping culture is a big thing as many in hospitality rely on extra cash given to them by customers to earn a reasonable wage.
As a result, there has been a lot of tipping horror stories online, with one worker even getting fired due to her reaction to a customer not showing their token of appreciation.
While it seems common in the US for the majority of customers to tip our hospitality workers for all their efforts, such tipping has even made its way into regular stores nowadays.
Advert
Special education teacher, Linda Mathiesen, paid a visit to the vape shop San Bruno Exotic around a year ago to purchase a couple of items, including that of CBD relief gel to help ease shoulder pain.
After being impressed with the service, Linda decided she would leave a $5 tip for the workers, but she couldn't fully see what she was doing at the checkout and ultimately provided a staggering $5,000 tip.
"I push what I thought was only two zeros. Ended up being three zeros," she told ABC affiliate KGO.
"But, there's no decimal point... I'm like, 'WAIT! I want to delete this!"
The teacher did quickly notice her mistake, but when she tried to rectify it, Linda was told by staff they didn't know how to change things and that the tip had already been processed.
"He said he didn't know how," Linda told KGO, before the store clerk allegedly told her the shop had never ever received her money.
Linda's bank statements told a different story, however, leaving the teacher 'livid'.
She added: "Who would ever? Like, $5,000?! I don't have that kind of money!"
Linda ultimately contacted her bank, Wells Fargo, in an attempt to get her money back.
The bank claims to offer 'zero liability protection' to protect its customers from fraudulent transactions, KGO reports - with Linda claiming she called her bank within five minutes of the incident.
After the teacher told her story to the ABC affiliate, Wells Fargo has vowed to pay the $5,000 back to Linda plus interest.
Nonetheless, the year-long ordeal has taken its toll on the Californian resident.
"I busted out in tears... I'm a single mom, I have two grown kids... and I explained to them, 'I'm sorry,'" she explained to KGO.
"My son is graduating college next week... and I can't even buy anything for him because I have $5,000 outstanding... now it's $5,500!"