Secret Santa Gives Fast-Food Workers $500

Photo: Pamela Harden (front) and her White Castle co-workers, Hector Estrada, Edgar Padilla, Jeremiah Bennett and Kenneth Watkins, with their anonymous Secret Santa and his daughter.

CHICAGO, IL — Employees at the White Castle restaurant near Midway Airport were stunned when a man came in Tuesday evening with his teenage daughter and gave each of them $500.

“The man walked in with his daughter ordered a couple of burgers,” said Pamela Harden, who manages the White Castle at 4750 W. 63rd St. “He was here about 20 minutes. After he finished eating, he came and thanked us.”

The man then asked Harden how many people were working. When she told there were five workers on duty, he handed her five envelopes. Each envelope contained five Benjamins.

“I was shocked. I thought, is this a joke or what,” Harden said. “I looked at my co-workers. I count money all the time and told them, ‘Guys, this is real.’”

Harden said the man and his daughter were sitting outside in their car. One of Harden’s young co-workers went outside and thanked him personally. Then the rest of the White Castle team filed out.

“We all gave him a big hug,” Harden said. “We asked if we could take a picture of him, so he and his daughter came back inside and posed for a picture.”

According to Harden, the man told them he used to work at a White Castle years and years ago. “He said it was hard work and that we all did a great job.”

The workers asked for his name, but he wouldn’t share his name.

“He said, ‘That’s OK, you don’t need it,” Harden said. “I’m just ‘Secret Santa.’”

Harden plans to use her gift to pay bills and help her mom.

“This just lifted my spirit more,” she said. “We still have good people in the world. You treat people the way you want to be treated.”

The man also visited the White Castle at 7900 S. Harlem Ave., in Bridgeview, and gave five workers each $100.