$2,000 'Tip Of A Lifetime' Stuns Brick, Lacey Waitresses

BRIELLE, NJ —A week after they received the largest tip they've ever seen, Karen Schamber and AnnaRosa Carratura are still pinching themselves.

The two, who are servers at Due Amici restaurant in Brielle, were taking care of a private party of 26 people on Dec. 21. When the time came to pay the $2,027 bill, the man who booked the party handed over his credit card and on the receipt had written $2,000 for a tip.

It wasn't a prank: the man wanted the two women to have the nearly 100 percent tip, which he had given to honor the memory of his wife, who had died earlier this year. The man's name is being withheld to protect his privacy.

"It almost feels like it's not really real," said Carratura, 34, of the Forked River section of Lacey, who has worked at Due Amici since July.

"I've been waitressing since I was a kid," said Schamber, who's almost 50 and lives in Brick. "I've never seen a tip that big."

"It's the tip of a lifetime," both women said.

And for both, it was a surprise boost that answered a need. Schamber's husband was laid off in early December, and she has been working extra hard while he looks for work. Carratura, meanwhile, is getting married and buying a house.

Carratura and Schamber, who just recently started working at Due Amici, had teamed up on serving large parties on other Saturdays. "We work well together and it gives the customers better service," Carratura said. So when she was assigned to serve the private party, she asked Schamber to give her a hand.

"They were fun, they were so polite and patient," Schamber said, "because they saw how busy we were." The restaurant also had a party of 16 that night that Schamber and Carratura were serving. The party of 26 was being hosted by the man to thank his employees, and along the way, they learned he had lost his wife.

"We did what we could to try to make it an enjoyable experience for him," Schamber said.

"We didn't expect anything extra," Carratura said.

That's why the tip was such a shock.

"I just stared at him. I didn't know what to say," Carratura said. " 'That's your tip,' he said."

She took the check to one of the owners and showed it to her, asking her to confirm it.

"I didn't understand, I thought maybe he had made a mistake," Carratura said. "God forbid I mess that up. Two-thousand is a huge mistake."

After Rose, one of the owners, confirmed the man had indeed wanted to tip them $2,000, Carratura went to Schamber to tell her.

"She said, 'He left us a thousand-dollar tip. Each of us,' " Schamber said. "I didn't know what to say."

The two hugged each other and cried, and hugged the man and thanked him as well. They also shared their good fortune and their windfall with their co-workers at the restaurant.

"He told us as he was leaving that he had lost his wife and wanted to do something special to honor her memory," Schamber said.

The generous tip was very special to both women.

"I had been working my butt off. I had worked four doubles (double shifts)" leading up to the Dec. 21 party," Schamber said. "Coming off that, I was mentally and physically exhausted and still had a few things to get (for Christmas)."

"I don't make that much (in tips) in a week," she said.

"It's been a rough couple of years," Carratura said. "It was a little Christmas miracle."

Ironically, it wasn't the only large tip the pair received; the group of 16 tipped them $400 on an $1,100 check, she said.

"People were really feeling generous," Schamber said. "It was wonderful. Truly a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience."

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