A California deli server received an unexpected show of gratitude from a customer who wanted to make absolutely sure her “great” service did not go unrecognized.
Roberto José Andrade, an ESPN feature writer from El Paso, Texas, was in Los Angeles on May 1 when he visited the famed Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant at about 10.30am with two friends.
After leaving the restaurant, best known for its celebrated pastrami sandwiches, Andrade began to worry that he may have walked out without leaving a tip.
“I’m about 75 percent sure I did,” Andrade wrote. “Of course, that leaves a 25 percent change [sic] I didn’t and honestly, that’s been bothering me for the past few weeks.”
“That’s why I’m sending these $50 just in case I forgot to include the tip,” he added.
In a letter dated May 19, more than two weeks after his meal, Andrade explained that he understood the service industry firsthand, noting that his first job was as a busboy and waiter. He also said his sister had worked as a waiter for years.
“I recognize how important these tips are to workers,” Andrade wrote. Langer’s shared the letter publicly last Friday.
Andrade praised the waitress who served his table, describing her in the letter as a “petite Asian woman,” and asked the deli to pass along the $50 from the envelope “along with my apologies.”
Roberto José Andrade, of El Paso, Texas, sent a letter to Langer’s Deli in Los Angeles after believing he may have forgotten to tip while visiting the establishment on May 1
Andrade stopped to eat with two of his friends but became bothered when he did not know if he left a tip. He proceeded to send the deli $50 in an envelope for his waiter that day
Langer’s Deli, in Los Angeles, is known for its hot pastrami sandwiches, which is what Andrade ordered on his visit there
‘As usual, the food was great,’ Andrade wrote. ‘I’ve eaten at Langer’s the last two times I’ve visited Los Angeles; that’s how much I enjoy it.’
Andrade explained that the potential tipping mishap happened as he and his friends were discussing how to break down the check.
‘Since it’s just easier, I pay it,’ Andrade wrote in the letter. ‘Still, there was some back and forth with my friends and I on who will pay what, how, etc.’
He added: ‘In all that talk and math confusion, and saying our goodbyes, I drive away and somewhere stuck in traffic I ask myself, ‘Did I leave a tip?”
Though Andrade acknowledged that sending the $50 in the envelope was ‘probably not my smartest idea,’ he surmised that it was also ‘the easiest way to get this resolved.’
Langer’s posted Andrade’s letter on its Facebook page last week, saying that his words ‘made our whole week.’
Andrade told Our News Outlet via email on Saturday night that Norm Langer, the owner of the deli, had called him about a week after he sent the letter.
He was unaware that the letter was gaining traction online until being told by a mutual friend.
‘Since it had been months since the letter, I’d pretty much forgot about it,’ Andrade told Our News Outlet.
In his letter, Andrade wrote that he had stopped at Langer’s during his last two visits to Los Angeles because ‘that’s how much I enjoy it’
He said the confusion over the tip stemmed from when he and his friends were breaking down how to pay their bill
Andrade said he had ordered the ‘number 19,’ which includes hand-cut pastrami, house-made coleslaw, Russian dressing and Swiss cheese on double-baked rye bread, according to TODAY.
‘That’s what they’re known for,’ he quipped.
He had posted about the visit to Langer’s on his Instagram account when it happened, uploading a picture of the restaurant’s logo and writing, ‘Always hits.’
The deli praised Andrade for knowing ‘exactly what that money means to the person carrying the plates,’ referring to his server.
‘We found her,’ the deli wrote last Friday. ‘She got it. And she was floored.’
The restaurant thanked Andrade for ‘going out of your way to do the right thing when nobody would have known otherwise.’
‘Your table’s always ready here,’ their post finished.
Norm Langer, the owner of the deli, said the restaurant had not been able to confirm whether Andrade forgot to tip on his May 1 visit as it was a cash transaction
Langer, the deli owner, lavished praise on Andrade for his sweet gesture and admitted that the deli could not actually determine whether he had initially tipped.
‘There’s no way to tell because it was an entirely cash transaction,’ he told CBS LA.
The server’s coworkers described her as someone who ‘does so much for this place.’
‘Helping out in little places,’ Frank Wurster, a server at Langer’s, told the outlet. ‘She’s just a great person.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Langer’s for further comment.
