Staff's joy from $10k mystery tipper 'almost as good as Christmas' for boss

A generous man in Florida left a restaurant's 10-person staff a very large tip, unknowingly helping a mother with a sick child.

What's the biggest tip you've ever given? How about five figures?

One week ago in Gainsville, Florida, a man, accompanied by his wife and son, had dinner at Wahoo Seafood Grill. After receiving his bill, the man called over the ten-person staff.

The Gainsville Sun says when he did, the staff knew something unusual was coming. The mystery diner left the staff a $10,000 tip, set to be split between the 10 of them.

Shawn Shepherd tells the Sun he did not believe it, telling his staff to "check his ID and the name on the back of his credit card."

The next day, he saw that the tip had in fact gone through and "watching these guys get their check was almost as good as Christmas morning."

Ashley Green was among those receiving a cheque.

"She's had a hard month, she's been not able to work. Kid has been in and out of the hospital. It's been absolutely a really stressful time for her."

On the diner's Facebook page, Sheperd writes "I’m not usually an emotional guy, but this really got me. I’m blown away. We’re ALL blown away by his generosity."

Green was not initially scheduled to work and was called in to help that night.

In the post, Shepherd thanks the mystery man, hoping the tipper's generosity inspires others to do something nice for someone else.

"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."