Anonymous customer at Denver barbershop leaves $2,500 tip for stylist, $3,300 more for staff
The customer left $2,500 for his stylist — and an additional $3,300 for the rest of the staff. (Floyd's 99 Barbershop via FOX News)
DENVER, Colo. - That must’ve been one heck of a haircut.
An anonymous barbershop patron in Denver recently left a whopping $2,500 tip for his hairstylist — and that was in addition to the $3,300 he doled out to the shop’s other employees on the way out.
Ilisia Novotny, the stylist who gave the man his haircut, told The Denver Post she wasn’t even planning on working that day, but picked up a shift at the shop – Floyd’s 99 Barbershop at the University of Denver – on the first day it was allowed to reopen. The anonymous customer came in at the end of her shift, just before 1 p.m.
Novotny finished giving him his haircut, and her client got up to pay at the front desk. But on his way out, he did something peculiar, and turned back toward Novotny and assured her “it’s not a mistake,” she told the Denver Post.
She later found out he was referring to a $2,500 tip he left on his $27 haircut. Her co-workers were also given generous tips, including $1,000 for the general manager, $500 for the receptionist, and another $1,800 to be divided among the 18 barbers and stylists working at the location.
"To have someone hand me $2,500, and then come back to give out such generous tips to all my colleagues really just left me speechless,” said Novotny in a statement shared with Fox News. “After not being able to work for the last few months I can't even tell you how much this means to us all."
"To have someone hand me $2,500, and then come back to give out such generous tips to all my colleagues really just left me speechless,” Novotny said in a statement shared by Floyd's 99 Barbershop. (Floyd's 99 Barbershop via FOX News)
Novotny, a single mom, had also told the Denver Post she was having trouble paying her bills in the months before salons and barbershops were allowed to reopen on May 9 with restricted capacities and several safety safeguards in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Her employers at Floyd’s were also astounded by the tip, calling it a “great story” on Facebook, and praising the “astounding” support its shops have seen since reopening.
Novotny, too, was thrilled with the welcome she’s received since returning to work.
"It was so nice to see the appreciation everyone had when they walked in for their reservation on the first day we were allowed to open,” she said. “I love cutting hair and making everyone look their best.”