This Couple’s Date Night Was Derailed By Poor Service, So They Left A Note That Soon Went Viral

this couples date night was derailed by poor service so they left a note that soon went viral [Music] [Applause] [Music] date night can be a sacred time for parents to have a few moments of peace away from the young ones but when married couples Stephen and Mackenzie Schultz booked a sitter and went out for sushi one evening the service they received threatened to ruin their night as a result the pair left a note for the waiter and its contents shocked the Internet when it was posted on social media so here's the deal wrote Mackenzie in a Facebook post about the couple's experiences at the Cedar Rapids Iowa restaurant our service tonight sucked according to Mackenzie they waited for a long time before anything reached their table it took 20 minutes to get water 30 minutes for an appetizer and over an hour for our entree she recounted moreover Stephen and Mackenzie apparently weren't the only customers who are having problems with the poor service people all around us were making fun of the restaurant and how bad the service was explained Mackenzie nevertheless she also admitted that their experience was pretty terrible furthermore it wasn't just any date night for Mackenzie and Stephen they'd made plans for dinner that weekend to mark six years of marriage so when the couple received service that in Mackenzie's words shocked they duly decided to say something about it the restaurant was quite busy that night and Mackenzie noticed that the waiter was running around like crazy between multiple tables the wait for food was so long Mackenzie informed CNNMoney that some people abandoned the restaurant altogether meanwhile another customer - to the entrance and discouraged a pail from coming in however Mackenzie noted that the overworked waiter wasn't becoming frustrated with any of the customers he remained perfectly polite despite the diners obvious impatience with the slow service then she had a realization as I sat there and watched him run back and forth and apologize for the wait I said to Stephen Wow this used to be us indeed McKenzie and Steven had both been servers at one point in their lives in fact the couple first encountered each other thanks to the profession having worked together in a restaurant almost a decade earlier they'd been at the Bubba Gump shrimp company in Minnesota's Mall of America and both of them had experienced busy nights like this one McKenzie and Steven quickly ascertained that the problem was not with their waiter it was very obvious that the issue was being short-staffed not the server she wrote at one point we counted he had 12 tables plus the bar the amount of work that this lone waiter was juggling was more than any one person could handle McKenzie acknowledged throughout the dinner we were like we've been in this position McKenzie said to today.com no matter how much you apologize to tables they're going to be people rolling their eyes the Schultz's knew what it felt like to be a waiter in such difficult circumstances so they decided to do something to acknowledge the man's hard work and politeness Steven and I agreed it would feel good to make this guy's night when he would probably be getting minimal to no tips McKenzie wrote so the couple gave the waiter a very good tip to make up for it $100 to be exact and along with that gesture they left a few kind words on the receipt for their bill McKenzie and Steven wrote we've both been in your shoes paying it forward the $100 tip came out at 150 percent of the bill around ten times the usual amount left by most Americans according to CNN Money and those tips matter more than some might think the United States is one of the few places in the world where restaurants do not have to cover the full wage of their employees in fact employers are legally obliged to pay waiters just two dollars and thirteen cents an hour that's as long as those employees make the remainder of what's needed to meet the federal minimum wage through their crew to ax T earnings so while a waiter might make a killing in one night in tips they could still receive little to nothing on another indeed when describing her memories of waiting tables McKenzie wrote I did it for the tips she also admitted I don't miss it at all and I never loved that job McKenzie subsequently shared the couple's experiences to Facebook along with an image of the receipt and the message however she noted that she and Steven had left the sushi restaurant before the way I saw the tip and she added I'm not posting this for a pat on the back I'm just sharing this as a friendly reminder to think of the entire situation before you judge McKenzie continued and always always always remember where you came from this nudge to think about others reached much further than McKenzie ever could have anticipated although McKenzie had expected that it would only be seen by friends and family her call for compassion quickly went viral this is more about being kind and being generous she said to today.com we just wanted him to know that we've been in his shoes Mackenzie's Facebook post proved popular and has received over 1 and a half million likes the story was shared hundreds of thousands of times and even got the attention of media outlets furthermore chicken of the sea recognized the Schultz's generosity and patience it has a campaign to give away 1 million dollars in gratitude awards to worthy individuals chicken of the sea surprised Stephen and McKenzie by presenting them with a whopping ten thousand dollars this offering was designed to carry on the pay it forward spirit that the firm had been recognizing we definitely think we found it in the shelters the seafood companies CEO oh david Roseman said according to Business Wire still these Schultz's maintained that there was nothing especially heroic about what they did this definitely was not the largest dip there ever was McKenzie told today calm we thought it could make his night a little bit easier the couple likely did improve the shift for the waiter no end and the busy server was certainly a deserving individual the manager of the restaurant described him to BuzzFeed as a hard-working employee as for the takeaway McKenzie told CNN Money I hope people just show more compassion for everybody the viral status of her post has likely already inspired others to pay it forward if you can give little or give big I think everybody's world would be a little kinder gentler and nicer she concluded you