Being appreciated in your profession is always a good feeling, but when a tip comes in the form of a very generous bequeathal from a grateful customer, it can be staggering. Two waitresses at a Manhattan steak house received $50,000 each in the will of an art collector who’d frequented their place of work for decades.

The 85-year-old man passed away in August, leaving a 53-year-old woman and her 28-year-old niece each the tidy sum, reports the New York Post.

He didn’t apparently know their last names, simply referring to them in the will as “Maureen” at the restaurant and “Maureen-[at the restaurant]’s Niece.”

“I was shocked,” said the elder Maureen, the daughter of the restaurant’s founder who said he ate seven out of eight meals at the place. “I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t expect anything,” she told the NYP.

His usual order included a grilled cheese with bacon at lunch, returning later for a sirloin steak at dinner, washing both meals down with a Jim Beam bourbon.

He wasn’t generous only the afterlife, workers said, noting that he always tipped 20% no matter what the bill, simply asking servers to tack it on.

The collector “was more than just a customer to me,” Maureen No. 1 said, adding, “I had known him for 53 years ­— my entire life.”

Her niece was also shocked by the gratuity.

“He was a wonderful man and a dear friend,” she said.

Art mogul dies, leaves waitresses the tip of a lifetime [New York Post]

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