Man Leaves Store When Card Is Declined, Comes Back With A Cop Doing The Most Surprising Thing

man leaves store when card is declined comes back with cop [Music] although she knew that hers wasn't the most honorable profession she was surprised to see the officer striding toward her then she saw the man she had sent away slinking beside him her heart began to race the officer slapped his hands on her desk leaned in and unflinchingly made a demand that made her eyes widen in disbelief while working at the pawn shop downtown alicia danielle thought she had seen it all she had seen the desperation and greed in people's eyes as she counted out the dollar bills behind the till after a big sale she had seen a mother's heart breaking as she pawned off her last family heirloom she hardened her heart and got on with it without this job she didn't know where she'd be alicia had been in the business for so long that she could read a man's intentions just from looking at his face the pawnshop attracted a strange cross-section of people from all over town but elisha found that most people who frequented the pawn shop could be placed into two categories the desperate down and out and the vultures that hovered close behind looking to score a deal however the officer who confronted her that day left her completely blindsided alicia had gotten to know the regulars who came in over the years and she had them all pegged she knew which ones would want to haggle over rare antiques and which ones would pay full price no questions asked it was a small town and she never forgot a face so when she saw the unfamiliar man walking through the door she was right to keep a close eye on him alicia took her place at the cast register but her instincts went into overdrive when the stranger made a beeline toward the back of the shop her finger hovered over the panic button underneath the counter but it did nothing to calm her nerves she knew that if anything should happen it would be all over before the police even arrived but the last thing she expected was for the policeman to take the man's side alicia narrowed her eyes as she focused on the monitor she watched the man milling out of sight again in the security camera's feed he was wearing a long coat and his hands were shoved firmly in his pockets unfortunately she couldn't focus on him for long while she had been distracted a line of irate people had suddenly formed in front of the counter reluctantly tearing her eyes away she failed to notice the squad car sidling into the parking lot out front alicia's eyes periodically flew to the screen searching for the suspicious man as she rang up purchase after purchase she quickly spotted him again loitering behind the snaking line of customers alicia couldn't believe her luck the store was the busiest it had been all year but the man didn't join the line why was he hanging back she quickly dealt with her customer and waited for the man to make his move finally after the lunchtime rush had passed and the tide of customers had left the man slowly approached the counter alicia couldn't hide the look of relief on her face when she realized that he actually wanted to purchase something she assumed it would be a straightforward transaction she'd ring up his items process payment and then he'd leave but she was wrong the man gingerly placed a pair of second-hand shoes on the counter she rang them up and told him the amount and he handed her his debit card but she shouldn't have relaxed her guard just yet as alicia punched the numbers into the card terminal and handed it to him the man began to act suspiciously again alicia looked down at the man's feet then back up to his face the man was clearly nervous as if he knew something terrible was about to happen he keyed in his pin number and bit his lip he crossed his fingers as if he was hoping for good luck he already knew what was about to happen but when it did all hell broke loose the man passed the terminal back to alicia and held his breath but he couldn't stop the inevitable from happening his card was declined looking visibly upset and angry he shoved his hand in his pocket when alicia gently asked him if he had any other way to pay but this strange interaction was far from being over yet the man informed alicia that he had no cash and no other cards on him so she had to ask him to return the shoes which he did then he stormed out of the store alicia couldn't help but feel sorry for him but this wasn't a charity store little did alicia know she was going to see the man again very soon and he wouldn't be alone after the man had left the store alicia was again overwhelmed by customers she didn't have time to reflect on what had just happened but when she looked up and saw the policeman hanging back with the man who had tried to purchase the shoes not half an hour ago she froze was she in trouble alicia tried not to focus on what was about to unfold in her store and tried to serve her customers promptly and efficiently but she couldn't help but notice that the man and the police officer seemed to be hanging back on purpose they weren't joining the line of shoppers did they want to speak to her in private eventually alicia had almost rung up and processed all the transactions in the checkout line that's when she began to panic she was all alone in the store and if there was about to be trouble she would rather have witnesses alas it wasn't long before the second rush hour had ended and she was alone again except for the two men when the big man in uniform made his way to the register elisa felt fear coursing through her veins what was going on she studied his face for a clue but she found none is everything okay she stammered can i help you in any way but when the intimidating man slapped his hands on the counter and leaned in his answer left her completely blindsided no problem but if you have those shoes still i'd like to go ahead and purchase them said the officer alicia couldn't believe her ears was he really doing this in all her years of working in that pawn shop nothing like this had ever happened before she looked around dumbfounded there was nobody else in the store to witness what was happening alicia had noticed that the shoes on the man's feet were tattered and were full of holes she visibly relaxed it was clear what the officer's purpose in her store was now he'd come to buy the replacement pair that the man so desperately needed but why had he waited for everyone to leave before approaching her alicia quickly realized that neither of the men wanted to make a scene the officer had calculated his response to coincide with the pawnshop's customers leaving this was because neither of the men wanted attention on social media or otherwise the officer genuinely wanted to help the man in his time of need that's when alicia made a decision alicia also wanted to help the poor man so she told the officer that she would split the cost of the new shoes and she'd pay for her half out of her own pocket she was inspired by the policeman's kindness and also wanted to pay it forward the man obviously needed some warm comfortable shoes but alicia wasn't the only woman to find herself in a strange situation while she was on the job ashley litela's story was far stranger she blinked and glanced from the group of men to the unpaid bill again not quite understanding what they were asking her but again they motioned to the back room her eyes swept through the crowded bar searching for help the warning bells in her mind were almost as loud as the human din and clinking glasses around her she readied herself for the trouble she knew was coming ashley leytella was working the night shift at the secret cafe in fairfield connecticut when she noticed the group of men saunter in the december holiday season was in full swing and she was struggling to keep up the tables quickly filled up for dinner service the overflow of diners bustling into the bar area as she rushed from table to table taking orders another wave of students swept into the bar jeering and whooping before they ordered their first rounds and hammered them down out of the corner of her eye ashley noticed three men take their seats in the corner carlos carmel her manager noticed them too he knew they didn't belong he had meant to keep an eye on them but was soon carried away on other business ashley took the men's orders and bustled to make them comfortable but as experienced as she was at her job she couldn't help but feel taken aback by their behavior the men ordered round after round and every time ashley walked away from the table she could feel their eyes burning into her back and every time she approached with their orders they would fall completely silent but it was only when she brought them their bill that she would understand their true motivations ashley knew from experience that it was usually the quieter patrons who gave the most trouble there was always one table that was holding a wild card usually if she felt uncomfortable she would swap tables with one of her male staff members just to be safe but there was no chance of that happening tonight everyone had their hands full unfortunately the men waited until the last possible minute to show their true colors the more ashley thought about it the more it didn't make sense the sea grave cafe was a well-known student bar why were these older gentlemen here they were definitely the oldest people in the room call it a woman's intuition or experience ashley just knew there would be trouble and she was right as a server ashley expected to have good customers and bad customers and some were just downright rude nevertheless she resolved to always try her best to give all her customers equally good service but nothing could have prepared her for the men's refusal to settle their bill when it was finally time to bring the men their check ashley breathed a sigh of relief it was drawing near to the end of her shift and she was looking forward to going home to recoup before it all began again tomorrow but she wasn't out of the woods just yet when she returned to collect their payment she wasn't ready for what they wanted from her one of the men had the folder with the bill inside pinned under his elbows close to his chest but when ashley moved to retrieve it he refused to move back he slowly and deliberately looked her up and down she could feel his eyes on her as they traveled up to her startled face then he scooped it up and deliberately held it out of her reach as if taunting her without breaking contact with ashley's eyes he pushed his chair back and the other two men followed suit as if this was a signal from their ring leader they all rose to stand and the man who was holding the bill ransom swung his neck over his shoulder and looked pointedly at the door behind him at first ashley was confused then he motioned for her to follow him at first ashley couldn't quite comprehend what was happening she raised her hands in the universal gesture of confusion but the man was adamant he leaned closer and she struggled to hear him over the loud music he repeated his request when it dawned on her that they wanted to settle their bill in private she felt so unsettled that she felt herself freeze on the spot as a primal fear took hold of her ashley's thoughts began to race as she scanned the crowd for her manager why would these men want to settle their bills somewhere more private if they had any grievances why couldn't they tell her right here in the safety of the bar on the other hand there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation ashley was used to patrons coming on to her after all she was young and attractive and she worked hard to keep herself in shape and it wasn't lost on her that the man who refused to give her the bill was rather good looking himself it was strange but behind the instinctual fear she was feeling a small flutter of excitement but she couldn't even entertain that thought all she knew was that there was no way she was going into the back room with these strange men thankfully ashley caught carlo's attention as he rushed by the fearful look in her eyes said it all he stopped in his tracks and ashley felt relief wash over her carlos had known something would happen tonight but even he bought when she explained what had happened he'd handle it from here they would all go into the back room together carlo's first thought was that perhaps the men were dissatisfied with their service he only hoped things wouldn't get out of hand the tension seemed to rise off the worried manager as he walked stiffly into the back with ashley and the men in tow ashley and carlos were exactly where the men wanted them they were in for a surprise in the quieter setting of the private room the men confirmed ashley's suspicions they revealed that they had been watching her closely all night they observed all four bartenders being run off their feet and they were impressed carlos immediately relaxed and let his guard down and the men handed him the bill when he saw the figure written in the gratuity line he almost passed out carlos saw a five and two zeros and couldn't believe it a tip of 500 was unheard of for a bill of 112 dollars he couldn't believe these men wanted to tip the staff that much he voiced his gratitude but the men told him to look again he thought they had tipped 500 but he was wrong looking closer carlo's first reaction gave way to sheer confusion i saw another zero he explained in an interview his face turned as white as a sheet and ashley immediately burst into tears after a few minutes she regained her composure and rushed to give the men a big hug it wasn't a five hundred dollars tip it was a five thousand dollars tip but why so who are these mysterious men who seem to have a lot of cash to spend on exorbitant tips and why had they chosen the staff at the secret cafe the men explained that they were part of a group called tips for jesus and their mission was to do the lord's work one tip at a time the group had been traveling across america tipping huge amounts to hard-working servers in restaurants they had already tipped a total of thousand five hundred dollars in manhattan alone soon news of the group spread on social media people all over america were coming forward to share their stories one bartender got a staggering tip of one thousand dollars for a bill of just eighty five dollars ashley knew exactly what she was going to do with her portion of the tip ashley knew she had to pay it forward so she bought as many toys as she could at her local toy store and donated them all to a toy drive called al's angels she was so grateful she didn't even want to keep any of the money herself but this wasn't the only time ashley had given to those in need in fact ashley had been planning to buy toys to donate to the toy drive for some time i've been trying to gather toys at my office toys blankets she explained so the tip from tips for jesus couldn't have come at a better time the men couldn't have known that ashley was such a generous person herself it just goes to show that kindness begets kindness there are some pretty silly things that go viral on social media and some trends that are less than good for your health cue the tide pod challenge people enjoy following and performing these challenges especially if they can get a good post out of it luckily the latest trend is a super feel good one that everyone will enjoy for most servers their job is a way to make ends meet and definitely not a way to get rich quick until now that is the latest hashtag challenge is called tip the bill or tip the bill challenge as a way for anyone to participate in the fun spread the love and feel great at the same time the challenge involves ordering anything you like from the menu and when the bill arrives leaving 100 gratuity but some people have taken it further a lot further and it couldn't come at a better time either people are in a tipping slump some studies showing that almost 50 percent of all diners have no idea how much they should be tipping so what is the right amount if you didn't already know it between 15 and twenty percent is the recommended amount you should budget for when dining out but people participating in this challenge are up in the ante like this regular at blue four restaurant in upper northwest washington christopher nardelli owner of the four-year-old restaurant said the customer lives in the area and frequents the bar a few times a month his favorite item on the menu is most definitely the gumbo which features a chicken and annual sausage base with a dark roux paired with an old chub scotch ale occasionally christopher and the chef james turner emailed over food pairings and beer selections to keep the customers informed of new happenings at the restaurant recently james even went so far as to email the patron personally asking him for advance notice on the next time he would be in the restaurant so he could make the gumbo he liked they finished their food and drinks got the bill paid and left but it wasn't until later that anyone noticed something unusual well after the guests had left laura dally the bartender noticed the bill on the table he is known as a regular who favors the gumbo and is a good generous tipper but this was beyond that the three staff were stunned that anyone could leave such a gigantic tip on a 93 bill laura had picked up the bill as everyone else was cleaning up and getting ready to close but when she peeked inside she immediately went to go get chris but the owner bartender and chef at the restaurant on connecticut avenue said they were shocked when the patron left a really really big tip two thousand dollars on a ninety three dollars bill i was in an utter days she said i was completely speechless i had to do a double take laura went to her boss and said we need to talk the two went back to his office and she showed him the receipt i didn't know what to say chris recalled this is the kind of stuff you see in the restaurant business that happens to some guy in the midwest or the west coast he said you think who are these people who give these extraordinarily generous tips that just made a server or bartender's day and then sure enough it happened to us along with the credit card slip showing the two thousand dollars tip was a note including details of how it should be divided among the three one thousand dollars for chef james and five hundred dollars each for laura and chris but just what was the reason for someone to leave such an incredibly large tip the next day chris sent a thank you email to the man and got the explanation for the crazy tip he said he's very happy with what we've built and that he's proud to be a customer chris said the patron also said in the email i'm very happy to express my gratitude in that way each person is using their sudden windfall wisely too chris said he has plans to use his money to help offset his toddler's monthly daycare bill and believes that james will spend his money on his family as well while laura a 29 year old silver spring resident said she plans to use her 500 to pay for a summer class at montgomery college she is working to become an occupational therapist it's flattering he said it's nice to see somebody appreciate what we do and they're willing to leave something like that for us it's hard to believe anyone deserves tip like that chris said followed by laura who said in her 10 years of working off and on as a hostess server or bartender she has never never have i gotten a tip this big never and a note on the back of the bill thank you for the gumbo you