Waitress who lost sister to cancer gifted $1,300 Christmas tip

A Wisconsin waitress spending her first Christmas without her sister who died from cancer received an unexpected gift from a group of women she served during the holidays, according to a report.

Michele Bachman, 57, said the surprise came when she waited on a table of 13 women during her shift Sunday at Mulberry’s Pancakes and Cafe in Union Grove, news station WITI reported.

“I put the check down and told them all, ‘Merry Christmas,’” Bachman told the outlet. “It was a pleasure taking care of them, and I walked away.”

Bachman returned to find the women had left her a Christmas card — with a $1,300 tip inside.

“I looked and I was blown away. I then thought it was a mistake,” Bachman told news station WGN-TV.

She said the Christmas gift was particularly meaningful because she had been struggling with the loss of her sister in October.

“As Christmas came, I kind of felt like I had lost a part of me,” Bachman told WITI. “I think actually she’s up there and she knew that I was kind of still sad about this, and honestly I feel like she sent those. She’s an angel, and she sent those angels to me.”

Jessica Greb, who is the organizer of the nonprofit Orchestrating Good, was among the women who left the tip and said the group had set out to make someone’s day.

“It was really small what we did, in the grand scheme of everything,” Greb told WGN-TV. “Not knowing her life story, or what her struggles were. That meant a whole lot to us.”