A good Samaritan helped dish out a surprising amount of dough to an 81-year-old waitress who revealed she was too poor to retire.
Lifestyle influencer Tamie Konzier and her son posted a public call for help on her TikTok account after observing that Betty, a server at an Eat’N Park diner in Pittsburgh, was struggling to walk during her shift.
While the duo was eating at the chain restaurant, they overheard the grandmother of three tell customers at a nearby table that she needed to continue working long hours on her feet because her government benefits didn’t cover her monthly living expenses.
“She only makes $910 a month on social security and she has to still work because her bills exceed $910 a month,” Konzier said in a video posted on TikTok Wednesday. “Any proceeds I get from this video in the TikTok Creator Rewards program, I will come back and give to her.”
The TikTok creator rewards program pays eligible content creators with over 10,000 followers when their videos over one minute perform well.
Konzier, who has over 123,000 followers on TikTok, gave Betty a $40 cash tip after their meal but still wanted to do more for the seasoned server.
“I worked all my life as a waitress and still can’t retire,” Betty said when she received the cash.
The senior server then joked that she “can still outdo these whipper snappers” at the diner.
The initial clip was viewed 6.1 million times.
Konzier won’t get the payout from TikTok until around mid-April, so she decided to create a GoFundMe page, after her online community requested to pitch in.
The GoFundMe page raised over 100,000 in less than 24 hours.
“I’m overwhelmed with joy but like overwhelmed with all the messages because I never knew this was going to happen,” Konzier tearfully shared in a TikTok video posted on Thursday.
The fundraiser had reached $140,000 when the influencer revealed the news to Betty.
“I guess I better get a financial advisor,” Betty joked when she discovered the life-changing news.
“She wants to cut down her hours but she said she doesn’t want to fully retire because it keeps her going,” Konzier said. “I told her [that] she was welcome to do whatever she wanted to do with the money.”
By early Friday morning, the GoFundMe page raised $222,129.
“This is the most beautiful thing on the internet today,” a person commented.
“These kind actions restore my faith in humanity, “another person wrote.
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