$10,000 Tip on $26 Tab (A Think)

MSNBC is running an article entitled Bartender Gets $10,000 Tip on $26 Tab . According to the article, "'I couldn't move,'" (the waitress) said. 'I didn't know what to say. He said, `This will buy you something kind of nice, huh?' And I said, `Yeah, it will.'"

There are a lot of news articles today, but this particular story caught my eye. I'm really not even sure why. I remember once in Dallas, I was driving through a toll booth and the people in the car in front of me, who I didn't know, paid my toll. It's such an incredible feeling when something small but so nice is done for you.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask students to define the word "kindness." Encourage them to be specific. For example, if they say that it means to do something nice for other people, ask what it means to do something nice. You might have students begin working in small groups to define this term and then come together as a class to do so.
2. Ask students to share an instance in which they saw somebody else do something kind. (At times, I've asked students to say something nice about one other student in the class. I've strongly encouraged students to make sure that something nice was said about everybody in the class.)
3. Ask students to develop a skit in which they express ideas that occurred inside the man's head when he decided to give a $10,000 tip. (If students are anything like me, they might be a bit cynical as to why a guy would leave a woman bartender $10,000. However, if students raise the idea that he wanted to get to know the bartender intimately, ask them if they think it is fair to jump to this conclusion and think that it's the only reason he would have left such a large tip. According to the article, the guy did not stick around for long after he left the tip.)
4. Invite students to develop a skit in which they express ideas that occurred inside the bartender's head after she received the tip.