Kicker: More than a tip

RICHARD BROOKS: One, two, three...

NICK EICHER, HOST: That is Richard Brooks. He’s counting out hundred-dollar bills right into the hand of his server at IHOP, and the count went on for awhile.

Brooks and nine other diners pooled their tip money and they gave Tulio Maldonado a gratuity for the ages: 13-hundred dollars.

TULIO MALDONADO: This is awesome. We got a lot of bills to pay. So that's sure gonna help me out.

Yeah! Brooks belongs to something called the “Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club.” Every few months, they do this. Audio here from WCVB-TV:

RICHARD BROOKS: We know what’s going to happen to him, but he doesn’t know what’s gonna happen. It’s kinda like being Santa Claus.

Of course, most of the club members don’t have Santa-level resources, but as teacher Jeffrey Paris points out...

JEFFRY PARIS: You know, when you add us all together, it turns into quite a big amount of money.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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