Guess the State: Pizzeria waiter returns half-million dollar cashier’s check to retired social worker who failed to tip him

[SaysWho?]

A Manhattan woman who almost bankrupted herself when she left a $424,000 cashier’s check at Patsy’s Pizzeria over the weekend was saved from ruin by an unlikely source — the waiter she’d stiffed at lunch.

 

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When she walked in the door, the first thing she told Brija was that she felt awful for not tipping Markaj on Saturday.

 

Vinacour said she and her daughter didn’t like Markaj’s reponse when they told him there weren’t enough photos of women on the walls.

“Maybe women don’t eat a lot of pizza?” Vinacour recalled the waiter saying with a shrug.
 

“Well, my daughter’s kind of feisty and she didn’t like that,” Vinacour said at the reunion. “So we didn’t tip him.”

 

Waiter sees the check:

 

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He got owner Frank Brija, 63, and put the cashier’s check in the proprietor’s hands.

“We thought for sure it was a billionaire or something who came in here, because who walks around with a check like that?” said Brija.

 

As it turns out, Vinacour, 79, is anything but financially flush.

The retired social worker stopped by Patsy’s on Saturday for lunch with her daughter after looking at a condo she hoped to buy, and the cashier’s check – mostly proceeds from the apartment she recently sold – was her down payment for the new home.

 

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“They said they couldn’t immediately cancel it because it was a cashier’s check. I would have to wait at least three months before they could even start the process, and only if someone didn’t cash it in the meantime,” she said.

...
 

Vinacour, who has dedicated most of her retirement to volunteering with charities in Laos to help underprivileged women and children, called her daughter, who immediately began searching through the household trash. She also called the real estate broker she’d been with on Saturday.

 

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Brija comforted her by pointing out all the photos of women on the wall that she didn’t see during her first visit, including former TV host Barbara Walters, First Lady Chirlane McCray and former City Council Speakers Christine Quinn and Melissa Mark-Viverito.

 

“And we’re going to take a picture here today with you, and I’m going to put that on the wall, too. So there will be one more," the pizza entrepreneur told her.

 

One of the less weird Guess The State threads.  

[Keyser_Soze]

14 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

One of the less weird Guess The State threads.  

 

Still kinda weird though 

[Remarkableriots]

She should have moved somewhere that's a lot cheaper for retirement.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Not a billionaire, but clearly set up enough that she’s buying a condo where $500k is just a down payment. 

 

There are plenty of places where $500k gets you a pretty decent house, almost paid for entirely. 

[CayceG]

2 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Not a billionaire, but clearly set up enough that she’s buying a condo where $500k is just a down payment. 

 

There are plenty of places where $500k gets you a pretty decent house, almost paid for entirely. 

 

And most of those places don't seem to be Manhattan.

[Scott]

Who the hell complains that there aren’t enough photos of women on the walls of a pizzeria?

[SaysWho?]

12 minutes ago, Scott said:

Who the hell complains that there aren’t enough photos of women on the walls of a pizzeria?

 

[Bloodporne]

39 minutes ago, Scott said:

Who the hell complains that there aren’t enough photos of women on the walls of a pizzeria?

I want to reference Do The Right Thing here but can't think of a creative way to put it into a joke format

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

I remember I lost 400 dollars in money orders for my rent when I was in college. Bought them and somehow lost them on my way home from the store... good times.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

1 hour ago, CayceG said:

 

And most of those places don't seem to be Manhattan.

My main point is to counter the article’s claim that she is not financially flush. If you’re putting $500k on a Manhattan condo, you’re not exactly strapped for cash. If she is barely getting by financially there are plenty of places where that $500k will go A LOT further. 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

My main point is to counter the article’s claim that she is not financially flush. If you’re putting $500k on a Manhattan condo, you’re not exactly strapped for cash. If she is barely getting by financially there are plenty of places where that $500k will go A LOT further. 

 

She's not financially flush by MANHATTAN standards is his point. 

[Dodger]

3 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Not a billionaire, but clearly set up enough that she’s buying a condo where $500k is just a down payment. 

 

There are plenty of places where $500k gets you a pretty decent house, almost paid for entirely. 

 

I just got 2300 square feet for $230000 on a golf course

[Mercury33]

I live in Maine. 500k would buy you a gigantic house most places up here.