One night about a month ago, a mysterious man walked into Notchtop Bakery & Cafe in Estes Park, Colorado. Okay, he wasn’t that mysterious: he was a regular customer named David. He ordered about $20 worth of food and left a $1400 tip, to be distributed equally among the restaurant’s seven employees. On top of the credit card receipt, he wrote, “COVID sucks!” with a smiley face. The restaurant posted a photo of the receipt to its Facebook page and wrote, “Thank you, COVID bandit!” Local TV station KDVR got wind of the story and did a nice news segment about it.
Last Saturday night, the bandit struck again, this time at Guard and Grace, a restaurant in downtown Denver. He made his reservation under the name COVID Bandit. After he finished his meal, he had a long conversation with the general manager, KDVR reports. Afterward, he went to the bar in one of the private dining rooms where all 34 staff members had lined up and personally handed each person $200 in cash. Once again, he wrote “COVID sucks!” on the receipt with a smiley face. Chef Troy Guard posted a photo on his Facebook page:
The bandit’s identity remains a mystery, although KDVR anchor Erika Gonzalez told viewers that she has her suspicions and promises to let us all know when she cracks the case.
If I worked in a Denver-area restaurant right now, I’d be wondering... who is the COVID Bandit, and will he come to my place next?