Rosalynd Harris, a waitress at Washington, D.C.'s Busboys and Poets, received a $450 tip on a $72 bill on Monday from three Donald Trump supporters wearing cowboy hats who came in town for the inauguration.
The event went viral not only because of the 625 percent tip, but also because of the note that was written on the receipt.
"We may come from different cultures and may disagree on certain issues, but if everyone would share their smile and kindness like your beautiful smile, our country will come together as one people," the note read. "Not race, not gender, just American. God bless!"
Harris, a 25-year-old African-American woman, had joined the Women's March on Washington on Saturday. She said she assumed the customers were Trump supporters when she saw them.
"I could tell they were from the south when I saw them because they had their cowboy hats on, and I was like, 'Oh, you're not from the city,'" she told WUSA9.
The men were from West Texas, and confirmed to Harris that they were in town for President Trump's inauguration.
One of the men, Jason White, decided to leave the tip and note without telling his friends. White, who has been a Trump supporter from the beginning, is a devout Christian. And although he doesn't agree with much of the president's rhetoric, he told the Washington Post in an interview that he hopes Trump will bring about a new mindset and leadership.
White left $450 as a nod to the 45th president, and meant it as a symbolic gesture that everyone could work together.
"It was an interesting situation because it is a liberal, Democratic kind of feel to the entire Busboys establishment," Harris said.
The men told Harris they had never experienced that kind of atmosphere before. During their interactions, they complimented Harris on her smile and personality. They were gone by the time she saw the receipt.
"You automatically assume if someone supports Trump that they have ideas about you," she told the Washington Post, "but [the customer was] more embracing than even some of my more liberal friends, and there was a real authenticity in our exchange."
The restaurant shared the event on its Facebook page, and got mixed reviews. While many people wrote positive comments, others thought that Harris was wrong in believing the customers' good intentions.
"Nice gesture. But not buying it. These people voted for a man that is not for equality, but want equality ? Hypocrisy at its best. Nice gesture though!" one person wrote.
"Huh. They meant well? I love Busboys and Poets, but this seems incredibly tone deaf to me. It reeks of 'All Lives Matter' and 'colorblind' sentiments. $450 won't make systemic oppression go away," another wrote.
But White only had good intentions.
"We have to think about being better Americans, we have to look into ourselves and how we treat one another," he said. "If everyone did a little something to show respect…we can love one another."
The large tip came at the right time. Harris, who works as a professional dancer and a waitress, had been worried she would not have enough money to pay upfront bills for a new apartment.
But the message was enough to move her.
"This definitely reshaped my perspective," she said. "Republican, Democrat, liberal are all subcategories to what we are experiencing. It instills a lot of hope."