Waitress gets $500 tip after customer notices broken hearing aid

BRANFORD, Connecticut -- A random act of kindness from a customer in a Connecticut restaurant shocked his waitress to tears.

Keri Marie Carlson was walking a customer to his table at GW Carsons in Branford when he noticed that she was having trouble hearing him.

She told him one of her hearing aids was broken, and after his meal, he gave her a $500 tip to fix it.

"I was in shock," she said. "I'm still in shock. It's not something that happens every day."

Carlson said she hadn't mentioned to the customer she needed the money.

"He just came in the back and said, 'I'm not gonna take no for an answer' and 'I can't let you go home like this,'" she said. "I tried to give him the money back, but he was like, 'No, you deserve this.'"

She was left emotional and speechless.

"I cried for a minute in his arms," she said.

The act of kindness touched the hearts of many.

"That's what it's like to live on the shoreline," said Christine Nizolek, another customer at the restaurant. "There are so many giving people, and it just made me happy that there's someone in the community who will do something for somebody else."

The owner was so impressed, he's now using T-shirt sales to raise money for the American Society for Deaf Children. And he added that this couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

"I want to thank you from the bottom of my humble heart," Carlson said. "For giving me such a gift."