Zahlen, bitte! Correct: The Three Million Dollar Tip

It doesn't have to be three million US dollars, which a waitress at a New York pizzeria received in 1984: But how much tip is appropriate?

Mar 17, 2026 at 9:10 pm CET

5 min. read

By

Detlef Borchers

Anyone who has dealt with the topic of tipping knows the story of the lottery ticket that police officer Robert Cunningham and waitress Phyllis Penzo filled out together in March 1984. Cunningham promised her half of the possible winnings as a tip -- and kept his word when he won six million US dollars in the lottery.

Videos by heise

Penzo worked in a pizzeria in Yonkers (New York) that was popular with police officers and was friends with Cunningham. She had long forgotten the lottery ticket agreement when Cunningham contacted her later and said that the jointly filled-out lottery ticket had won six million dollars, and thus she was entitled to a tip of three million dollars. The three million that Penzo received shrank to “2 million dollar tip” in the feature film inspired by the case. It wasn't realistic anyway. Because, unlike in the movie, Penzo and Cunningham simply continued to live with their respective partners after the win.

In this section, we present amazing, impressive, informative and funny figures ("Zahlen") from the fields of IT, science, art, business, politics and, of course, mathematics every Tuesday. The wordplay "Zahlen, bitte!" for a section about numbers is based on the ambiguity of the German word "Zahlen." On one hand, "Zahlen" can be understood as a noun in the sense of digits and numerical values, which fits the theme of the section. On the other hand, the phrase "Zahlen, bitte!" is reminiscent of a waiter's request in a restaurant or bar when they are asked to bring the bill. Through this association, the section acquires a playful and slightly humorous undertone that catches the readers' attention and makes them curious about the presented numbers and facts.

Alle Artikel zu "Zahlen, bitte!"

The true story repeated itself after this setup in 1995 in Canada, when a customer and his waitress each won the equivalent of $92,350. The list of miraculous tip distributions also includes the $10,000 tip for a single glass of water that YouTuber Mr. Beast left for a student working part-time worldwide on the occasion of a campaign for clean drinking water. She shared the money among the more than 80 employees of the fast-food restaurant.

Money for a drink

Originally, a tip was a small sum to pay for a drink for the well-being of the giver. This custom existed in many countries, as evidenced by names like Pourboire in French or Drikkepenge in Danish. Today, it's the other way around and shows appreciation for the recipient, for a service like good service in a restaurant. Although Germans are quite generous by international standards and usually add 10 percent to a bill as a tip, this “black money” is now allegedly in danger.

The New York barista Phyllis Penzo couldn't count the tip like this: First the customer disappeared with a jointly filled lottery ticket, then he returned later with a sum that was almost impossible to count by hand.

(Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, Tennekis)

A new survey speaks of tipping erosion. It blames the tipping button on card payments, as it often suggests more than the aforementioned 10 percent and complicates giving or not giving a tip. According to the survey (PDF file) by Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, traditional tipping norms are eroding.

The tipping button contributes to the erosion, for example, when pressing the “No tip” option becomes visible to those present during the transaction. The offer of larger tip amounts such as 20 or 25 percent is also part of it. Since as many as 82 percent of the 750 respondents still agree that it is customary to tip in a restaurant, it is difficult to speak of an extinct practice.

In the past, there have been numerous attempts to abolish tipping. In Germany, these are associated with the writing “Das Trinkgeld“ by the jurist Rudolf von Jhering. In his text, Jhering objected, among other things, to the fact that there were restaurants where waiters worked without pay and that those who remained “behind the scenes” in a restaurant received nothing from the tip. He also lamented the social pressure to tip. His attempt to abolish tipping came to nothing.

Tipping disparaged as an aristocratic, European practice

The “Anti-Tipping Society in America,” founded in 1904, was more successful, obliging its members not to tip for 12 months. Their actions led to tipping being temporarily banned in some US states. However, the whole thing must be seen against the background that in the USA, tipping was initially seen as an aristocratic practice that came from Europe.

The tip functions of modern cashless payment systems, which can create a certain social pressure to tip, are not entirely undisputed.

(Image: CC BY-SA 4.0, Canadian2006)

The model was the “vail“, an envelope with a tip, that British aristocrats left for the servants of a house as guests. Until the American Civil War, tips were rarely given; afterwards, tips were often the only source of income for freed slaves like Pullman's porters. In his 1916 tract “The Itching Palm“, William Rufus Scott pointed out the un-American roots of tipping, which fundamentally violates the principles of equality and democracy on which the United States was founded. He died in 1951. He did not live to see tipflation.