Mystery couple picks up tabs at restaurants

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — A mystery couple has been picking up the checks for other customers at a southwestern Pennsylvania restaurant.

KDKA-TV reports the couple has been doing that for years at the Applebee's in Washington, Pennsylvania, but only recently have their good deeds come to light.

Jolie Welling says she was celebrating her daughter's birthday only to find the couple recently paid the entire tab — for 16 people. Samantha Powell, the waitress for that
party, says the gesture touched her, too, and almost brought her to tears.

Bernie Lewis, the restaurant's assistant manager, says she has sworn to keep the couple's secret.

Powell knows them, too, and says they own a local business. She says the man once told her he pays others' checks because, "I grew up poor and now I'm not."