A heartwarming tale of a customer leaving generous tip - with an unfortunate twist

When a server at Thailicious, a Thai restaurant in Colorado, picked up the bill from a table late one night, they thought they were seeing something that most waiting staff dream of - a huge and unexpected tip. The diner had added an incredible $1,088 tip to their $60 bill. Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite as expected.

The waiting staff celebrated that night, but in the morning the man returned to the restaurant. He explained he'd had a bit too much to drink, and instead of paying the bill, he had accidentally handed over all the cash he had with him.

Fortunately the restaurant had hung onto the tip instead of splitting it between staff - just in case - so they were able to give it back. To help make up for the disappointment, he left a $40 tip.

Shopping drunk

The diner was said to be mortified, but he's not the only person to have made a horrible financial blunder when worse for wear. The Guardian recently asked its readers for the worst thing they had ever bought while drunk, and the answers ranged from an antique Steiff elephant on wheels - which cost almost £300, to a clarinet (the purchaser couldn't play), and a sofa that the purchaser hated as soon as she'd sobered up but had been forced to live with for years.

Buzzfeed asked the same question, and got replies including a goat skull, a colouring book called 'dinosaurs with jobs', 1,000 communion wafers, and an 8-foot cardboard cut out of Will Ferrell.

Two years ago, one Reddit user admitted to buying live goats online when drunk. He forgot about them completely, so it came as quite a surprise when they were delivered to his house.

Kelkoo, the online shopping comparison site, found that one in seven people have been shopping online after drinking too much.

A separate study by Confused.com found that the average we spend when drunk shopping online is £142. Most of our drunk shopping is on Amazon, but almost one in five people have booked a holiday after a drink, and 6% have splashed out on a new TV.

That study also found a number of unusual drunk purchases - including the person who bought ten lobster pots, a pie maker, diving equipment and a folding ladder.