You can find a Floyd’s 99 Barbershop just about anywhere in the American South, from Florida to California – and just like all other salons and barbershops in the process of reopening, the staff is taking tentative and nervous steps into this new coronavirus-laden world.

Nevertheless, the stylists in states that are allowed to reopen are grateful to be back at work – and customers are thrilled to be able to get a haircut again.

One thing Floyd’s 99 has always prided itself on is the customer experience – one that looks different these days with new rules for everyone who walks in.

But the people have come back, masks on and ready to get rolling – high rolling in the case of one special customer.

While that customer has chosen to remain anonymous, his beneficiary is shouting about his generosity from the rooftops.

Ilisia Novotny works at the Floyd’s 99 near the University of Denver in Colorado and ended up picking up a shift on a Saturday in mid-May after they were allowed to reopen the week before. She had been home and out of work (like so many) for almost 2 months.

The barbershop was busy and towards the end of the day a walk-in client who had just moved to the city from Chicago asked if Novotny could do just one more cut.

“I had 15 minutes left in my shift, and he walked up and asked if I could squeeze him in,” Novotny told Good Morning America. “I know how many people are desperate for a haircut right now so I didn’t mind.”

The two were able to engage in the kind of small talk we’ve come to expect from places like barbershops, coming to find out they were both Cubs fans, for example.

But they also talked about how hard the shut-down had been for stylists like Novotny and her colleagues.

When he got up, paid, and began to leave the shop, there was nothing to suggest that something incredible had just happened.

That is until he turned around and said: “Just so you know, it’s not a mistake.”

Novotny was confused. Then the employees outside at the register came in to tell her the news.

The man had left her a $2,500 tip.

“I cried,” Novotny told The Denver Post. “I’m a single mother. It’s been rough the last few months not knowing what’s going to happen, not knowing when we might reopen so I could go back to work.”

The last two months had been a struggle for the 32-year-old single mother – one even her child had noticed.

She had to work out details with her landlord to be able to keep her household running while her only income had been some sporadic Venmo donations from clients.

And while $2,500 doesn’t fix everything, it sure does help.

Perhaps just as importantly, this kind of gesture can reaffirm one’s faith in humanity at a time when many of us are frustrated with one another.

The anonymous client’s generosity didn’t end with Novotny, however. According to The Denver Post, “he handed $500 to Floyd’s receptionist and $1,000 to the general manager. Then he asked how many employees worked in the store, and handed the manager another $1,800 — $100 each for the store’s 18 employees.”

“This came at a crucial time for me”: A hairstylist at a Denver barbershop received a $2,500 tip from a new customer hoping to do his part amid the coronavirus crisis. https://t.co/sLZ09SblDO pic.twitter.com/SqYH6U3MpW

— ABC News (@ABC) May 14, 2020

The man walked away having doled out a total of $5,800 during his trip to Floyd’s 99 Barbershop.

The haircut itself cost just $27.

But the feeling he left behind was priceless.

Be sure to scroll down for the local news story on the generous stranger.

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Source: Floyd’s 99 Barbershop, The Denver Post, Good Morning America