Michigan Pizza Delivery Guy Gets $2,084 Tip After Viral Prank

Robert Dunn received more than $2,000 and hundreds of encouragement letters.

ByABC News
January 19, 2015, 2:58 PM

— -- Robert Dunn thought he was just on a standard run. The full-time pizza delivery guy got a call to deliver a medium pizza to an Ann Arbor, Michigan-area hotel where he regularly went.

“It was just a normal day and I got a normal delivery,” Dunn told ABC News. “Then there was a room full of 200 people all real nicely dressed and everyone looked back at me.”

Dunn was called to the front of the room where he proceeded to receive the tip of his lifetime.

“They gave me over $2000 cash, a Visa gift card for $25, a couple winning scratch-off lottery tickets and every person in the room wrote a letter of encouragement to me. It was really, really touching.”

Keller-Williams, the real estate agency behind the act, was having their annual leadership conference when the idea came to mind.

“It was sort of an impromptu thing. They decided to do it partially in response to the berating of a pizza guy at a car dealership,” Stacey McVey, team leader of Keller-Williams realty, greater Cleveland West, told ABC News. “It was just talked about quickly and the whole room decided it would be something really fun to do. Everybody deserves something nice, and it really is so easy in a few minutes to make an impact on somebody’s life.”

The roughly 250 people gathered emptied their pockets of whatever they had, which is why the final gift included lotto tickets and gift cards. Each person also wrote a note of encouragement to Dunn, something he deeply appreciated.

“I am just so thankful. It really, really touched me and really has brightened my spirit in general,” he said. “Those letters mean the most; they really do. Some of them are bringing me to tears. My favorite one said something along the lines of, ‘We appreciate all the hard work you do, and we know it’s really cold outside and we appreciate you bringing us the food today. Hopefully this money helps with all the bad tips you’ve gotten.’”

Dunn said he lives check to check and plans to save the money.

“It really seemed surreal; I couldn’t believe it was happening. Nothing like this has ever happened to me – I’ve never even won a simple contest before,” he said. “I’m super, super grateful. That money is going to help so much.”