Bartender gets $18,000 tip

SPRINGFIELD, OR (KPTV) -- Not bad for a night's work.

A bartender at Conway's Restaurant and Lounge in Springfield received a tip worth thousands of dollars after a customer gave her two lottery tickets.

Aurora Kephart said about 80 percent of her customers at the Eugene-area bar are regulars, and one man always tips her with lottery tickets. On Tuesday, the man asked her to choose two tickets.

The first ticket? Worth $500. The second ticket? Worth $17,500.

"I automatically handed him back the ticket, and I said, 'I'm sorry. I can't take it.' And he had me sign it, and he said, 'You're the only one who can cash it now,'" Kephart said.

"(It) couldn't have happened to a nicer individual," said George Conway, who owns the restaurant. "And it's really easy once you talk to her to see why somebody would want to be so nice to give her a ticket."

The man who left the tip said he wants to remain anonymous.