This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A Los Angeles waitress was the subject of a prank, but this particular stunt will actually warm the cockles of your heart.
The unsuspecting 23-year-old Chelsea Roff, who works at Chinatown's Spring Street Smokehouse, was surprised on March 18 when she received a plethora of amazing tips from "customers," according to ABC News. Break.com pranksters decided to "prank it forward" this time by having fake restaurant patrons gift Roff with the best tips ever, including $1,000 in cash, a trip to Hawaii, a new car, and an offer for her dream job.
The Break.com video that was posted on March 31 revealed Roff's inspiring life story about how she raised her little sister when she was young, and how she once had an eating disorder but now channels her energy toward her nonprofit that helps people recover from eating disorders through yoga lessons. Also, her car was a "complete piece of junk," as the Break.com host described.
The best tip she received was when a psychologist offered her a dream job to teach yoga at a treatment center. ABC News spoke to Roff:
"I saw the yoga book on her table and started talking to her about it and she said she was a director at a treatment center so I knew something was up at that point because that’s not normal, for someone to announce that," said Roff, who herself suffered from an eating disorder so severe it led to a stroke and an 18-month hospitalization.
Her boss, Chris Patterson said in the video she "deserves a vacation" in regards to her Hawaii trip. And indeed she does, as Roff told ABC news the last time she took a vacation was when she was 14.
