Cheers! Wakefield Man Buys Round For Cape Restaurant Staff

WAKEFIELD, MA — A Wakefield man is being lauded for the empathy and generosity he showed the staff at a Cape restaurant over the weekend.

Mike Viselli spoke to MassLive about his decision to ask the manager of Falmouth's Shipwrecked restaurant if the staff could get a five-minute break while he bought them a round of drinks.

Viselli stood up in the restaurant and asked for applause if his fellow patrons would be OK with the staff taking a breather. The room obliged.

"I just felt bad for them," he told MassLive.

Restaurant workers have felt the fury of some customers fed up with short-staffing or hampered supply lines in the wake of the pandemic. One Brewster restaurant recently closed for a day after customers made the employees cry.

Shipwrecked posted video of Viselli's kindness on their Facebook page, saying:

"An extremely generous patron asked to recognize our amazingly hard working staff this evening. We cannot put into words how much this unexpected gesture means to our crew. Thanks to everyone who supports small businesses, who exercises patience and grace, and who bless us with their smiling faces and sunny dispositions on the daily. The service industry family is a tight knit group who sticks together through thick and thin, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. #cheers #RAK"

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Wakefield Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.