An 89-year-old from Roy, Utah is the new owner of a $12,000 tip and TikTok fame after going viral on the social media platform.
Derlin Newey currently works as a pizza delivery driver for Papa Johns Pizza. According to KSL, Newey works 30 hours every week to make some extra money because his monthly bills cost more than his social security covers.
One of his many regular customers, Carlos Valdez, began recording Newey’s deliveries through his doorbell cam. When he uploaded a video of Newey earlier this month to his TikTok (@vendingheads), it quickly went viral. Currently, it has more than 448,000 views and 69,000 likes. In it, Newey enthusiastically calls out, “Hello! Are you looking for some pizza?”
@vendingheads What is this guy doing delivering Pizzas? True hustler 🙏 ##fyp ##delivery ##nest ##nestdoorbell ##amazon ##amazonprime ##fedex ##ups ##usps
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A Successful Venmo Challenge
TikTok users took to the comments to call Newey “sweet” and “much appreciated.” Many asked Valdez to do what is known as the “Venmo Challenge,” where people use Venmo to give service workers very large tips. In most cases, it acts similarly to a GoFundMe campaign and one person creates a Venmo account that other users can send money to. Then, the person who created the account will take the amount raised and give it to the worker or individual they raised money for.
Upon seeing the interest in Newey and a Venmo challenge, Valdez created a Venmo account so TikTok users could send money if they wanted to send something to Newey. TikTok users rallied to raise $12,069 to tip Newey.
“It’s insane. Everybody loves him,” Valdez told KSL.
Valdez set up a meeting with Newey, telling him they were simply going to give him a shirt they had designed with a cartoon figure of him. However, Valdez used the meeting to present the tip to Newey, who reacted with disbelief.
@vendingheads Here it is 😍 ##fyp ##venmochallenge ##🍕man ##love ##blessed ##gift ##lovewins
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Valdez attempted to explain that TikTok users donated the money to a fund for Newey. Not knowing what TikTok was, Newey asked, “Is that an online group you communicate with each other through the telephone?”
“How do I ever say thank you? I don’t know what to say,” said a teary-eyed Newey, adding, “I don’t know what to say, except thank you.”
In his latest TikTok video, Valdez shared a surprise run-in with Newey at a local gas station. The new pals found themselves in matching shirts with Newey’s cartoon self on them.
@vendingheads We’re Matching 😊 ##fyp ##🍕man ##bekind ##newbestie ##lovewins ##celebrity ##local
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