A Waffle House waitress who worked a double shift while looking after her baby says she received a $1,000 tip from a country-music star who was impressed by her work ethic

• A Waffle House waitress said she received a $1,000 tip from a country-music star.
• She had worked a double shift while looking after her baby, she told Fox 8 News.
• The music star told her that some people were unwilling to work hard, the waitress said.

A Waffle House waitress said a country-music star left her a $1,000 tip because he was so impressed by her work ethic.

Shirell Lackey told Fox 8 News, a Fox affiliate in Greensboro, North Carolina, last week that the musician, who she wanted to keep anonymous, had found out she was working a double shift while looking after her baby daughter at the restaurant.

A photo of the check showed that the customer tipped $1,000 on a $12 order. Lackey told Fox 8 News that the musician also gave her two tickets to one of his concerts.

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"He was like, 'I have to respect a mother that would do whatever it takes to support their child in a society where people don't even want to work anymore,'" Lackey told Fox 8 News.

Stores and restaurants around the US are struggling to find workers in a tight labor market. The phrase "no one wants to work anymore" has gained popularity as some businesses blame the labor shortage on lazy workers; Insider's Áine Cain saw this recently when she traveled along the East Coast.

Other business owners have disputed claims that the shortage is due to laziness. Michael Lastoria, the CEO of the restaurant chain &Pizza, told Insider's Zahra Tayeb in July that his 51 locations were fully staffed and that the secret was to pay workers proper wages. He offers $16 an hour plus benefits, he said.

"The idea that wages couldn't possibly rise even once over the past 12 years while prices went up, while inflation went up, and while the cost of living went up has resulted in the 'shortage'" that business owners are experiencing, he said.

"There isn't a labor shortage," he said, "there is a shortage of business owners willing to pay a living wage."

The tight labor market in the US has put workers at an advantage - some have used the time to look for better-paying jobs with better working conditions.