A dad was so excited to accept his takeout order on his 65th birthday that he did not notice the delivery person was his daughter, who had traveled across the U.S. to surprise him – even heading inside to find a tip for her.
Robert Lurie, 65, had no reason to expect his daughter, Samantha, 38, would be able to make the big day, as Robert had decided to spend it away from his own home in Lansing, Michigan, and travel to his sister’s house in Madison, Wisconsin.
Samantha, meanwhile, is based in Atlanta, Georgia. So she started working on a surprise for her father’s birthday, liaising with her sister, Micah, 35, who would be traveling from Michigan but separately from her mom and dad.
Micah and Samantha arrived at their Aunt Susie’s house first, so they devised a plan when Susie headed out to collect Robert and his wife from the airport.
They decided a “fake DoorDash” delivery would work best, so Samantha grabbed a red Wisconsin hat as a disguise and snuck out the back door when her father arrived at the house.
After Robert had greeted everyone, Samantha was texted to ring the doorbell – which others in the house took as a cue to encourage Robert to accept the food.
Opening the door, Robert delightedly accepted the delivery of sub sandwiches, not recognizing the person who had handed him the treat, despite his daughter letting out a drawn-out “Hiiiiiiiiii.”
Robert asked Samantha if he owed her anything before saying he would grab a tip.
At that point, a stunned Samantha—who admitted she thought her father would recognize her—decided to follow her dad slowly into the house.
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As Robert searched for a tip, he could only find large bills – to which Micah’s husband jokingly said, “Yeah, give her $100!”
Robert looked confused by this request, and having headed back to give his daughter some money, things clicked when Samantha tilted her head upwards so her father could see more of her face.
The moment had the whole family in stitches, with Micah capturing her hungry dad’s response—or lack thereof—on video.
Robert’s other daughter, Jennica, based in London, United Kingdom, later shared her sister’s video on March 1 on her TikTok channel, which soon received a viral response.
Viewers commented about how they loved the moment, with some saying they found it hilarious that the dad was too excited about such an amazing takeout delivery.
Samantha said: “After I rang the doorbell, my dad answered the door pretty quickly.
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“I tried to use a high pitch voice and said ‘HIIIIII!’
“He looked at me, and I thought that would be the end of the surprise, but I was then surprised to find out that he did not recognize me!
“He thanked me, asked me if he owed any money, and said quickly, ‘Let me grab you a tip.’
“I was honestly shocked because I did not expect him not to recognize me.
“I decided to follow him into the house to see how it would play out.
“He pulled out his wallet and noticed that he only had big bills, and Micah said, ‘Give her a big bill!’
“He looked up and immediately looked at her, shocked by this statement.
“Her husband said, ‘Yea, give her $100.’
“He looked confused about what to tip me because of these comments.
“I stood behind him with a shocked face because I thought he knew it was me when he looked at me at least two times.
“I was contemplating whether to keep my hat on or take it off.
“I decided to tilt it up as he turned around. He probably thought that it was strange that I was in the house.
“When he handed me the tip, I looked at him in the eyes, tilted my hat, and said, ‘Thank you.’
“He waved to me, and I stood still – this caused him to do a double take, and then he recognized me.
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Micah added: “We didn’t even know if my dad was going to be the one to open the door.
“The timing was perfect.
“At first, I didn’t want to make it evident that I was recording.
“When he went to grab his wallet, I thought he was kidding, and he knew it was her.
“I held my phone up higher at this point and started giggling.
“When I realized he did not know what was happening, I tried to stop laughing and encouraged him to give her a hefty bill.
“I still couldn’t believe he didn’t know.
“Our family often attempts to surprise people, but this one was the best yet!”
