Posted on 02/02/2013 6:16:20 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
An Applebee's diner refused to leave a tip for religious reasons. The waitress who exposed it wonders if Jesus will pay her bills.
I was a waitress at Applebee's restaurant in Saint Louis. I was fired Wednesday for posting a picture on Reddit.com of a note a customer left on a bill. I posted it on the web as a light-hearted joke.
This didn't even happen at my table. The note was left for another server, who allowed me to take a picture of it at the end of the night.
Someone had scribbled on the receipt, "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?"
I assumed the customer's signature was illegible, but I quickly started receiving messages containing Facebook profile links and websites, asking me to confirm the identity of the customer. I refused to confirm any of them, and all were incorrect.
I worked with the Reddit moderators to remove any personal information. I wanted to protect the identity of both my fellow server and the customer. I had no intention of starting a witch-hunt or hurting anyone.
Now I've been fired...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
There's nothing I can add to this excellent post. It says it all.
“Angie” might have lost his lease. A friend of mine has owned many restaurants. After he built up a good reputation for the location, the building owner would crank up the rent. My friend would move the restaurant to a new location, and at the old location, he would change the name, trash the service and food, and leave the owner with an unrentable site.
Tips are “optional.” That said, they are appropriate if you get good service.
A server had to really try hard for me to fail to tip. I’ll even tip a server who screws up if they have a good attitude and I can tell they are really trying to give good service.
I give 15%-20% for good (acceptable) service. Superior service warrants a superior tip.
I believe the menus state the fixed gratuity for parties of a certain size, or larger. I think it was printed on the receipt, as well. Even when I'm in a group, I always leave a tip, but when it's just my husband and me, he lets me decide the tip. I've never worked as a waitress, but I've had friends who have, and they do have to work hard for their money.
“Yes, thank you for speaking for us secure elites.”
Sarcasm noted.
In my profession, I’d get a few nice raises the first year or so, then “corporate maximum” raises would kick in. I’d switch to another employer, and get a 50% raise, and the cycle would start again. That happened four or five times.
The free market works for those whose time has value. For those whose time does not have value, admit it, and then we’ll talk. Don’t expect a free ride.
Sadly, some people have no sense of honour anymore or decency. Some call me old fashioned because I’m still in my 30s and they think I need to be a progressive, however, I always thought I should of been born in the 1840s heh.
I read about it last night when Applebees issued a statement that the pastor left the note but the group he was a part of paid the gratuity.
The pastor? He’s a she.
Depression perhaps. A darker theory involves local mob activity and extortion. A man who can’t quite call his business as his own business has no real motivation to run it as his own!
“You (and your ilk) are the ones who need to get smart, and stay out of restaurants.
It certainly would make you, other customers, servers, cooks and restaurant owners much happier.”
Yeah, lets just ban all restaurants, all those germs and the high priced food. Total ripoffs. Mean surly wait staff. The best place to eat was mom’s kitchen anyway!
Signed: Ilk like Me!
“The so called pastor is a creep IMO.”
The black female pastor is an Obama supporter...’nuf said.
Evil is as evil does...
I had no intention of starting a witch-hunt or hurting anyone.
I know snark and bullying are the fad for young leftists these days. It goes with the territory of lefty self righteous entitlement(unmerited, high self esteem), entitlement and class envy (jealously). It is the opposite of graditude, creativity and excellent service to others. This is the worst attitude if you want a happy, successful life.
So in America, I got used to either getting nothing from Japanese customers, or a ridiculously large tip, from Americanized Japanese.
I've heard that about Australia. To them, a tip is "generous" if it is 10%.
Entitlement? You can not possibly mean the waitress, can you? Please, what kind of low life tips 0% and then references God? What a terrible witness and an embarrassment to Christianity (maybe they are a different religion and I can feel less ashamed for them). The person who did this (i.e. left 0%) is really pathetic. Let them live with their shame!!
You don't feel the customer reacted in anger to the Applebee policy and in doing so embarrassed his/her church (not to mention God)? What kind of witness is that?
How do you know the tipper was a female pastor? If so then that really is pathetic. To call the restaurant and demand someone be fired? This person should be shamed and then some. Were I a member of whatever church I would find another church. This person does not represent my Lord.
James 2:19-20
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
I know snark and bullying are the fad for young leftists these days. It goes with the territory of lefty self righteous entitlement(unmerited, high self esteem), entitlement and class envy (jealously). It is the opposite of gratitude, creativity and excellent service to others. This is the worst attitude if you want a happy, successful life.
You have got to be kidding me. You can not possibly believe this nonsense you posted.
No she's a servant. OTOH Clergymen are supposed to be gentlemen, and conduct thenselves accordingly.
I understand your point that the customer should have conducted themselves differently, But it doesn’t have any bearing because this is a professional setting for the waiter, not for the clergy. If the positions were reversed, and the clergywoman was rude and disrespectful to someone encountering her in her professional setting, a church service, funeral, etc., then I would fully expect that person to bring both barrels to bear with the church leadership or any overarching entity.
If you have to earn your money doing anything, it is your profession. And you have to do it well (unless we find ourselves, perhaps soon, living in an environment where employers cannot fire employees for poor performance) if you expect to keep it your profession.
I will be clear: I agree completely with you that this customer should not have acted the way she did. I, for one, don’t see how she can be legitimate “clergy” and treat people that way. She probably got it out of a Cracker Jack box. But just as there are good people and bad people, kind people and mean people, generous people and miserly people, the same applies to clergy or any other endeavor in life. The fact that this fat piece of crap “clergy” called Applebees and demanded people be fired simply confirms my assessment. What a turd.
But it is all irrelevant.
Management and ownership of the restaurant determines what behavior is appropriate with customers. If you, an employee, don’t agree with the company line, and won’t get any back up from your management if you are mistreated verbally by a customer, the choice is yours: Do you wish to work in that environment or not, an environment where your manager/proprietor will still back the customer even if they treat you disrespectfully or curse at you like a sailor?
If you wish to work there, you have to adhere to their rules and guidelines, which usually prohibits being disrespectful to customers. If your desire to tell a rude customer overrides your adherence to company guidelines and you decide to tell a customer to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine, that is indeed your choice to make.
Lastly, I read the linked article at the Manchester Guardian, and I couldn’t have less respect for the dumb ass person who got fired. The rule of thumb amongst those who serve is that you can be as rude and derisive of a customer as you want, as long as you keep it behind a firewall with the customer. Sure, she was outside of work when she posted this thing (again, an idiot who thinks the Internet gives her the right to post anything) But you know what? It was no different than a waiter verbally accosting a patron of her eating establishment in Walmart and giving that patron grief.
I work in healthcare, and if I encountered a formerly rude patient at my child’s baseball game and gave it back to them, I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if they complained to my place of employment. I would fully expect to get fired, because that crosses the firewall between a server and a customer.
She may be a nice person in many ways, BUT if her reaction to "something irritating happened to me at work today" is "I think I'll broadcast it to the entire Internet".....I would not hire her, period.
AND YOU ARE THE REASON WHY, PEOPLE DON’T NEED THAT BIG OF TIP!!! YOUR ATTITUDE!! BESIDES THEN IF YOU WAS RELIYING ON YOU TIPS FOR YOUR JOB, WHY DIDN’T YOU GET A REAL JOB THEN OR EVEN WORK AT MCDONALD’S THAT PAY MORE FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES WITHOUT THE TIPS! SO THAT SAYING MCDONALD’S CHARGES LESS BUT PAYS MORE AND THAT IS LOW TO BEGIN WITH!
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