(Reddit)
Posted on 01/31/2013 1:23:42 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
(Reddit)
Earlier this week, we posted a story about a restaurant customer who not only chose to deny the waitress a tip, but also wrote “I Give God 10% Why do you Get 18?” on the receipt. Now we’ve learned that the server who posted the receipt online has been fired.
“I originally posted the note as a lighthearted joke,” says Chelsea, who was dismissed from her job at Applebee’s on Wednesday, as the story began to spread across the Internet. “I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical. I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it entertaining.”
Chelsea tells Consumerist that the receipt was actually not even for her table. Rather, the server on the receiving end of the note showed it to Chelsea, who snapped a photo of it later that night.
As posted originally on Reddit’s Atheist page, the image contained the customer’s full signature. Chelsea says she didn’t think to edit that out because she had assumed the name was illegible.
But the Internet is a remarkably curious place, so sleuths began trying to identify the self-described “pastor” on the receipt.
“All throughout the comment thread on the Reddit post, I withheld any identifying information,” Chelsea explains, adding that she provided an inaccurate physical description of the customer just to throw people off.
She eventually replaced the image with a version that did not contain the signature, but by that point, people were posting their guesses as to the customer’s identity.
“I had already started receiving messages containing Facebook profile links and blogs and websites, asking me to confirm the identity of the customer,” she says. “I refused to confirm any of them, and all of them were incorrect. I worked with the website 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 — I just wanted to share a picture I found interesting.”
Her post immediately became popular on Reddit, and then multiple national news sources began picking up Consumerist’s write-up of the story.
Some time on Wednesday, Chelsea says the customer who had left the receipt contacted her Applebee’s location, demanding that everyone be fired, from the servers involved to the managers.
According to Chelsea, until the receipt story got out there, her time at Applebee’s had been without incident.
“I had been well-liked and respected,” she explains. “My sales were high, my managers had no problems with me, and I was even hoping to move up to management sometime this year.
“When I posted this, I didn’t represent Applebee’s in a bad light,” she continues. “In fact, I didn’t represent them at all. I did my best to protect the identity of all parties involved. I didn’t break any specific guidelines in the company handbook — I checked.
“But because this person got embarrassed that their selfishness was made public, Applebee’s has made it clear that they would rather lose a dedicated employee than lose an angry customer. That’s a policy I can’t understand.”
For someone who makes their living off of tips, it seems like the customer’s note was salt in the wound for Chelsea.
“We make $3.50 an hour. Most of my paychecks are less than pocket change because I have to pay taxes on the tips I make,” she explains. “After sharing my tips with hosts, bussers, and bartenders, I make less than $9/hr on average, before taxes.
In her job, Chelsea says she skipped bathroom breaks when things got busy, went hungry when she had to work several tables at a time, would work until 1:30 a.m. and then come back in at 10:30 a.m.
“I am expected to portray a canned personality that has been found to be least offensive to the greatest amount of people,” she tells Consumerist. “I come home exhausted, sore, burnt, dirty, and blistered on a good day. And after all that, I can be fired for ‘embarrassing’ someone who directly insults their server on religious grounds.”
Chelsea agrees with those who argue in favor of a payment system that doesn’t make restaurant servers reliant on tips.
“But the system being flawed is not an excuse for not paying for services rendered,” she adds. “I posted a picture to make people laugh — but now I want to make a serious point. Things like this happen to servers all the time. I’ve had worse tips just in the last month. People seem to think that the easiest way to save money on a night out is to skip the tip. But when you don’t tip a good server, that means that server might move on to a better job. And a worse server might take their place. When you tip a good server well, you are ensuring good service.”
As for the customer’s claim that they “give God 10%,” Chelsea says she’s “utterly baffled” at why someone would try to make a connection between tithing to one’s church and tipping at a restaurant.
“I’ve been stiffed on tips before,” she says, “but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man has been used as reasoning.”
“I can understand why someone could be upset with an automatic gratuity,” she admits. The customer’s bill had included an automatic tip of 18% because, according to Chelsea, it had been part of a table of 20. “It’s a plainly stated Applebee’s policy, and it is company policy for parties over eight. I cannot control the auto-gratuity at all; it’s done by the computer that the orders are put into, and the gratuity is not determined by the bill, but by the size of the party.”
Chelsea says that the customer told her manager that their reputation had been ruined by having the receipt posted on Reddit.
“If this person wrote the note, obviously they wanted it seen by someone,” she points out. “It’s strange to me that now that the audience is wider than just the server, the person is now ashamed.”
Even though she’s now without a job, Chelsea claims she has no agenda, nor does she have any interest in exposing the customer’s identity to the public.
“I was just trying to make a joke, but I came home today unemployed.”
So, for now it’s back to the job market to look for a new gig. Chelsea says she’s been waiting tables to save money so she could pay for college.
“In the meantime, hopefully I can find a job that pays more than $3.50/hr,” she tells Consumerist, “Or where people are willing to tip well.”
We are reaching out to Applebee’s for comment and will update if we receive a reply.
UPDATE: The folks at The Smoking Gun have interviewed the pastor who left the receipt.
“My heart is really broken,” she tells the site. “I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.”
The pastor claims that though she scratched out the automatic gratuity on the bill, she left a $6 cash tip at the table. She also alleges that the restaurant charged her the 18% tip anyway.
In response, Chelsea tells Consumerist:
“Whether or not she left a tip, the note was still offensive. It wasn’t my table, it wasn’t my tip. I’m not sure who ended up with what money at the end of the night. But you can’t really argue with what’s plainly written, and what was written was insulting. Insulted or not, I’ve lost my job over this mess, and that’s what I’m concerned with now. The six dollars one way or another wouldn’t really affect that situation.”
UPDATE PART TWO: Applebee’s provided the following statement on the matter —
Our Guests’ personal information – including their meal check – is private, and neither Applebee’s nor its franchisees have a right to share this information publicly. We value our Guests’ trust above all else. Our franchisee has apologized to the Guest and has taken disciplinary action with the Team Member for violating their Guest’s right to privacy. This individual is no longer employed by the franchisee.
Yeah, me too. 1) I don't trust the management to give it to her and 2) I don't want to leave a trail for the IRS. Oh, I usually start at 20% for my base tip. I've given 30% tips or more for really good service. I frequent the same places often, and they know me. We're good friends.
Yep, me three. At my favorite place, I have my usual table, usual time, and I am such a creature of habit I rarelly have to order because they know what I want. (shakes head - I might need to get a new routine).
My lady appreciates the cash, and you know me, anything to help not leave a paper trail. :-)
People need to think. If you wouldn't want what you say or write broadcast to the whole world, maybe it's a good idea not to say it in the first place.
It was a table of 20.
No, I didn’t read it. You got a problem with that?
I think that both the pastor and the server were rude and unprofessional but I suppose that is just par for the course in todays culture.
Interesting tidbit (not so “bit”, this is long) - I was going back a forth with a lib aquaintance who was railing against those xxx@@@Xtians and their patriarchy, notoriously sh!ty tipping and keeping woymens waitstaff down eleventyandabillion!!!!!!! E-mails were, by Maude, going to be sent to that church by her and all she knew and that tax-exempt bastion of oppression would pay. Blah, blah, blech.
Now just glancing at that receipt one could tell that the note was left by one of the female persuasion merely by the style of handwriting. But I kept silent and let my lieberal friend rail away on the Facebook.
Then, as this incident “progressed”, she found that the pastor was, indeed, a woman. Well, then, lieberal aquaintance stated that there must be more to the story; however, still, Christianity is Teh Ebil and must’ve sucked this poor woman into its diabolical trap. Her venom continued and was still directed somewhat towards the woman pastor but diluted in rage. She then said that she would have to take a step back at this point and “reflect” on this new discovery. I remarked sarcastically that the pastor had moved up on the totem pole of liberal grievance and was thus accorded a smidgen of lieberal sympathy.
Meanwhile, some will call this waaacisssssst. Or not. However, I had connected the dots with the help, I should say, of a friend - a black female nurse who called it right away. She said that the demand that everyone be fired was the “here’s your sign”. Heh.
Then came the tirade from Ms. Hyphenated-Partner’sName that, really, Applebee’s and POS computer systems were really to blame in all this and government must do something, living wage, corporate restaurant suckage, more someone must pay monies (but not her), etc. On up the totem pole the poor pastor traveled nearly to the top, if only for the fact that she was Xtian. And Ms. Fight-teh-Power blamed the pastors’ bad behavior on her being a Xtian. Then came the unfriending *chuckle*.
Sorry for the length but I had to share this glance into the pretzel-twisted journey of an unhinged lieberal whose basis for judgment is purely emotional and indoctrine-driven.
Then you obviously have never owned a business that relies on customer satisfaction..........
With that being said, life isn't black and white, and if this employee is as good as she says, then give her a reprimand and let her go back to work........
When my son waited tables at Applebee’s, his comments about non-optimal tips from that group as being just the way they rolled and there was no connection he could discern to any other factor.
yea! lol
I am sure Applebee’s menus show that the 18% tip is added for parties over X. It’s done that way at almost all US restaurants.
In Europe the automatic tip (15% IIRC) is on every bill. A guest can then leave a gratuity if they choose. That causes problems when Europeans first eat at US restaurants and assume the tip was included in their bill. It works more favorably for European waiters.
The restaurant industry and the hospitality industry generally operate at incredibly tight profit margins vs most businesses. It’s one reason so many restaurants go out of business in short order (so to speak).
If a restaurant schedules, say, 10 waiters for a shift at the higher hourly wage, but has only enough customers to fill 5 tables, they’d lose money on that shift, and soon be out of business. If they understaff for a shift, customers get poor service and won’t return. As it is the waiters share the risk against their own ‘profit’ in the form of tips.
Wouldn't she need to read her Bible when doing her Theology Degree?
Her reputation is already rooned as far away as Copperas Cove TX Disclaimer: Faith, Truth and Deliverance Ministries is not afilliated with Truth in the word Deliverance Ministry...
This article is making a mountain out of a molehill.
If the waitress gave poor service, she shouldn’t expect a tip. Even if she gave good service and the customer was just cheap and obnoxious, waitresses know that you get a bad customer every once in a while — it comes with the territory. You just live with it and don’t start posting things on the internet. And the waitress was stupid to post on the internet with personal information. As a result, she got fired.
Or a weak attempt to stop some of the negative publicity the pastor has been receiving. The pastor's story doesn't smell right - if she's going to go ahead and leave an almost 18% tip anyway, what's the point of her "joke"?
The minister should be fired. The waitress should be fired. Both were wrong, for different reasons, and brought bad press to their employers.
Probably
I wonder how the waitressing at Applebees was?
How do you know she’s an atheist?
As posted originally on Reddit’s Atheist page, the image contained the customer’s full signature.
Since when?
It's a public place, right? Applebee's is part of a publicly traded corporation, right?
Anyone can walk past a patron's table and see their plates, right?
How has it come to be that your dinner order at Applebee's is as protected as Obama's college records?
-PJ
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