Skip to comments.

Waitress Who Posted No-Tip Receipt From Pastor Customer Fired From Job

The Consumerist ^ | 01/31/2013 | By Chris Morran

Posted on by Responsibility2nd

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.

TOPICS:

Business/Economy

Food

KEYWORDS:

applebees

badtipper

tipping

It's getting to the point where leaving a bad tip will lead to an internet uproar.



To: Responsibility2nd

Hmmm. Well, I think this jerk should be fired. Apparently he’s never read the Bible.



To: Responsibility2nd

Or leaving an obnoxious and uncalled for message instead of a tip.



To: nickcarraway

For your 10% God gives you blessings. For my 18% I serve you food so you can enjoy your blessings.



To: Responsibility2nd

I bet this pastor is all in favor of paying the government more than 10%.



To: Responsibility2nd

Notice the total bill is $34.93. So it’s not like the server had a table of 6 or more. And so to add that 18 percent is pretty insulting to customers. Unless, of course it is clearly notated before hand that all meals are subject to an 18% surcharge. But this is Applebee’s after all. Look at the poor working conditions as described in this article. I’ll eat at many substandard chain restaurants like Chili’s or whatnot. But I refuse to go to an Applebee’s.



by 6 posted onby Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)

To: hinckley buzzard

Maybe the service was bad.



by 7 posted onby Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)

To: Responsibility2nd

I can’t say about anywhere else but I’ve known many folks that were waiters and waitresses in Philly and certain clientele make a career of trying to get free meals, monopolizing all the staff’s time and never tipping. There are even jokes about it.



by 8 posted onby NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)

To: Responsibility2nd

Haha, yeah, you pay taxes on your tips.



by 9 posted onby andyk (I have sworn...eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.)

To: nickcarraway

The pastor was a woman. I’ll assume she wasn’t Southern Baptist... The waitress was fired because “...[the customer] called the Applebees to complain about the dissemination of her receipt, which includes her easy-to-read signature.”



by 10 posted onby Mr Rogers (America is becoming California, and California is becoming Detroit. Detroit is already hell.)

To: nickcarraway

He’s a she. Did you read the article? And what does her reading the Bible have to do with this?



by 11 posted onby Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)

To: NativeSon

you mean certain clientele that look like Obamas children and relatives.



To: nickcarraway

The “pastor” is a “she.”



To: hinckley buzzard

The minister certainly deserves to be fired or to at least find a job for the waitress whose job she lost. What a stupid thing to do. And ministers like this counsel people? Amazing.



To: hinckley buzzard

I don’t see how any one can really make any money being a server at Applebees and any other restaurant other than Hooters.



by 15 posted onby Perdogg (Mark Levin - It's called the Bill of Rights not Bill of Needs)

To: andyk

As I understand it.... You pay taxes on your tips EVEN IF YOU DON’T COLLECT ‘EM. The IRS assumes you made ‘em.



by 16 posted onby Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)

To: Perdogg

By ther way, I think Applebee’s food is overpriced and stinks. Now I have ANOTHER reason not patronize this rancid fast food chain.



To: Responsibility2nd

“Notice the total bill is $34.93. So its not like the server had a table of 6 or more.” In the first article it was pointed out that there were multiple checks for the group of 20. This was probably the pastor and one other. The Pastor was a jack*** for doing this. And so was the waitress. A pox on both their houses . . .



To: Responsibility2nd

Think twice before you become a smart ass. Think twice before you put anything on paper. And for God’s sake, keep your privates away from the cameras! Good advice for the ages.



To: Responsibility2nd

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. Not very Christian of her.



Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

FreeRepublic , LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794

FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson