After the story went viral recently that a gay waitress at a NJ restaurant was left a hateful note about her lifestyle in lieu of a tip, a family has come forward to say that they did in fact tip that waitress and never left any such note. And they’ve provided a copy of their receipt as well as what they claim is a credit card bill that disputes the waitress’ story.

From NBC News4 NY:

Dayna Morales, a former Marine and a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, posted a photo on Facebook earlier this month, showing the bill with a line through the space for a tip. The photo of the receipt showed someone had written, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle.” Morales indicated in her Facebook post, and in subsequent media interviews — including with NBC 4 New York — that the customer wrote that line. But a family contacted NBC 4 New York claiming their receipt from the restaurant shows they did leave a tip, and provided what they said was a credit card statement as proof. The husband and wife, who asked to remain anonymous, showed NBC 4 New York a receipt that appeared to be printed at the same minute, on the same date, for the same $93.55 total, except with an $18 tip. They also provided a document they said was a Visa bill, which appears to indicate their card was charged for the meal plus the tip, for a total of $111.55.

The couple told NBC 4 New York they believe the whole thing may have been triggered by a misunderstanding. When the hostess first seated them, they thought the hostess said their server’s name was “Dan.” When Morales showed up to their table, they were surprised and the wife said, “whoa, you’re not Dan.”

According to the NBC 4 New York report, Morales did say the family called her “Dan” and was offended by this and did complain to the manager about it.

The couple is not surprisingly bothered by the whole ordeal. “I think there’s enough hate and intolerance in the world, that to create it when it wasn’t there is shameful and dishonorable,” the wife said. The couple insists they would never write such a thing. The husband added that he didn’t vote for Gov. Chris Christie because the governor doesn’t support gay marriage, reported NBC 4 New York.

Since the story went viral, donations have been coming in for Morales, CNN reported more than a week ago.

Morales says that between the people who have called in to the restaurant to give credit card numbers, those who have mailed tips, or donated to a special PayPal account the restaurant set up, she estimates that she has received more than $2,000 so far. She plans to donate the funds to the Wounded Warrior Project, and the restaurant plans to match the donations and give it to a local LGBT organization. “It wasn’t for the money. I never planned on this. I just wanted to vent,” she said. “The purpose was to inform people it wasn’t OK.”

The family says they finally came forward because they believe it all may have been a scam, and the story about the note on the receipt did not seem to be going away.

“I just felt like people have a right to know that — it’s fine if people want to donate to her or to the Wounded Warriors, but they’re doing it under a false pretense,” the wife said.

The restaurant owner and a manager would not produce the original receipt for the $93.55 charge, but insisted they had it, according to NBC 4 New York. They offered no explanation as to why the family’s credit card was charged the higher amount that includes a tip.

When asked about all this, Morales said, “that’s not my handwriting. I don’t know. Again, I don’t know.” She told NBC 4 New York she is certain she wasn’t tipped.

The restaurant said in a statement it is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.

(Featured image credit: NBC 4 New York video)



