A gay waiter in Kentucky had a shock at work recently when a customer left a homophobic message in place of a tip.

Kyle Griffith, who works at a Buffalo Wild Wings, was serving a woman who appeared to be content with his service.

However, Griffith was shocked and upset to discover that the customer had left the message “sorry I don’t tip f*ggots” and “#UNeedJesus” on the receipt.

But the waiter decided not to let the customer get away scot free and took to Facebook to spread awareness about the prejudices that people in the LGBT community have to deal with on a daily basis.

“It just crushed me that someone could say something like that,” the waiter told local radio station WDRB.

The post which Griffith shared on Facebook went viral, but was later reported to Facebook as “offensive” and is now hidden. The customer who left the hurtful message saw Griffith’s post, and she reportedly commented that it was a joke.

“She did apologise and said that it was a joke and that it shouldn’t have been a joke and that she felt bad for it,” Griffith explained. “It’s not something you should joke about. My sexual preference at all shouldn’t be something someone should joke about.”

After the post was deleted, Griffith wrote on Facebook once more to clarify that he was trying “to show some awareness for my gay community, and what we deal with on a daily basis.”

“I didn’t share this to spread the hate she so carelessly displayed. I shared it in hopes to show the hatred in the world we still live in, and to open at least an eye to the world’s problems.”

The waiter wrote that the customer “doesn’t deserve to be threatened or hurt by anyone. This hate is what fuelled her to write this!”

Buffalo Wild Wings said in a statement: “We feel strongly that our restaurant environment needs to be respectful in order to provide the experience that our guests and team members expect and deserve.”