Family leaves waitress 'lifestyle' tip instead of cash

Sergio Bichao | (Bridgewater, N.J.) Courier-News

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. -- A family who stiffed a waitress out of a tip on a $100 bill because they didn't approve of her "lifestyle" may not be welcome back at Gallop Asian Bistro here.

A couple dining with their two middle-school-age children Wednesday made their judgment of Dayna Morales, a Marine veteran, simply by looking at her. They let her know what they thought with a scribbled message on their $93.55 check.

"I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle and how you live your life," the note reads.

"The short hair and clothes just gave it away in her eyes," Morales, 22, said Thursday evening after she had posted a picture of the check and her own fuming rant on a gay-friendly Facebook page called "Have a Gay Day."

Her post went viral on the Internet and was picked up by national websites, including the Huffington Post. She said the response has "put a smile on my face."

Morales said when she introduced herself to the family at the table the woman responded, "Oh, I thought you were gonna say your name is Dan. You surprised us!"

Morales didn't respond, but never thought they wouldn't leave a tip.

"You've got to bite your tongue and kiss up. We live off tips," she said about life as a restaurant server.

She shared what happened online because "others need to be informed this is still going on."

She said her boss isn't upset with her posting the check — in fact, the family may not be allowed back at the eatery, which opened about four months ago.

"We are kind of a big family so they all took it to heart. My manager assured me that if they had seen the check before the family left they would have confronted them," she said.

Morales, who lives in Bedminster, N.J., served in the Marine Corps from 2009 to 2011. She previously taught preschool with Children of America in New York.

Servers have taken their rage at stingy customers to Facebook and the blogs in recent years, and their online rants track a nice-nasty trend of notes sans tips. In October, a waiter at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Overland Park, Kan., got a homophobic note from a Christian couple in lieu of a tip, according to television stations KCTV and KMBC.

In January, Chelsea Welch, a server at a St. Louis Applebee's, posted a receipt on Reddit that was left for another server by a pastor seated with a large group. "I Give God 10 percent. Why do you Get 18," the note asked. Welch was later fired when the note went viral, the pastor's identity was discovered and the pastor complained to Applebee's, according to the Consumerist.com.

(Contributing: Gannett)