Courtney Crowder

ccrowder@dmreg.com

As manager of Zombie Burger, the ultra-popular horror-themed burger joint in Des Moines' East Village, Karen Davis is used to frequent phone calls from customers inquiring how long the wait is, whether they can make a reservation or where they should park.

But in the past week, callers haven’t been asking questions so much as making statements, she said: “Keep Zombie Burger weird!” “Normal people are overrated!” “Thank you for standing up for diversity!”

The remarks are emblematic of the overwhelming outpouring of support for longtime Zombie Burger waitress and eccentric fashionista Taelor May Beeck, 24, who became the center of a viral sensation last week after her Facebook post showing a receipt on which a customer wrote, “Tips are only for normal looking people,” spread across the Internet like wildfire.

Beeck said she has received countless messages of encouragement as well as about $200 in donations since she posted the note. And in the wake of this generosity, she started using the hashtag #notnormal, which aims to prop up anyone who’s ever felt different or left out with one simple message: “Being weird is great.”

Sitting in Zombie Burger just before her dinner shift started Monday, Beeck said the receipt's message initially crushed her, but the wave of support she’s received in return has restored her “faith in humanity.”

“I was presented with a bad situation and the responses from friends and perfect strangers helped me turn it into a good one,” she said. “So I thought, 'Let’s promote positivity and remind everyone that even though there are toxic people in the world, if we radiate light, light will come back.”

Wearing a crop top emblazoned with a dancing skeleton, ripped tights that allow her multiple tattoos to peek through, and a pair of fist-sized bedazzled flower earrings, Beeck looks like she belongs in a Cyndi Lauper music video. But surrounded by the eclectic Zombie-themed decorations and her equally uniquely styled co-workers, Beeck fits right in.

The whimsy of Zombie Burger’s dining experience is part of the restaurant’s allure, said some customers Monday evening.

“I mean, you don’t come to Zombie Burger expecting normal,” said Maggie Seaman, 25, of Ankeny. “And what’s normal anyway? To attack someone on how they look is so unnecessary and, really, it’s just to hurt someone’s feelings.”

And it did.

Beeck said she was was bullied as a teenager and the note brought back those memories, so she posted the receipt to see if anyone else had encountered similar experiences.

“People are bullied for stupid stuff like the way they look in middle school, but I thought that didn’t happen to adults,” she said.

She paused, looking over at a neon zombie sign: “I’ve asked myself why they felt the need to do that over and over. I’m different, but I’m still human. But to have people say all the nice things they have said since I posted that picture, I actually think this note was a blessing.”

Originally from Omaha, Beeck moved to Ankeny in high school and quickly became known for never repeating an outfit, she said. Looking back, it’s easy for her to see how she stood out.

“People have always borrowed my clothes and asked for fashion advice,” she said. “I’ve wanted to turn it into a career for as long as I can remember and maybe own a store someday.”

She currently sells her designs and thrift store finds online under the name of her Internet persona, Thrifty Bitch. Over the past few days she’s been called “Queen Weirdo,” her new favorite nickname, she said.

Now, it’s easy for her to embrace her self-described “weirdness,” but as a teen it was harder to be peculiar, she said.

Beeck transferred high schools during her freshman year because a group of girls harassed her so badly, she said. They created an anonymous screen name to poke fun at her nose and her weight, and she cried every day.

She still struggles with the fallout from that year, but she’s found equilibrium by surrounding herself with strong, unique women and landing her serving gig at Zombie Burger.

“Working where they let you express yourself and be who you are made me even weirder, I think,” she said with a laugh.

When Zombie Burger opened in 2011, Davis, the general manager, hired people based on their charm and work ethic, almost exclusively. And the exclusively part is important, she said, because she didn’t mind if people had piercings or dressed differently.

“I think on some level that attracted people who maybe couldn’t get service jobs elsewhere because of their tattoos or their colored hair or because they didn’t look the part,” Davis said. “I cherish that I’m able to give these wonderful people a place to work and a place to thrive.”

For most of the servers working Monday, the freedom to don and even flaunt their personalities was one of the top reasons they enjoyed working at Zombie Burger.

“I’m a firm believer that to love yourself you have to be able to express yourself and be comfortable in your skin,” said Kamillah Camp-Bay, 22. “Humans are all different and that individuality is what makes us all gorgeous. So to work somewhere that not only supports that, but encourages it, well, it’s like a dream come true.”

For Beeck, the issue was never the tip money, she said; it was the note and the message it sends to people who want to live life to their own beat.

In the wave of responses Beeck has received, the ones from middle-school-aged kids have stood out the most, she said.

“They say people judge them and make fun of them, too, for being who they are,” Beeck said. “And they thank me for standing up for people like us and encouraging people to be themselves.”

Beeck didn’t have time to address the customers who wrote the note — they left before she picked up the check — but she’s not sure she would have anyway. It would have been unprofessional, she said, and she wouldn’t have reacted well in the moment.

But even now, days after, she’s not sure she would say anything to them if she could. Even though she’s allowed people to change her self-perception and lived with depression from bullying, bringing someone down by chastising them isn’t in line with the #notnormal movement she started.

“I just I hope they think twice about doing something like this again,” she said.

She paused and looked back over at the neon zombie sign as a smile creeped across her face: “Someone once told me it takes 100 positive comments to reverse a negative one. I think I’ve canceled this one out 100 times over.”