Stiffed waitress offered tips from across USA

Erik Larsen | Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

BELMAR, N.J. — The story of the waitress who received a taunting message instead of a tip has gone international, and prompted more than a dozen people from across the United States to come forward to offer to pay her the gratuity instead.

Jess Jones, 20, a Rutgers University student who is waiting tables at D'Jais Bar & Grill this summer to help pay her way through school, had first taken to Facebook to recount the indignity she suffered. Over the weekend, Jones agreed to allow the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press to share her post.

By Monday night, it was trending on Facebook — and people nationwide were sharing Jones' outrage.

"I eat out about six days per week and come into contact with many servers," wrote Jack Bass of Colorado. "I find that almost all of them are working (hard) to earn enough money to either pay their rent or go to school. People who blame the messenger are just nasty patrons that she is better off without. My kids go to college and have had server jobs. I know how something like this would really get them down. I'm sure she had quite a time handling that group and to stiff her is really low-class. … The bill was $112.03, let's make that her tip."

On Aug. 17, Jones was waiting on a party of eight people at D'Jais. After the bill was paid by credit card, Jones discovered that her customers had left her no tip. Instead, "LOL" — for "laughing out loud" — was written on the tip line of the receipt next to, "1 hour for food."

"Why do people have to be so awful?" asked the celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com.

Jones has avoided additional media attention at the request of her employer. Despite its philanthropic reputation in Belmar, the landmark restaurant and night club shuns media attention, even when the news coverage is positive.

Copies of emails sent to the newspaper have been forwarded to Jones.

"I'd like the address where I can send a tip to the young lady who was 'stiffed,' " wrote Ryan P. White of Tennessee. "I humbly waited tables in college, and it helped shape me. … Sincerely, a Tennessean who is thankful for humble times that have led to more success than he deserves."

Not all of the feedback was positive.

"I disagree with the waitress saying they are just the messenger most the time," wrote Joseph Martin, who did not specify where he was writing from. "They are the spokesperson for the restaurant and they set the tone for the experience a patron has. So if the kitchen is slow the waitress needs to communicate that with the on-staff manager. That is part of her job whether she admits and accepts, or not. All I see are excuses not a solution. For the most part customer service is mediocre at best today."

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, who expressed his own disapproval for the "LOL" tip, said he was contacted by The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Doherty observed that the story was even being reported in the United Kingdom, where tipping wait staff is not expected because servers are paid the same minimum wage as other workers in the labor force.

In New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States, restaurant servers must be paid a minimum wage of $2.13 an hour — the minimum amount allowed under federal law and an amount that has not been raised since 1991. In the Garden State, all other non-tipped workers must be paid a minimum wage of $8.38. At D'Jais, Jones is paid $2.50 an hour.

"It sparked a conversation about what a tip is when you go out to a restaurant," Doherty said. "About whether someone who waits tables should be dependent on tips, whether there should be a better minimum wage. And, who's to blame when the service falls short of what is expected by the customer."