Is serving your country as a soldier a good reason for refusing to tip a server in a restaurant? Apparently, if a Facebook post that went viral this week is the real deal, at least one former soldier believes it is — and that he is exempt from the ordinary practice of leaving a tip after a meal due to “the freedoms I provided.”

Is the soldier justified? Or is he just being a first-class jerk?

Here’s what happened. The story first surfaced on the Facebook page of Ranger Up Miltary and MMA Apparel, a business that, as the name implies, sells “shirts for the military and the patriotic Americans who love the men and women of the Armed Forces. The guys that own this company either were or are still in the military,” according to the page.

The Ranger Up page also lists the company’s Number One priority as “AMERICA. Nothing like her anywhere, anytime, in the history of the world.” Right after that, “Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, Coastguardsmen, Firemen, and Police Officers.”

But when the Ranger Up guys saw the following photo, of a meal receipt from a Red Robin restaurant franchise, they remarked, “We’re going to file this in the ‘Don’t Be That Guy’ folder.”

This is the receipt they were talking about, in a post that went up Sunday and has already been shared nearly 2,000 times.

For readers whose screens do not properly display graphics, the total on the receipt is $40.10 — but in the space provided to leave a tip, the customer has written a big, fat “zero.” And then, he (or she) added the following handwritten note on the receipt.

“My tip is the freedoms I provided you while serving my country. You’re welcome for my service.”

The reaction on the Ranger Up Facebook page was not very positive.

“This is the same tool who asks everyone on his block to not shoot fireworks during the 4th of July bc of the alleged PTSD sustained that one time the fob came under attack,” wrote one commenter. “F*** this guy!!”

“D***head…what’s a few more bucks?” declared another commenter. “If you can’t afford a tip don’t go to a restaurant, go to freakin’ mcdonalds.”

“As a veteran, I’m disgusted by that,” wrote another. “Not to mention, everyone knows these wars are not keeping us free, but financially enslaving us. I’m proud of my service and the service of my enlisted brothers and sisters, but let’s not be naive here.”

To be fair, many of the commenters called out the post as a possible hoax, and indeed, no information was available about when or where this supposed soldier refused to leave a tip — which at a standard 20 percent would have been about eight bucks.

One commenter noted that the signature on the receipt appears to read “Z. Brannigan,” and that “Zapp Brannigan” was a satirical military character on the animated TV series Futurama.

But if this story is not a hoax — or even if it is — do you believe that serving in the military gives a soldier the right to refuse to leave a tip after a restaurant meal?

[Stock Image: Ian Waldie/Getty Images]