A table of 20 at Applebee gets their receipts for the evening for over $200 in food. There's an automatic 18% tip on there — not unusual for parties over 8 (and usually printed right on the menu). The payer of at least one of at least one receipt, a pastor at a local church, scratches out the auto-tip and replaces it with 0, noting "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18".
Waitress friend of the server in question takes a camera photo of the receipt, and posts it online. It spreads around the Internet. Pastor allegedly calls Applebee and demands everyone at the restaurant be fired. Applebee fires the waitress who posted the picture.
Thoughts:
(1) The anonymous pastor was being anything but Christlike. In fact, she was being a jerk (to put it kindly). Not only did she show an execrable understanding of what tips actually mean to most waitstaff (much or most of their income), not only did she ignore the clear heads-up about large groups (because it takes extra time and focus to take, manage, and distribute their orders — especially since it seems they also split the orders across multiple receipts), but she was, frankly, a dick for trying to draw a parallel between her tithes to God and her tipping the waitress. And waving around her "Pastor" title in doing so.
And, no, claiming she left $6 in cash on the table, even if true, doesn't absolve her of making that comment. Really — did she think of What Would Jesus Do? At least she realizes “I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.” Hopefully there will be some discussion about it at the next vestry (or analogous church council) meeting at the church.
(2) The waitress blew it. Because including the signature on the receipt picture, even if she thought it was illegible, was an incredibly boneheaded stunt. Because it leads precisely to this kind of predictable action from her employer. You don't embarrass your employer, too, because your employer want their customers coming in wondering if something about their behavior (good, bad, or indifferent) will be the next viral image on Reddit, with the customer's own name attached. (One might argue whether that would be a good thing socially — but it's not something any restaurant is going to promote as a business policy.)
The waitress made a goof, and is more than paying for it. But she's also not the person here was behaving the most badly.
Embedded Link
Waitress Who Posted No-Tip Receipt From “Pastor” Customer Fired From Job – The Consumerist
Earlier this week, we posted a story about a restaurant customer who not only chose to deny the waitress a tip, but also wrote “I Give God 10% Why do you Get 18?” on the receipt. Now we’ve learned tha…
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As the waitress stated, there was nothing in company policy against this. I think stuff like this is good for everyone involved actually.
Applebee's gets free press
The waitress gets a push to do something better with her life
The pastor gets a slice of humble pie
This also is an opportunity for Applebee's to revise their company policies to include this kind of thing.
The only take-away from this I get is … I hate Applebee's anyway, just gives me another reason. The Pastor was embarrassed and instead of apologizing or at least explaining (had a bad day, etc.) she decides to seek vengeance. What the waitress did doesn't bother me since it isn't like she gave out credit card information. What this so called person of God did is what bothers me the most…people look up to this person who can't even muster the gumption to meekly apologize to her church if not the waitress.
While I think it was fine (laudable, positive) for the waitress to have publicized the occurrence as such, publicly tying it to a particular individual (even if inadvertently) was inappropriate behavior on her part. Or, rather, behavior she ought to have expected would have consequences.
So, let me get this straight, the christian pastor did not like being publicly shamed over her bad behavour?
~boggles~
As an ordained clergyman and a former waiter, I am disgusted by the pastor's actions and attitude. I think that Applebee's took the easy way out by firing the waitress. They could have suspended her for two weeks, made her take a course "educating" her about company privacy policy, or any other less severe punishment. Firing the employee, along with their statement that they, "…value [their] Guests’ trust above all else," — even when the Guest does something both obnoxious and morally wrong — makes it clear that they do not value their employees.
You can't educate someone on policy that doesn't yet exist.
+Shar Banning – While it appears (according to the waitress) that there was no specific policy on revealing receipts in this identifiable fashion, I don't think it should have come as any surprise that it falls under bad customer relations.
+James D. – I hopefully made it clear that the pastor in this case was the one acting immorally; the waitress was, at worst, thoughtless. And, yes, I agree that Applebee's probably should have simply suspended her, and that their statement was far too truckling to the bad behavior of the customer.
I don't go to Applebee's, largely because of lack of opportunity or specific desire. This doesn't make me any more likely to do so, probably less. Happy employees make for a happier dining experience.
Crop out or obscure signatures when you post things on the internet. That's pretty basic stuff. It sucks that she got fired, and what the Pastor lady did sucks too. But them's the breaks – it's just common sense. Policy or not, you shouldn't need to tell your employees that siccing the Interpages on your customers might have bad ramifications.
I think she probably has a case for a wrongful termination suit, if it wasn't against any defined policy.
Assuming she isn't working in an at-will state. Even so, I suspect there are blanket policies that would cover Applebee's here.
The waitress was wrong in what she did. Had she blacked out certain portions of the receipt, it might be different.Would be, probably, because the Pastor wouldn’t have found out about it. There may have been no official policy like “Don’t take pictures of receipts and post them online,” but then employers really shouldn’t have to tell all their employees to “please don’t eat the daisies.” You may be too young to know what I’m talking about, but even so, most parents will relate. I worked in a store. We had no policy like that, but had I done something like that, I would not have been surprised if I were terminated.
That said, the Pastor should seriously consider her view of tithing. There’s more to give than just filthy lucre. There is your time and your talent….and living the Gospel — loving your neighbor (which would include wait staff) as yourself. Insulting a working person isn’t the way to do that. She should have added an apology to her complaint. She’s a pastor. She should know better.
Agreed on both sides of that, Ellie.
At any rate, I'm firing Applebee's.
Luckily, +George Wiman, their terrible food has historically provided me with sufficient reason for boycotting them.