[skyguy79]

IMHO, the customer got what she deserved, but that doesn't mean that the fired wait person was right in what they did.

Several years ago my son took a job in a restaurant as a bar tender. After a couple of weeks the owner asked him if he wanted to serve tables and he said yes. On his very first customer he was told by the customer, after receiving his check, that he was not going to tip him. He said that my son did his job ok, but he wasn't leaving anything for a tip because he didn't like how the chef prepared his dish. Needless to say my son was fit to be tied. The customer paid by credit card then left. My son noticed that he left his credit card on the table and... he was tempted to drop in in the trash! However, he did the right thing and quickly ran out to the parking lot and got the card returned before the customer drove away. This burnt my son and never wanted to wait tables ever again!

Again IMHO my son's customer, as well as the one in Appleby's were most likely penny pinchers looking for an excuse to avoid tipping and just taking advantage of the server, virtually treating them like they were entitled to the free labor! I believe in never leaving nothing or next to nothing for bad service. You can voice your dissatisfaction by significantly reducing your tip, but never like these two incidents and the one I know of from years ago.

A woman I worked with and her husband dined at a local - mid-high priced restaurant where we were regular customers and personally knew the owners. When my co-worker and her husband were finished and leaving, they left the server $.07. That's right... 7 lousy cents! The owner grabbed the coins, went to the parking lot right behind them and threw them at the two and told them never to come back to his restaurant ever again. Knowing the couple in this case from work, I have to say Kudos to the owner. The two were penny-pinchers for sure and it was well know by many of their co-workers!