Let’s not forget that it’s possible that there is more to this story than has been made public. However ...
Include me in as far as a boycott of Applebee’s is concerned. Granted it was inappropriate for the server to post the receipt for no other reason than it showed the signature of the server, who actually had the unmitigated gall to sign as “Pastor” after writing a completely inappropriate message and then insisting that the server be fired. What a despicable individual! Then management complies with the demand of this despicable individual and fires her?! Other than showing the signature on the posting, I see no problem with it.
It is Applebee’s who created the requirement of an 18% gratuity on parties of a certain size, not the server. Evidently the restaurant management is more than happy to create a policy that must impact negatively on at least some awful customers who have no one to take it out on besides the server. It would be different, as pointed out by an earlier poster and as I too have seen on restaurant bills, if the restaurant had OFFERED a list of percentages and tip amounts at the bottom of a bill, NOT added in automatically. This gives the customer a guideline which he or she can choose to follow--or not.
What the server did is petty and trivial compared what the restaurant management AND a positively awful customer did, all being taken out on the server who works for dirt wages. And we wonder why so many employees have such negative feelings about their employers! Gratefully there are restaurants where management stands behind their employees, as noted by an earlier poster. These are the restaurants that I prefer to patronize, NOT Applebee’s and other such eateries.
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