[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!

[Trish Crocker]

I worked at a very small restaurant at one time..a counter and a few booths. An elderly lady would come in occasionally for dinner...her tab came to something like $3.90 (this was a long time ago). She would always leave the the dime she received for a tip but would always pick up her dishes and put them on the counter for me. The effort this sweet lady put in was the best possible tip.
On the other hand, my kids were all servers at one point in their lives. They would tell me stories about people running them ragged then leaving a dollar. Did you know that in many, many restaurants, if a table full of people run out without paying their bill the server is responsible for the debt. I can understand a restaurant not wanting servers to allow friends to come in and then skip out but the whole concept is unfair. There were actually incidents in which the server was running out to the parking lot in tears chasing the customers because the dinner tab far exceeded her weekly wage.

[stuckinparadise]

If you can't afford a decent tip for your server at ANY restaurant, then you shouldn't go out to eat.

[old moe]

I think most of you missed the point! The pastor may have been upset because the ticket was printed with " tip required as 18%. No establishment has the right to demand a set amount . Tips are up to the diners,and depend on quality of service. I always leave 18-20%, and also don't want to be " told" I must leave X amount. But I would also have taken this matter up with managerment, not take it out on thr server!

[OldDave]

Ah, I didn't catch that. Of course lots of restaurants have a policy of a required tip for groups of a certain size, like 8 or more. Don't know if that was the case. I would assume not since the meal was only $34.93.

If they have that policy, can you refuse to pay it, I wonder. You certainly cannot consider it a tip if it is required. I do know when my wife was a waitress during college, it was groups larger than two couples that always stiffed the waitress on the tip.

I have seen some receipts that show suggested tip amounts so you don't have to do the math, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Again, the only fault I find with the girl that posted it is the signature. I also believe she would have a pretty good lawsuit, if a waitress job is worth suing over.

[2BNTV]

Sorry, but I disagree. The pastor left no tip. Bill was $34.93 and she left $34.93.

My son works in hotel management industry and is in a position where he is not affected by tips. Since he works for a high class hotel chain, the servers are tipped exceedlingl well.

I always leave a 20% tip for decent service and sometimes more if the server went above and beyond. I tip the server 15% if the service was bad. I do not take iit out on the server if the cook was having a bad day. They need to pay their bills as we all know most of them are not paid a fair wage by their place of establishment and rely on tips to earn a living. it's hard work and I don't envy them with having to deal with difficult people.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by old moe

I think most of you missed the point! The pastor may have been upset because the ticket was printed with " tip required as 18%. No establishment has the right to demand a set amount . Tips are up to the diners,and depend on quality of service. I always leave 18-20%, and also don't want to be " told" I must leave X amount. But I would also have taken this matter up with managerment, not take it out on thr server!

I agree with you, but the x%required indication is no excuse (not that you said it was) for leaving $.00, zip, nada! If I hired a handiman and didn't like the job he did, how far would I get if told him he would be paid nothing for the service I personally received from him and dismissed him! To me that would virtually be the same as giving a wait person absolutely nothing for their service!

And to 2BNTV... Spot on Joe. There must be a good reason that our parents named us Joe!

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by skyguy79

I agree with you, but the x%required indication is no excuse (not that you said it was) for leaving $.00, zip, nada! If I hired a handiman and didn't like the job he did, how far would I get if told him he would be paid nothing for the service I personally received from him and dismissed him! To me that would virtually be the same as giving a wait person absolutely nothing for their service!

And to 2BNTV... Spot on Joe. There must be a good reason that our parents named us Joe!

Thanks for the kind words, Joe.

My uncle Joe used to say, "I only want to do what's right". :smiley"

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

Thanks for the kind words, Joe.

My uncle Joe used to say, "I only want to do what's right". :smiley"

That's funny because I also had an Uncle Joe that had a similar mindset! You sure we're not each others Uncle Joe?

[angiefox10]

Originally Posted by old moe

I think most of you missed the point! The pastor may have been upset because the ticket was printed with " tip required as 18%. No establishment has the right to demand a set amount . Tips are up to the diners,and depend on quality of service. I always leave 18-20%, and also don't want to be " told" I must leave X amount. But I would also have taken this matter up with managerment, not take it out on thr server!

This was for a group of 20.... They made the server split the meal...

Pastor Refuses To Tip Server More Than He Tips God | Happy Place

"A pastor at a St. Louis-area restaurant left this incorrigible message on her bill, refusing to pay the 18% gratuity included for a group of 20 (they made the server split the bill, which is why the amount is so low). As justification for giving no tip at all, the pastor referenced an Old Testament passage, which may be the most nefarious use of the Bible to justify atrocities since the Inquisition. After the image went viral, people figured out who the pastor was (even though the waitress didn't post any identifying information). The pastor was rightly humiliated and tried to make things right by doing what Jesus would have done and calling Applebee's to have the waitress fired. But dammit, despite her terrible service to the Christian religion, we’d still probably tip this pastor 20% because we're completely spineless when it comes to tipping."

[paulandjean]

I have no problem with what the server did. Some of those employee have terrible jobs,dealing with terrible people. Remember months back one of our villages residents made a horrible coment about service and he pays your salary.More power to them.

[gmcneill]

Not funny!

The pastor is a real dope and a poor excuse for a decent person, let alone someone "of the cloth". The pastor was rude, boorish, and several other negative adjectives!! Her actions were inappropriate and uncalled for but they technically were not "wrong".

The employee- who was not even the aggrieved server!- was completely wrong to post the tab. The tab is the property of the employer; the employee took it upon herself to "use" employer property for a reason based on her own personal feelings and justifications that did not benefit the employer's business; the employee did not check wi/obtain approval from a supervisor or manager before posting; she had no business inserting herself in the matter; the employee has unnecessarily cost the employer time/effort/money to deal with the ramifications of the employee's unauthorized action.

I certainly understand why the employee did what she did but I do not see why the actions can be condoned. That said, it seems that an unpaid suspension and an apology would be an effective disciplinary action. Who knows...maybe the employee has a poor work history and the employer used the situation to rid itself of a troublesome employee.

[Golfingnut]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

Sorry, but I disagree. The pastor left no tip. Bill was $34.93 and she left $34.93.

My son works in hotel management industry and is in a position where he is not affected by tips. Since he works for a high class hotel chain, the servers are tipped exceedlingl well.

I always leave a 20% tip for decent service and sometimes more if the server went above and beyond. I tip the server 15% if the service was bad. I do not take iit out on the server if the cook was having a bad day. They need to pay their bills as we all know most of them are not paid a fair wage by their place of establishment and rely on tips to earn a living. it's hard work and I don't envy them with having to deal with difficult people.

I read the bill to show $34.93 and that is inclusive of the food bill and an 18 % gratuity added to the food bill to become a total of $34.93. What the customer did not do was leave any additional tip and questioned why she was required to leave the first 18 %.

[twinklesweep]

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.

[JoeC1947]

Maybe he said a pray for the waitress instead.