Applebee's has fired a waitress who posted a photo of a customer's receipt on Reddit. Instead of paying the suggested 18 percent tip, the customer, Pastor Alois Bell of St. Louis, wrote, "I give God 10 percent. Why do you get 18?" and refused to tip at all.
The comment refers to the customary tithe offering in many Christian churches, The Christian Post reported. The image, posted on Reddit's atheism-related discussion page, showed that Bell wrote the word "pastor" above her name on the signature line. She also scribbled over the recommended gratuity amount -- $6.29 - and replaced it with 0. The image quickly went viral.
The waitress, Chelsea Welch, said that she never meant to cause such a stir when she posted the photo.
"I originally posted the note as a lighthearted joke," Welch told Consumerist. "I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical. I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it entertaining."
But Applebees thought Welch's actions were out of line. "Our Guests' personal information - including their meal check - is private, and neither Applebee's nor its franchisees have a right to share this information publicly," Applebees said in a statement issued to Consumerist. "We value our Guests' trust above all else. Our franchisee has apologized to the Guest and has taken disciplinary action with the Team Member for violating their Guest's right to privacy. This individual is no longer employed by the franchisee."
The receipt wasn't even for Welch's table, she told Consumerist, but the server who did handle the pastor's table showed it to her, and she snapped a photo.
Welch told Consumerist that she didn't cross out the pastor's signature, because she figured it was illegible. But Reddit viewers kept trying to figure it out, sending her links to Facebook profiles they believed might belong to the pastor, Consumerist reported.
"I refused to confirm any of them, and all of them were incorrect," she told Consumerist. "I worked with the website moderators to remove any personal information. I wanted to protect the identity of both my fellow server and the customer. I had no intention of starting a witch hunt or hurting anyone - I just wanted to share a picture I found interesting."
Bell told The Smoking Gun that her note on the receipt was a "lapse in judgment that has been blown out of proportion." Although she scratched out the tip added to the bill, she claimed that she left $6 on the table, and that the 18 percent was charged to her credit card.
But, as Bell told The Smoking Gun, she feels ashamed, and the Internet's heated response to her note left her bewildered. "My heart is really broken," she said. "I've brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
