Tipping and the Lord -- Hallelujah!

[kybearfuzz]

I'm surprised I've not seen more comments about this situation on LJ, but it's been burning up Facebook left and right. The story is here:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/tipping-pastor-apologizes-687234

In a nutshell, a church group goes to Applebee's and eats. The female pastor apparently is disgusted by the automatic 18% gratuity added to her check, crosses it out, and puts a message on it saying that she gives 10% to God, why does she [the server] deserve 18%? She then puts her total on the bill and signs her bill as "Pastor" and her name. Another server takes a photo of the bill and posts it on the web. As the story goes, she excluded the signature and name of the customer, but the pastor was notified by other members of her "church" and recognized her handiwork on the receipt. She calls Applebee's and supposedly demands they fire the whole staff, but only the one server who posted the image gets canned by Applebee's for "policy violations." Eventually, the name of the pastor comes out as well as her poor attitude. She apologizes for her "lapse in judgment," but nothing else.

Having waited tables before, I can tell you -- it's hard work. And sometimes customers are not the nicest people and putting up with it while smiling is a chore. The pastor is a bitch and I'm not sad she got called out on this. She exhibits everything I find wrong with those who call themselves "Christians."

However, I'm a bit torn when it comes to Applebee's and the firing of the server. As a customer, I wouldn't want my receipt posted on the net, though I have never given them a reason to do that. I think firing the server was extreme. It's bad PR for the company as evident on their Facebook page, the big bad restaurant ganging up on the server and siding with the bad customer.

Any thoughts on the situation? I'm curious.

Comments

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much in agreement with your assessment of the situation.

The receipt does have the signature clearly visible, though no other identifying information. I can see why the server left it on, since the addition of "Pastor" to the signature is an important element of the story, but ethically, I think she should have anonymized it better. The customer's bad behavior deserves public scorn, but linking it back to an actual person and exposing them to the resulting internet dogpile is bad form. Because really, almost *nothing* that any individual can do is deserving of the level of mass outrage that you get when something like this goes viral. So she should have, like, obscured the name with her finger when she took the picture or something.

Firing her was dumb, PR-wise. Somebody at corporate HQ should be getting called on the carpet for that decision. I suppose they might feel like they had to, for liability reasons, but you'd think by now that every corporation in existence would realize they ALWAYS need to be concerned about looking like the Big Bad Faceless Evil when something like this happens...

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I think that the original image of the receipt had been posted with the customer's name blocked as she had written "Pastor" above her name instead of next to it. It was uploaded to Reddit who posted the full receipt, with visible name, once the server got sacked. At least that is how one source reported it.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Oh, really? Wow, then Applebee's managed to really screw things up, making the situation worse for the server, the customer, and themselves!

If they hadn't fired the server, the customer would have stayed completely anonymous, and they'd have no PR problem. Definitely goes on the "what not to do" list.

Of course, if the customer hadn't made a big stink about it, there might have been rumors, but nobody -- certainly not millions of random strangers on the internet -- would have known for sure that it was actually her. Sounds like karma to me...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Tithing and tipping are two separate things indeed! I consider tithing unnecessary, but I always tip 20% unless the service is extremely bad. I know how hard servers work and how little they are paid. Tips are what makes it a living wage.

The pastor should be embarrassed by as many people as possible. What an unchristian thing to do! The server should not have taken the photo public, but I understand why he or she did and Applebee's should not have fired that server! They have terrible food anyway:)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I'm like you. I tip 20% usually, unless the service has really stunk (and it's obvious the service is at fault).

And I agree, the pastor really fouled up here. Church leaders are supposed to set an example... and what an example this is...

[epinoid.livejournal.com]

When I saw it besides getting annoyed by the rudeness of the pastor I had to ask where exactly she though God's tip jar is (or bank account for that matter). I am amused she didn't understand that she already paid the tip anyhow. And frustrated that it looks like the check was subdivided to try and get around the large party included tip.

I have a little hesitancy around posting the signature, while I think the pastor should be ashamed for her actions and for trying to get everyone fired; she is now open to what could be an even more severe response. I don't want to see it escalate. Let her actions be the source of public shame and leave it at that.

John put Applebee's on the banned list years ago and I can't eat most of what they serve and don't want to eat most of the rest. I could contact Applebee's customer relations and threaten not eating there again but I wasn't going there before this incident as it is. So is it appropriate to try to make that kind of point with basically a bluff?

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Well, the purpose of this post wasn't to generate bad vibes toward Applebee's really. They made a major foul up here though, and I'm just surprised how they have mishandled the situation.

I suspect it will calm back down. I was reading an article by a blogger who has kept track of the whole situation. Apparently, Applebee's has posted photos of receipts with positive comments before, the exact reason they let the server go. Fun, isn't it?

[texwriterbear.livejournal.com]

I think what the pastor did was pathetic. Why didn't they at least tip 10% then. Was the service poor? If they frequent the restaurant, they should know the guidelines for large parties. If you don't like it, split up your group or go elsewhere.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

It really was bad form, and I suspect this was probably not the first time the pastor used her job to cheat someone. She should know better and she's only sorry because she got caught.

[joezer.livejournal.com]

Have been a server of sorts (pizza delivery) as well as being in the service sector for nigh on two-and-a-half decades (office based customer service/client support). Like anyone else who works, or has worked, in a similar capacity I have stories about customers/clients who you just have to go "WTF?? REALLY?? with. As a server/delivery driver I can easily empathize with this situation: someone who professes to be a follower of Christian values basically flashing their hypocritical colors when there was no call for it (one of the follow-up pieces indicated that no complaints about the server's efforts during the meal were complained about).

The "Pastor" made the effort to scratch out the auto-gratuity for the large group, zero-out the tip line, and listing the meal cost (after tax). This flies in the face of civility and while I'd rather Applebee's support their employee (especially if their service record has no other customer complaints) I'm happy the "Pastor" had a spotlight cast upon him/her and his/her decidedly un-Christian method of dealing with someone providing a service.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Judging from all the comments on Applebee's FB page, this doesn't look like it's going to disappear anytime soon. Everyone is pressuring the restaurant to rehire the server, but if I were the server I wouldn't want to go back.

[barak.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about this one ever since I originally heard the story.

Apparently, it was a large group that sat down for the meal, and from several accounts, they asked for separate checks to avoid the "mandatory gratuity". That was a major first red flag for me. Why would they want to not pay their server? This left me wondering if there were issues with their service. But you don't stiff the waitress, you call the manager and explain the problem and let them take care of things.

Since there have been absolutely no reports of bad service, I think the group was being douche-bag cheap and stiffing the waitress.

The "pastor", in one interview, claims she left a cash tip on the table. From all other reports, that contradicts what both the waitress and the server who was fired said- that no tip was left at all. I would tend to believe the other women first, because the "pastor" sounds like she's saving face for being caught being a douch ebag.

I've been in customer service for years and anybody who has ever worked with customers collects horror stories. This was an example of one- where the waitress shared this with her coworkers to let off steam. The server who took the photo, for whatever reason, shared it. When she posted the receipt - blurred or not- she also did the wrong thing. I understand she wanted to let off steam, perhaps to elicit a dialogue, whatever, but she did break her company's rules and she should be punished.

However, the Applebee's franchise also overreacted. They shouldn't have fired the server, they should have put her on corrective action or penalized her somehow. I suspect they were just embarrassed, like the Pastor was, about the notoriety. I suspect Applebee's corporate will likely overrule the firing, but then again, they may just roll with it and uphold it.

Granted the server shouldn't have posted the photo, but in doing so, she inspired debate about how restaurant staff are underpaid and reliant on tips from an often ungrateful customer. Neither should Applebee's have fired her, but they may have to follow certain rules.

The person who acted the worst, in my opinion, was the Pastor. She deliberately set out to stiff her waitress for whatever reason she felt like, and chose to make it about her "god". That was low. Then to call the restaurant and demand everybody be fired for making her look bad... No, she made her self look bad. Is that how she treats Her "church", her "religion" and her "other job" should be ashamed of her.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

At this point Applebee's is bearing the largest brunt of the backlash, in my opinion. If you go to their FB page, they're being slammed with negative comments. I read an article where many screen prints were listed. The author even showed an example where Applebee's posted a receipt with a positive comment in the past, the exact violation that they used to can the server.

I doubt the server would want to go back to the restaurant. It's all going to boil down to some horrid PR decisions.

As for the pastor, she's cheap trash in my book.

[barak.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the waitress' comments on the story?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/01/fired-applebees-waitress-needs-tips

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

It's good to hear her side of it. :)

[prisoncitybear.livejournal.com]

As a teacher, I am bound to FERPA (http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html) which is the academic equivalent of HIPA. As much as I would love to post some of the twaddle that comes my way via my students, I would be fired if any identifiable information was shared in public.
What the preacher did was horrible, what the waitress did was just as bad by posting his deets in a public forum.
She took a private event and made it public without his consent.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I do agree that what the server did was wrong, but I am not sure the idea was this internet firestorm. She originally posted it to Reddit, a site I'm not familiar with really, and the name was supposedly blocked. At least that's the story I've read. I think it was later that the full pic, with signature, got posted.

I would have just remembered the "pastor" for the next time she showed up and dipped my foot in her food before I served it.

And as for confidentiality, I'm bound by anything I work on too. :)

[guywithmonsters.livejournal.com]

"Pastor" my ass.