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

[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.