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US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

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Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#41

Post by berlinbrown »

chrisbolt wrote: post #39
droithomme wrote: post #20

The waitress's own accounting of the incident is exceptionally self serving and false. The signature as originally posted was quite legible. Her original accounting of the incident was completely fabricated because she didn't actually serve the table, though she represented herself as if she did. For example, the customer's name, Alois, is a man's name, but the customer was actually a female with a male's first name.…

Why would someone write "I give God 10% why do you get 18"... then leave 18% tip, just in a different way?

Why would anyone write anything on a receipt.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#42

Post by JDShu »

berlinbrown wrote: post #36
saraid216 wrote: post #7

Apparently it turned into a social media fracas: http://rlstollar.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/applebees-overnigh...

This is exactly why Applebee's fired the waitress. She wasn't fired because the customer called the store. She was fired because she was the catalyst for all of this bad publicity.

What? I thought the bad publicity was caused by Applebee's firing her, not the other way round.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#43

Post by berlinbrown »

rdtsc wrote: post #40
berlinbrown wrote: post #23

I am surprised that everyone saw this from one side. I was making an argument that the "pastor" has received a lot of undue criticism all because she made ONE comment on a receipt after ONE meal. Now, her small 15 person church is receiving a bunch of scrutiny and being mocked...from papers across the globe. If the "waitress" did not POST the picture on the Internet then the pastor would have been left alone. Is it p…

> Why should we expect rational, conscientious behavior from some random pastor? Because the attitude is (like it or not) Christians are better, they are saved, and they go the extra mile to show that charity, giving, and compassion are their main attributes. When a pastor writes that stuff on the check, it comes out as very hypocritical to most people in this country. This includes both Christians who are outraged b…

I see it as a human acting human. There are 7 billion people, their behavior is not predetermined.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#44

Post by callmeed »

Our pastor showed this picture in church this morning. Didn't really get the back story and some things still don't add up:

The picture on Reddit (linked to from this link) is cropped. I seem to remember seeing the entire receipt.

Usually tips are only added automatically for large parties (>= 8) but this bill was only $34. Makes no sense. Was this just 8 people getting iced teas?

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#45

Post by rdtsc »

berlinbrown wrote: post #37
rdtsc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't even matter what the original thing was about. The way it was handled by the restaurant's PR team is what turned this small sub-reddit topic to a social media nightmare. In one single night, that PR person, probably drove away tends of thousands (if not more) of customers. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong at that point, them not catching which side the public was on, and just arguing back and forth,…

It wouldn't have happened if the waitress didn't post that image of the receipt online. She acted with malicious intent and I am glad they fired her.

My point was it doesn't matter at this stage. It already happened. Time to deal with it. This kind of stuff happens all the time probably and it shows up in local paper at most, or in some /r/wtf sub-reddit.

Regardless of what side you are on, you can't deny that the restaurant lost a considerable amount of business in just a couple of days. That should be a fire-able offense.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#46

Post by stickfigure »

droithomme wrote: post #20

The waitress's own accounting of the incident is exceptionally self serving and false. The signature as originally posted was quite legible. Her original accounting of the incident was completely fabricated because she didn't actually serve the table, though she represented herself as if she did. For example, the customer's name, Alois, is a man's name, but the customer was actually a female with a male's first name.…

You're forgetting the smoking gun: The customer actually wrote "I give god 10%, why do you get 18" on the receipt.

There's no way around the physical evidence. Internet judgement has convicted the customer of class-A asshattery and sentenced her/him to public ridicule. The waitress is going to come across as a hero in this story no matter what bureaucratic rule she broke.

Any sane business owned and run by humans would have had a good laugh and ignored the whiny customer. Instead we have an example of what happens when you try to formalize every decision from how the steaks are cooked to how to respond to customer complaints. Protip: If your company responds to crises like this, it's long past time to get the hell out.

I ate at an Applebees recently. It was exactly the kind of soulless microwaved food I would expect from a nationwide, lowest-common-denominator corporate chain. This story does not surprise me one bit.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#47

Post by berlinbrown »

JDShu wrote: post #42
berlinbrown wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why Applebee's fired the waitress. She wasn't fired because the customer called the store. She was fired because she was the catalyst for all of this bad publicity.

What? I thought the bad publicity was caused by Applebee's firing her, not the other way round.

As a general rule, restaurant managers at these chain stores have to respect the brand. According to Applebee's:

"Employees must honor the privacy rights of APPLEBEE’s and its employees by seeking permission before writing about or displaying internal APPLEBEE'S happenings that might be " considered to be a breach of privacy and confidentiality..."

She was fired for breaching the the customer's privacy. And you don't normally do that (putting information online) because this kind of shitstorm can happen. They are probably sending a message to other employees, don't pull this kind of stuff or you lose your job. Now look at the shitstorm we have to deal with.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#48

Post by pm90 »

saraid216 wrote: post #7

Apparently it turned into a social media fracas: http://rlstollar.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/applebees-overnigh...

I'm not sure how many of the restaurant's customers will actually boycott though. People are quite fickle and you'll see many claiming boycott just to get some attention. Besides, I'm not sure just how many of its customers even know about its facebook page, let alone this incident.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#49

Post by zura »

droithomme wrote: post #20

The waitress's own accounting of the incident is exceptionally self serving and false. The signature as originally posted was quite legible. Her original accounting of the incident was completely fabricated because she didn't actually serve the table, though she represented herself as if she did. For example, the customer's name, Alois, is a man's name, but the customer was actually a female with a male's first name.…

I personally don't get whole this tip tradition - just give me the check stating the exact amount I have to pay. And give the appropriate salary to the wait{er|ress}.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#50

Post by berlinbrown »

jeffdavis wrote: post #32
droithomme wrote: post #20

The waitress's own accounting of the incident is exceptionally self serving and false. The signature as originally posted was quite legible. Her original accounting of the incident was completely fabricated because she didn't actually serve the table, though she represented herself as if she did. For example, the customer's name, Alois, is a man's name, but the customer was actually a female with a male's first name.…

How did you get all of these details? I would assume that some are in dispute -- e.g. the tip left on the table (how would we know unless both sides confirmed?).

We went from talking about Aaron Swartz, suicide, Cyberlaw, startups and algorithms to a discussion about tips being left on the table.

This story has truly gone viral.

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