Is This The Great Commission In Action?

Here's a charming story for your Friday afternoon:

Be careful what you post on Reddit. It may just get you canned.

Earlier this week, an Applebee’s waitress posted a photo on Reddit of a receipt from an alleged pastor who, instead of leaving the suggested 18 percent tip, wrote “I give God 10%, why should you get 18.” Now, after the bill went viral, Applebee's has fired the waitress, according to Consumerist.

“I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical,” the waitress, whose name is Chelsea, told Consumerist. “I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it entertaining.”

Apparently once the receipt hit the Internet, the supposed pastor forgot the Golden Rule of “love thy neighbor” and called the Applebee’s where Chelsea works to demand that she and all management involved be fired.

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Fact checking Jason, facts. It was an automatic tip added for a large group, and he paid it even when he obviously didn't like it.

Mu: Look at picture. He crossed out the "$6.29" on the tip line (which is, in fact, 18% of $34.93), so he didn't pay it/

By Nick Theodorakis (not verified) on 01 Feb 2013 #permalink

Did you bother reading the articles before tsking at Jason, Mu? It doesn't look like you did - the pastor is a woman.

Mu is actually right, I believe. Based on the wording in the story it seems as though the 18% was charged regardless of the scribbles the pastor made on the receipt. It is Applebees' policy to automatically charge the gratuity for large parties.

The pastor was obviously a huge jerk, but the employee in question was REALLY stupid to have posted the picture with the pastor's name visible. There aren't really any good guys here; I don't think Applebees' really had a choice.

The part that's interesting to me is how eager Redditors were to "dox" the pastor given their previous objections to such tactics when leveled at their own community.

Although to be clear the pastor DID try to get out of paying the gratuity by splitting the checks and then crossing out the tip amounts. The fact that this didn't work is not a point in favor of the pastor.

No matter how much of a jerk the pastor was, no way the employee should have posted his/her name on internet. That's what felt-pens are for. The company was right to fire her.

I have no problem with the server posting the note. If the pastor didn't want her sensitive information to be seen, she should have chosen a less personal document upon which to compose her missive. The instant she used her bill as a medium to express herself, she lost all expectations of confidentiality.

Further, it wasn't the server who waited on her who posted it, it was another server.

And the "Pastor" was a woman.

By Comrade Carter (not verified) on 02 Feb 2013 #permalink

I think everyone is missing the larger picture here. Applebee's sucks.

Fact check Mu:
the group rang up a tab of over $200. They asked for separate checks as an attempt to get out of the automatic tip, even though one person paid for the whole bill. The person who wrote the note left nothing (despite her claims that she did no proof has been offered: if some appears I will clearly be wildly wrong on that point ). One other person in the group apparently left $6, FOR THE ENTIRE GROUP AND BILL OF $200. It also seems that the woman who left the note returned to the restaurant and asked that the entire staff, and on-duty manager, be fired, for embarrassing her.

She doesn't seem to be smart enough that the 10% figure is the church's way of getting at your income, while the 18% isn't from a year's income, just part of what you owe.

Did anyone ask the pastor when was the last time God actually personally brought her dinner and drinks to her?

Scratching off the auto tip and not paying it would be theft. I believe there's a Commandment against that, which a pastor should know.

It's remarkable how many atheists seem to approve of the modern version of the pillory.

Pillory! . . . hyperbole much? Merely exposing a monumental hypocrite. However, I notice that replies here have also pointed out the thoughtlessness of leaving the name exposed on the card receipt.
Swing, & a miss.

The receipt was company property, not waitress property. Posting it was not her right.
But for Jason to belittle the Great Commission is hardly the stuff of an intelligent dialogue. non sequitur. More is expected.

By Collin Brendemuehl (not verified) on 07 Feb 2013 #permalink