#832 – Godly Actions…
If you’re wondering what today’s strip is about, then you must have missed the latest internet firestorm over Applebee’s firing a waitress for posting a customer’s receipt online.
You can easily Google the subject and find a ton of links to the story. Here’s the link to Yahoo’s News page:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/applebees-waitress-fired-pastor-receipt-193820748.html
As a former pizza delivery guy, I can sympathize with the fact that I used to receive a large variety of reactions from customers… some would tip well, some would tip okay and some would think I was simply there to be a punching bag for whatever crappy thing that was going on in their lives at the moment. Fortunately, I didn’t receive a whole heck of a lot of those but they did happen – but probably no where near what waiters and waitresses have to go through these days.
That being said, I think the waitress probably should have blurred out not only the customer’s signature but also what establishment she was working for too. That may not have saved her job – and, in all likelihood, this still probably would have ended up being an internet sensation.
So, what are your feelings about this particular story? On what side do you fall on?
I think name and shame of horrible customers should become more common place. Sure your first amendment right exists to protest your “18% gratuity” but the waitress should have equal rights to post the ass hat-ery to the internet. Full signature and all. I don’t think I would eat out for at least 2-3 months, so that he’s forgotten, if I were him.
Fight Club style retribution to crappy customers is pretty common. I can only imagine what will happen to him now that he’s got one of them fired for his douchebaggery.
Wow, people can be such jerks when it comes to tipping sometimes. I worked at a diner for a summer in college, you only make a couple bucks an hour and the rest is tips. 18% is actually what I give OK service, I’m a 20% tipper. Even a bad waiter doesn’t deserve 10%.
I’ve written about working for tips before: http://arkanabar.blogspot.com/2008/05/on-serving-because-its-annoying-me.html Rev. Bell appears to be the sort who thinks that stinginess is next to Godliness. And I’ll maintain that tipping is cheaper than offering servers a living wage and benefits; if the management had to do that, I’d expect menu prices to jump at least 30%, and the level of motivation for good service to plummet.
She should have blurred out the signature. While a longshot, it leaves the restaurant open to be sued if someone forges the signature. I can’t disagree with her being fired. I have been fired for less in my lifetime.
And it wasn’t the waitress who waited on the table, it was another waitress who posted this.
I seem to be in a minority as someone who believes that the internet doesn’t give you carte blanch to post any damn thing you want without repercussions. Freedom of speech means the government can’t sensor you or the press. It has very little to do with the internet. It doesn’t mean you can call your boss a asswipe and not get fired. It doesn’t mean you can post that you work for a bunch of morons and can’t get fired. Even more, where before you might make a comment to a friend that could never be verified, post something on the internet. It will never completely disappear. Something you post at 20 can come up in a search when you are going for something you really want at 40. The notion of Freedom of Speech many times equates with Freedom to be stupid.
Uh, sorry for the rant, this has been building up.
I’d like to know how servers and the people who pay them got to the point where they believe it’s REQUIRED that their patrons pay not only for the product they consume, but contribute separately to the wages of the server. That’s the employer’s responsibility, not mine. I think it’s disgusting. People’s wages are paid by their employers, not by their customers. Servers, please just do your job, and if you go above and beyond what’s required of you, try to be grateful if someone kicks in a little extra when they pay the cheque. If you don’t like what you’re doing, go do something else. The rest of us are struggling, too, and no one tips us to do what we’re already paid to do. Paying what I owe wouldn’t make me a bad person, but I hate being shamed into giving you something you didn’t earn. It’s not fair.
There were over 8 people at the table and the check came to $34 and change. 18% gets added automaticly if there are more than 8 people in your party. I don’t know what kind of service they recieved at that table but for a bill that low I’m sure it was just coffee. And that takes a lot of running back and forth to keep those cups filled by one waitress. Time taken away from having other tables. That’s why 18% gets added automaticly.
Unfourtunately, I find everyone both the Pastor and the Waitress were wrong in their actions.
The pastor should have delt with Applebee’s company policy with Applebee’s. The waitress can do nothing about Applebee’s company policy.
However, publishing someones name and signiture on line is wrong. Regardless of the reason. The waitress should have also talked to Applebee’s Manager before the bill got rung up.
It all comes down to poor behavior breeds poor behavior.