Tipping and Social Media

[Jenise]

A schmuck in Seattle not only put a big fat zero on the tip line of his bill for $28 worth of bar food, he added this comment to the receipt: "You could lose a little weight". About which the waitress too umbrage and did what anyone would do : took a pic of that and put it on her facebook page, along with a photo of the guy, to create public shame. Which might have worked had she not put up a picture of the wrong guy, albeit with the same name, who responded to being dragged into this by publicly throwing his support to the schmuck.

It's a strange new world we live in. Gone, I guess, are the days when the worst thing that could happen if you pissed off your server was having them spit in your food.

Here's a link to the article: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/10/12/waitress-shames-insulting-tipper-on-facebook/?ref=mostpopular

The waitress had enough time to take pictures between picking up orders?! Since tipping is voluntary why is there the expectation that everyone would do it, and at 10% of the bill (sans tax) or above? Or, was her reaction to the insult of "you could lose a little weight". Neither side wins in this little disagreement, IMO. And, yes, I have been a waitress -- and I would never have spat in anyone's food -- and I have been treated pretty lousy. Geesh!

The waitress consider herself lucky that the wrong guy who she maligned didn't sue her for libel.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

The waitress had enough time to take pictures between picking up orders?! Since tipping is voluntary why is there the expectation that everyone would do it, and at 10% of the bill (sans tax) or above? Or, was her reaction to the insult of "you could lose a little weight". Neither side wins in this little disagreement, IMO. And, yes, I have been a waitress -- and I would never have spat in anyone's food -- and I have been treated pretty lousy. Geesh!

Agree with you completely, Jo Ann--there aren't any good guys in this story. But I didn't have the impression that she took the picture, but rather that she plucked it off the internet, too mad to make sure she was right and too stupid to understand how important that is.

But I didn't have the impression that she took the picture, but rather that she plucked it off the internet, too mad to make sure she was right and too stupid to understand how important that is.

That makes sense, especially if she had his name on a credit card receipt or something and Googled him.

Looks to me like both sides come off pretty bad.

Something happened to trigger the comment Meyer (Bad Meyer, not Good Meyer) made. We don't know what it is, but we can probably assume that both sides were implicit in the bad feelings.

Meyer, in his tip, was within his "rights'. Tips, after all, are not mandatory; they're tips, even if they're given by custom. But when he made the comment, he was being an asshole. Frankly, he sounds like the guy Liss is describing.

Sadly, Liss too is overreacting to it all. Hey, maybe she had a bad night and resented being their (it said she was standing in for a friend; perhaps resenting it? who knows) or maybe she just had one too many crappy customers. Everybody gets fed up at times.

How does the billing work? Does he have an account there?

His surname is on the slip but not a full name or credit card details details.

Sounds like there is more to this and we hear just one side.