I've waitressed a lot over the years and the behavior by customers that I have seen would probably surprise and disgust you.  This story makes me laugh at the behavior of the customer, but also makes me mad that the waitress was fired because of it. 

Chelsea Welch, a St. Louis-Area  Applebee's waitress posted a picture of a receipt on the internet showing a note from a customor, pastor Alois Bell, complaining about the automatic gratuity added to the bill.  The pastor complained to an Applebee's manager that the picture, which went viral ,was embarrassing to her and Chelsea was fired.

"I give God 10%," Bell wrote on the receipt, scratching out the automatic tip and scribbling in an emphatic "0" where the additional tip would be. "Why do you get 18?" (There were more than eight people in Bell's party, triggering the auto-tip.)

Welch, who snapped a photo of the bill from a fellow server and uploaded to Reddit, defended her right to post the receipt. "I thought the note was insulting, but also comical," she told Consumerist.com. "And I thought other users would find it entertaining.”

Alois Bell now feel regret over writing the comment she considers a stupid move.  “My heart is really broken,” Bell said. “I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.”

A spokesman for Applebee’s said it apologized to Bell for violating her "right to privacy" and confirmed that Welch “is no longer employed by the franchise."

Welch was surprised that Applebee's fired her, "especially because there was nothing specific in the employee handbook admonishing this behavior."

"I had no intention of starting a witch hunt or hurting anyone. I just wanted to share a picture I found interesting," she said. “I come home exhausted, sore, burnt, dirty and blistered on a good day. And after all that, I can be fired for ‘embarrassing’ someone who directly insults their server on religious grounds.”

Welch also isn't buying Bell's embarrassment. “If this person wrote the note, obviously they wanted it seen by someone," she said. “I’ve been stiffed on tips before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man used as reasoning."

There is a lesson here.  Don't act in a way that could embarrass you should your actions go viral...yes?  What do you think about all this?

~Vanessa

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