»Ronniesia Reed
–Staff Writer
Recently, an Applebee’s server in St. Louis posted a picture of a co-worker’s receipt on Reddit.com that said the words, “I give God 10 percent. Why do you get 18?” After posting this, the worker, Chelsea Welch, was fired from her serving position.
Alois Bell was the customer who wrote this on the receipt and is a pastor at Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries Church in St. Louis.
After the picture of the receipt went viral, she called the Applebee’s restaurant and demanded that everyone be fired.
Having a change of heart, she told The Smoking Gun, “My heart is really broken. I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry. It was a lapse in my character and judgment that has been blown out of proportion.”
The waitress said she attempted to conceal the identity of the customer, but the customer says her signature is “easily recognizable,” which is why her friend was able to inform her of the situation.
“Because this person got embarrassed that their selfishness was made public, Applebee’s has made it clear that they would rather lose a dedicated employee than lose an angry customer. That’s a policy I can’t understand,” Welch told Consumerist.com.
Customers come and go, but faithful employees should be respected. Not everyone will put up with certain conditions in the workplace, and the company should have given Welch another chance before firing her.
“I am expected to portray a canned personality that has been found to be least offensive to the greatest amount of people. 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 said.
“Our guests’ personal information including their meal check is private, and neither Applebee’s nor its franchisees have a right to share this information publicly. We value our guests’ trust above all else,” spokesperson for Applebee’s, Dan Smith, told The Daily News.
Being a server is not always easy, and many customers are aware of this. As the saying goes, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”
Just because a person is a waiter or waitress does not mean he or she should be treated disrespectfully.
Most servers are paid two to three dollars per hour, plus tips. In other words, their income is reliant on tips.
Tipping is a form of humanity, and it is a sign of respect.
Servers have to serve and clean. Then, they usually split their money with others at the end of the night.
This is why tipping is a nice gesture.
If an entire shift goes by and a server is not tipped, he or she wasted their time that night. After taxes are removed from their paycheck, they are left with almost nothing.
Therefore, when eating out, always remember to tip the server!
