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Nyxish
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 265,518
June 2006
Posts: 2,768
Layouts: 1
Loc: mid New York state
 |  Posted: 1/31/2013 10:24:53 PM
i'm dead tired tonight, so haven't followed up on looking into this (sorry) but i saw this tonight - made me really angry for the waitress..and also ...i guess i was kind of hoping it was an urban legend-ish thing. Sad to think people - especially our 'spiritual leaders' - could think to be such asses... and then be quite so self righteous about being called on it on this day and internet age. Really?
Link
An Applebee's waitress who posted a receipt with a note from a pastor complaining about the automatic gratuity added to the bill on the Internet was fired on Wednesday after the pastor complained to her manager.
Chelsea Welch, the waitress, wrote in an email to Yahoo News that the pastor (who has since been identified as Alois Bell) told Welch's manager at the St. Louis-area Applebee's that the ensuing firestorm had "ruined" her reputation.
"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."
Bell, a pastor at Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries Church, was not amused, and she called Welch's manager to complain.
"[It was] a lapse in my character and judgment," Bell told the Smoking Gun, adding she did not expect her easily recognizable signature would be, as her friend informed her, 'all over Yahoo. You went viral!'
[Related: Pastor leaves waiter note on receipt: "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?"]
"My heart is really broken," Bell added. "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."
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When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming!", I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed!" - G. Stoddart
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SueSume
AncestralPea
PeaNut 262,757
May 2006
Posts: 4,592
Layouts: 5
Loc: Big Bottom Valley
| Posted: 1/31/2013 10:35:37 PM
Boo to Applebys but most of all Boo to the (so called) minister.
And as to WHY the minister should follow the rule with the 18%:
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." |
Sue Who? SueASume, SueSume, who cares?
Reality is made up of words.-Ferdinando Buscema
Words are hard.-Hannah Kelly
NSBR: "We're like a big damn disfunctional family. We'll beat the crap out of each other, and it's ok, but dammit, if an outsider turns on one of ours, we circle the wagons." -Free~Bird
Used with permission & with 9% royality fee paid annually. Starting next year. Honest | |
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myshelly
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 471,001
June 2010
Posts: 7,388
Layouts: 0
 | Posted: 1/31/2013 10:37:59 PM
That "pastor" is sadly mistaken if she thinks getting this waitress fired is going to help getting her reputation restored or improved. Beyotch.
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busypea
boring + nerdy
PeaNut 52,817
October 2002
Posts: 25,148
Layouts: 145
Loc: Oregon
 | Posted: 1/31/2013 10:39:02 PM
I said this in the other thread...
I find the pastor's note and behavior totally reprehensible, but I would also fire that employee. Not because the customer said anything, but because it is inappropriate and unacceptable to post something like that online. The way to deal with asshole customers is not to publicly humiliate them by posting on Reddit and hoping it goes viral. | |
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gottapeanow
Full of faith pea
PeaNut 79,417
April 2003
Posts: 9,826
Layouts: 57
Loc: Phoenix area
| Posted: 1/31/2013 10:41:34 PM
"My heart is really broken,"Bell added. "I've brought embarrassment to my church and ministry."
If the above is true, why did he complain???!!!  Not cool. At all.
He should make it right. That means paying her everything she's due. As in the 18%. And then some for his shabby treatment of her.
Huge dislike for A. His initial failure to tip B. His refusal to make it right C. His getting her fired.
Lisa | |
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gottapeanow
Full of faith pea
PeaNut 79,417
April 2003
Posts: 9,826
Layouts: 57
Loc: Phoenix area
| Posted: 1/31/2013 10:41:34 PM
"My heart is really broken,"Bell added. "I've brought embarrassment to my church and ministry."
If the above is true, why did he complain???!!! Not cool. At all.
He should make it right. That means paying her everything she's due. As in the 18%. And then some for his shabby treatment of her.
Huge dislike for A. His initial failure to tip B. His refusal to make it right C. His getting her fired.
Lisa | |
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jodster70
To the right, To the right
PeaNut 51,257
October 2002
Posts: 5,551
Layouts: 28
Loc: Usually NSBR, an un"pea"dictable place :)
| Posted: 1/31/2013 10:48:54 PM
I find the pastor's note and behavior totally reprehensible, but I would also fire that employee. It is inappropriate and unacceptable to post something like that online. The way to deal with asshole customers is not to publicly humiliate them by posting and Reddit and hoping it goes viral.
I agree with Busypea.
One other thing I just wanted to mention about the pastor that I read online: She's a pastor of a 15 member church. I don't know of her credentials, but it's not like she is pastor of a huge congregation.
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**Jody**
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
Patrick Henry | |
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Mom X 1
Plus Peanut and Ollie in Heaven
PeaNut 380,257
June 2008
Posts: 6,033
Layouts: 0
Loc: where the Tide Rolls
 | Posted: 1/31/2013 10:57:56 PM
I find the pastor's note and behavior totally reprehensible, but I would also fire that employee. Not because the customer said anything, but because it is inappropriate and unacceptable to post something like that online. The way to deal with asshole customers is not to publicly humiliate them by posting on Reddit and hoping it goes viral.
My sentiments exactly.
Slight hijack
My mother and I (we are both Christians) were recently discussing people we have dealt with who were over the top rude and condescending. Almost all of them were Christians and several are/were in the ministry. The vast majority of the Christians I come into contact with are great, compassionate people so I'm speaking about an extremely small percentage. I guess the thing that struck both of us was the fact that the people who have been the hardest to deal with have been vocal Christians!
Just thought it was an interesting conversation in light of this issue...
Hijack over 
Of course maybe it was rude and condescending for me to have a small hijack  |
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him...or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He did not leave that option open to us. He did not intend to."
C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity | |
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jodster70
To the right, To the right
PeaNut 51,257
October 2002
Posts: 5,551
Layouts: 28
Loc: Usually NSBR, an un"pea"dictable place :)
| Posted: 1/31/2013 11:01:04 PM
My mother and I (we are both Christians) were recently discussing people we have dealt with who were over the top rude and condescending. Almost all of them were Christians and several are/were in the ministry. The vast majority of the Christians I come into contact with are great, compassionate people so I'm speaking about an extremely small percentage. I guess the thing that struck both of us was the fact that the people who have been the hardest to deal with have been vocal Christians!
As a fellow Christian, I agree, and I find this *so* frustrating because I don't want to be associated with them when I say I'm a Christian! |
**Jody**
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
Patrick Henry | |
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PEArfect
AncestralPea
PeaNut 452,048
January 2010
Posts: 4,465
Layouts: 0
Loc: Indiana
 | Posted: 1/31/2013 11:04:51 PM
The pastor basically admitted that what she did was wrong, and she SHOULD be embarrassed. I think sometimes people should be called out on their behavior otherwise they just keep repeating it.
I'm siding with the waitress on this one. If the message was left on the table as a 'tip' then it belongs to the waitress. The waitress had the right to do whatever she wanted to do with it imo. Just like the money would have been hers if she had left a tip.
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busypea
boring + nerdy
PeaNut 52,817
October 2002
Posts: 25,148
Layouts: 145
Loc: Oregon
| Posted: 1/31/2013 11:11:27 PM
If the message was left on the table as a 'tip' then it belongs to the waitress. The waitress had the right to do whatever she wanted to do with it imo. Just like the money would have been hers if she had left a tip.
Actually, she left the note on the credit card slip, which belongs to the restaurant, not the server. But that's neither here nor there. IMO, the server's action was inappropriate and opened the restaurant up to trouble. In a service industry, employees are going to encounter mean people some time. If employees seek to get back at the patrons when they are rude, the restaurant is going to have big problems. They just have to be able to move on.
Do you tell your kids that if someone is a jerk to them, it's ok to be a jerk back? Or should they still be polite?
Two wrongs don't make a right. | |
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gizmos
PeaAddict
PeaNut 375,962
May 2008
Posts: 1,089
Layouts: 0
Loc: running to catch up
 | Posted: 2/1/2013 12:29:21 AM
I think the Pastor was wrong but so was this waitress. Complain to your coworkers about it and move on. Posting this on the net was her mistake. | |
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Mary Kay Lady
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 367,913
March 2008
Posts: 2,222
Layouts: 0
Loc: The state of Confusion!
| Posted: 2/1/2013 1:06:46 AM
I agree that there were two people who lost in this situation: the pastor and the waitress. I hope each of them learned a lesson.
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I-95
It's all just nonsense anyway!
PeaNut 97,456
July 2003
Posts: 19,528
Layouts: 0
Loc: California, NY & Orlando
 | Posted: 2/1/2013 1:07:04 AM
I still side with the waitress on this one. The Pastor needed to be called out for her asshole behavior, and where do you call someone out these days? Yep, on FB, or Yelp, or Reddit.
I don't recall the original receipt, but I don't think it identified the Pastor, nor the restaurant. The fact that it went viral is beside the point, some things do, some don't. This could just have easily not gone anywhere. Besides, doesn't this fall under Free Speech? Doesn't the waitress have a Constitutional right to express herself? Why should she get fired for that?
Since Applebees was one of the business that said it was going to add the cost of Obamacare on to their customer's dinner tabs, I would guess that their employees are even less happy about getting stiffed by some stupid, arrogant, Christian Pastor. I see no reason why the waitress should suck it up and not say anything.
I'm sure with her newly found 15 minutes of fame, someone will offer this waitress a job. | |
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blinks14
PeaAddict
PeaNut 41,620
June 2002
Posts: 1,417
Layouts: 101
Loc: Reading, PA
|  Posted: 2/1/2013 1:14:43 AM
Did the pastor give any tip at all? Or none. Because that's not very Christian like. I think many people forget that servers only make half of minimum wage. Which is why they get tips. You don't tip well if the service is poor not because it's a bigger percentage than God gets! That's really sad. Even if the waitress had not posted the photo of the receipt she would have been out that money for serving a table of 8. Which some times is not very easy. That pastor should be embarrassed. | |
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lovestorun
PeaNut 90,754
June 2003
Posts: 6,972
Layouts: 38
Loc: So Cal
| Posted: 2/1/2013 1:15:31 AM
Screw Applebees!!! seriously? Fire her to shut this lady up? This lady is a grade-A douchebag.
Not only does this f*tard have the audacity to stiff her, but she gets her fired, when she's the cheap eff? She should be more than embarassed.
This lady is such a dick!
Edited to change sex of this moron. | |
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BudgetMama
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 138,670
March 2004
Posts: 2,156
Layouts: 2
Loc: Oregon
| Posted: 2/1/2013 1:23:50 AM
Do you tell your kids that if someone is a jerk to them, it's ok to be a jerk back? Or should they still be polite?
I disagree. She didn't trip her in the parking lot or spit in her food. She posted the receipt out of exasperation for her rude treatment. People have also posted "nice" receipt notes too, and that wasn't a problem.
Also, this pastor is a woman, not a man. | |
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jodster70
To the right, To the right
PeaNut 51,257
October 2002
Posts: 5,551
Layouts: 28
Loc: Usually NSBR, an un"pea"dictable place :)
| Posted: 2/1/2013 1:30:12 AM
I-95,
It was the whole receipt. I saw a picture of the original Reddit pic, and it clearly showed her signature, which could be read easily, so she was easily identified.
Also, the pastor is a WOMAN, not a man as so many of you have assumed. |
**Jody**
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
Patrick Henry | |
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bgpa
BucketHead
PeaNut 53,649
October 2002
Posts: 895
Layouts: 40
Loc: NorthCentral PA
| Posted: 2/1/2013 1:41:22 AM
I hope the church fires the pastor for violating THEIR policy with her un-Christian behavior. |
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ePEAcenter
BucketHead
PeaNut 364,981
February 2008
Posts: 639
Layouts: 2
Loc: Texas Hill Country
| Posted: 2/1/2013 1:56:54 AM
Pastor = self-righteous jerk.
Waitress = Publicly distributed a company financial document - clearly grounds for termination.
A credit card receipt is a contract. This contract clearly discloses both parties information, which is now in the public domain.
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pyccku
Bagpipes - not just for funerals anymore!
PeaNut 5,176
July 2000
Posts: 8,548
Layouts: 42
Loc: Far, Far Away
 | Posted: 2/1/2013 5:23:42 AM
I heard the pastors interview on the radio, she sounds like a real peach. And a liar.
She tried to weasel out of it by saying that she left a $6 cash tip plus the credit card tip, so she actually left two tips. Except the cc wasn't charged the amount of the tip...so she doesn't mind lying to make herself look better.
She was not very well spoken, grammatical errors all over the place. So I can't imagine she would've an effective pastor. How would she even give a sermon with people focusing more on her speech than the message?
Oh, and she says she left the message in a conscious effort to get out the lord's message about tithing. And she felt she had succeeded.
Yeah, right. | |
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sara b
Labby "Mom"
PeaNut 33,785
March 2002
Posts: 22,165
Layouts: 95
Loc: Indianapolis, IN
 | Posted: 2/1/2013 5:26:46 AM
They're doing a story on this on our local news right now. She said she left another $6 on the table that "did hit my credit card". So how did she leave $6 on the table if it went on her credit card? I've replayed her interview twice now & don't understand that.
She was not very well spoken, grammatical errors all over the place. So I can't imagine she would've an effective pastor. How would she even give a sermon with people focusing more on her speech than the message?
She doesn't present much better on TV either. |
Sara B
"I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the unhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better" George Bird Evans
"Handle every stressful situation like a dog (aka Lab ): If you can't eat it or play with it, pee on it & walk away!" (author unknown)
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jmd1970
PeaAddict
PeaNut 185,538
January 2005
Posts: 1,465
Layouts: 0
Loc: Illinois
 | Posted: 2/1/2013 5:47:03 AM
Saw the pastor on the local news last night and ITA. She should be embarrassed by the note and her actions after the fact. She was not well spoken and I can't get over the fact of how she is twisting words and actions to justify what she did. |
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MsChiff
Urban PeaGirl
PeaNut 36,897
April 2002
Posts: 7,109
Layouts: 8
Loc: The city that never sleeps
| Posted: 2/1/2013 5:53:30 AM
I find the pastor's note and behavior totally reprehensible, but I would also fire that employee. Not because the customer said anything, but because it is inappropriate and unacceptable to post something like that online. The way to deal with asshole customers is not to publicly humiliate them by posting on Reddit and hoping it goes viral.
I agree. Two wrongs don't make a right. While the employee has the right to free speech, she doesn't have a right to act in a manner that does/can reflect poorly on her employer or cause them harm and expect to keep her job.
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none2pleased
PeaAddict
PeaNut 250,729
February 2006
Posts: 1,031
Layouts: 0
Loc: Cruisin to anywhere but here
 | Posted: 2/1/2013 6:12:07 AM
I just wanted to comment on the rudeness of some Christians. Many a year ago I was an assistant manager in a large retail store. My manager was a "preachers wife" and she was the most condescending, judgemental, racist and rude person I had ever had the misfortune of working with.
Years later, she is a little better but when I think back on all of the things that I and many other coworkers and customers put up with I can only shake my head. She spent so much time trying to get me to come to church and I just kept thinking "so I can become you? No thanks"
I realize not everyone is like that, but just like everything else, it only takes a few to spoil the outlook for everyone. |
[image)http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp146/AMRgroup/chrispea2.jpg(/image]
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I-95
It's all just nonsense anyway!
PeaNut 97,456
July 2003
Posts: 19,528
Layouts: 0
Loc: California, NY & Orlando
| Posted: 2/1/2013 6:25:46 AM
I-95,
It was the whole receipt. I saw a picture of the original Reddit pic, and it clearly showed her signature, which could be read easily, so she was easily identified.
I wondered about that after I posted. Considering how good some pea detectives are, it wouldn't surprise me if someone could track her from that signature...although I would never have deciphered her first name. However, the restaurant wasn't identified, unless the waitress gave the name in her post.
Personally, I wouldn't have been too sad about losing a job at Applebees over posting that. Two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes people need to be called on their behavior, and karma certainly came back to bite this Pastor!! I don't feel the least bit sorry for her. | |
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scraps_of_time
AncestralPea
PeaNut 196,615
March 2005
Posts: 4,073
Layouts: 2
Loc: in front of my computer - where else would I be?
| Posted: 2/1/2013 6:31:21 AM
Welch, who snapped a photo of the bill from a fellow server and uploaded to Reddit
Bolding is mine
It wasn't the waitress that waited on the pastor that posted it and I would have fire her too. |
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TerriG
Pealasti-Girl
PeaNut 28,363
January 2002
Posts: 7,718
Layouts: 31
Loc: Walkin' in Memphis
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HippyPea
PeaFixture
PeaNut 401,157
November 2008
Posts: 3,575
Layouts: 0
Loc: Virginia is for Lovers
| Posted: 2/1/2013 6:47:22 AM
How did 8 people only spend $34 plus change to begin with? I'm betting they were a real peach of a group to serve. Not that that makes either action right though.
I thought I read somewhere that they asked to have the check split up amongst the group ...
Considering how good some pea detectives are, it wouldn't surprise me if someone could track her from that signature...although I would never have deciphered her first name.
Had she not included "Pastor" (and the way it's written on the receipt, it looks like it was an afterthought) I would have never been able to decipher her first name. But a quick Google search of "Pastor Bell St. Louis Missouri" was all it took.
I agree that both the person who posted it (and it apparently was not the person who waited on the group) and Pastor Alois Bell both regret their actions, but, the Pastor certainly made the most lasting impression. |
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hop2
AncestralPea
PeaNut 43,893
July 2002
Posts: 4,348
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/1/2013 6:54:56 AM
My mother and I (we are both Christians) were recently discussing people we have dealt with who were over the top rude and condescending. Almost all of them were Christians and several are/were in the ministry. The vast majority of the Christians I come into contact with are great, compassionate people so I'm speaking about an extremely small percentage. I guess the thing that struck both of us was the fact that the people who have been the hardest to deal with have been vocal Christians!
Trust me, all religions have their share of self righteous jerks who interpret the religious texts to meet their needs. Christians certainly don't corner the market in that one. Lol 
I do think the waitress opened herself up to be fired by posting the receipt in the Internet. I would be angry if my credit card info was pored on the internet along with my sugnature for forgers and identity theives to have a feild day with it. ( even if it had been a complimentary note )
The pastors actions are not cool, don't reflect we'll on her or her ministry. If she is claims the tip was on her cc bill then she could take issue with her c c company because she clearly crossed or out and wrote zero.
I do not know about the cash tip, I frequently leave a cash tip because it is a habit I learned from my father. I suspect that the waitress would not have had an issue if a cash tip was left, but who can say for sure. Still that wasn't the appropriate pulpit for her message at all. | |
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writermom1
Thrift Whisperer
PeaNut 114,407
November 2003
Posts: 22,289
Layouts: 66
Loc: At the intersection of Hooterville and Stars Hollow
| Posted: 2/1/2013 6:56:13 AM
So the pastor is sorry not for what she did but for being "caught?"
Then she acted to have the waitress fired?
Sounds like someone else needs some job retraining too Pastor.
I doubt the waitress intended to out the person publicly. Did she know that the Pastors friends would recognize her signature?
That receipt doesn't compromise the woman's identity. People drop receipts all the time. That's a red herring to try and deflect embarrassment. "But but but LOOK WHAT SHE DID TO ME!" |
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mom_to_a_girl
AncestralPea
PeaNut 97,416
July 2003
Posts: 4,627
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/1/2013 7:18:20 AM
I find the pastor's note and behavior totally reprehensible, but I would also fire that employee. Not because the customer said anything, but because it is inappropriate and unacceptable to post something like that online.
Absolutely. I don't expect my credit card receipts to be posted online by a third party. That's just wrong, no matter what the motivation. | |
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~Lauren~
Original Pea #1803
PeaNut 246,606
January 2006
Posts: 29,617
Layouts: 16
Loc: right here...even if some don't like it. ;)
| Posted: 2/1/2013 7:27:13 AM
Well, the waitress "called out" the pastor and now she is experiencing the consequences of those actions.
Considering that the incident did not involve the fired waitress, the adage "MYOB" comes to mind. |
Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him better take a closer look at the American Indian - Henry Ford | |
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Sunshine36616
God peas protect me from your followers
PeaNut 180,214
December 2004
Posts: 30,603
Layouts: 204
Loc: stalking the crease
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PeaCeaRyder
BucketHead
PeaNut 411,442
February 2009
Posts: 673
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/1/2013 7:35:54 AM
I agree that both the person who posted it (and it apparently was not the person who waited on the group)
I'm confused. If the waitress did not post the receipt, then why did she get fired? 
And as to WHY the minister should follow the rule with the 18%:
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Good point! The pastor was in the wrong. She should have owned up, learned from it, and dropped the matter. |
| Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. | |
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scraps_of_time
AncestralPea
PeaNut 196,615
March 2005
Posts: 4,073
Layouts: 2
Loc: in front of my computer - where else would I be?
| Posted: 2/1/2013 7:52:09 AM
If the waitress did not post the receipt, then why did she get fired?
The waitress that posted the receipt got fired, not the one that waited on the Pastor. |
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dalayney
Shut the PEA UP! Yer gettin me all twitterpaited!
PeaNut 123,471
January 2004
Posts: 16,351
Layouts: 165
Loc: Husker by Heart in WI
| Posted: 2/1/2013 8:32:48 AM
I see both sides.
Everyone is going to the media for every stinkin' thing anymore. Life isn't fair. Boo hoo you get a lousy tip. Get over yourself.  Why people think they need the whole world to know their dramatic injustice of getting stiffed, I'll never know.
I also think the pastor was being an ass.
And I also think Applebees shouldn't have fired her. The whole customer is always right is bullsh*t.
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MergeLeft
Typical Liberal
PeaNut 221,236
August 2005
Posts: 19,082
Layouts: 67
Loc: Houston
| Posted: 2/1/2013 8:37:51 AM
Huh. I was fired from a waitressing job when I was 19 because I stood up for a fellow waitress who had been stiffed by a large party. I wrote a letter to the group's leader and he brought it back to the restaurant manager and insisted that I be fired for "insulting" him.
So I feel for the waitress. It's a tough job and you're expected to take all manner of abuse from patrons without the slightest complaint, or risk losing your job.
That pastor should be ashamed of herself. |
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UkSue
AncestralPea
PeaNut 428,374
June 2009
Posts: 4,229
Layouts: 2
Loc: Greater London
| Posted: 2/1/2013 8:40:52 AM
The short interview I saw with the Pastor, she did say she regretted writing it. They also said that the sacked waitress has received lots of offers of financial help and a petition has been started to force Applebee's to rehire her. I couldn't return to work there if it was me though! I think the waitress was wrong but I also think the Pastor showed a shocking lack of judgement and grace. |
| Love is short, forgetting is long, and understanding longer still. | |
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writermom1
Thrift Whisperer
PeaNut 114,407
November 2003
Posts: 22,289
Layouts: 66
Loc: At the intersection of Hooterville and Stars Hollow
| Posted: 2/1/2013 8:51:06 AM
I have no problem with people making mistakes in the heat of the moment.
If the Pastor says she regrets it, or the waitress does, I think all should move on.
I really doubt either party thought it would go this far. |
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Nightowl scrapper
Intl Assoc of Epic Length Posters - USA Chapter
PeaNut 103,889
August 2003
Posts: 24,760
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Loc: Colorado
| Posted: 2/1/2013 9:04:52 AM
Romans 13:8 is probably a better fit than the "Render to Caesar" quote. "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.". She incurred a debt when she sat down with umpteen people in a restaurant with a clearly stated policy that 18% gratuity is due for a party of that size. What she did, and what she wrote, is far from loving. It surprises me not one bit to hear (if correct) that she is the pastor of a small, fringe congregation. But that won't stop people from deciding she somehow represents all Christians and here's another excuse why we don't like Christians.
I'd love to see what this woman's finances and that of her church, look like.
Besides, doesn't this fall under Free Speech? Doesn't the waitress have a Constitutional right to express herself? Why should she get fired for that?
She wasn't persecuted by the government, she was fired by a private employer, and rightfully so. Free speech means you can say what you want without punishment from the government, but your employer and the public at large are entitled to comment on your speech all they want.
Yes, invading a customer's privacy, even a boorish customer, by posting this information on the internet, is a firing offense. No way should she be reinstated by Applebee's. In the world I grew up in, she would apologize, explain to future employers that she was fired for invading a customer's privacy and learned from that, and won't repeat it. All the fuss and sympathy is misplaced. It should go to the waitress who was stiffed. But even then, she should have kept HER mouth shut as well. Gossip isn't right even when it's about being cheated.
But now in this brave new world the waitress who behaved unprofessionally in posted something online that was none of her business, and got fired for it, is a folk hero. |
"Until you put a thought into words, clearly and precisely, it is not a thought at all. It is a kind of fog rolling around inside the skull."
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*sprout*
The Jolly Green Giant's Favorite Pea
PeaNut 45,764
August 2002
Posts: 5,046
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Loc: West Michigan
| Posted: 2/1/2013 9:12:59 AM
If she had posted the receipt picture but had blurred/covered up/removed/etc the signature, would she still have been fired? |
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SnowWhite.
in Fairy Tale Land
PeaNut 341,421
October 2007
Posts: 6,334
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Loc: Philly 'burbs
| Posted: 2/1/2013 9:19:45 AM
If she had posted the receipt picture but had blurred/covered up/removed/etc the signature, would she still have been fired?
Very possibly. The receipt itself, in part or in whole, is private company financial records.
I wonder if the waitress who was stiffed was reprimanded in any way?
~dawn | |
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*sprout*
The Jolly Green Giant's Favorite Pea
PeaNut 45,764
August 2002
Posts: 5,046
Layouts: 0
Loc: West Michigan
| Posted: 2/1/2013 9:21:40 AM
Thanks, Dawn! |
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scrappysurfer
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 151,822
June 2004
Posts: 2,669
Layouts: 5
| Posted: 2/1/2013 9:24:59 AM
It makes a HUGE difference to know that the fired waitress who posted the receipt was *not* the one who waited on the pastor.
Absolutely she deserved to be fired... She brought negative publicity to the restaurant, posted someone's name online leaving them susceptible to all kinds of harassment or worse (even though we all agree she deserves it lol). |
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scrapper100
Budletsmom
PeaNut 65,877
January 2003
Posts: 12,549
Layouts: 30
Loc: So CA
| Posted: 2/1/2013 9:50:24 AM
I didn't realize that the receipt had actually been posted on the internet and that you could read the person's name. Looking at the receipt though she didn't leave any tip and if she was going to leave a $6 tip why write that on the receipt as it was only 29 cents more. I still feel bad for the waitress but I know stuff like this happens all the time. Funny DH and I were talking about this last night while we were out at dinner.
I haven't seen the pastors interview and don't care to she just sounds like a real peach - oh and her church is only 15 people yeah something sounds off on that one to. I agree the person's name should have been blurred and then it wouldn't have been an issue. |
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obliolait
BucketHead
PeaNut 550,788
April 2012
Posts: 840
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 | Posted: 2/1/2013 9:51:49 AM
if the pastor hadn't added insult to injury, she would have just pissed off the staff and that would have been the end of it. instead she had to act like a complete asshole and got exactly what she deserved. | |
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melanell
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 26,836
January 2002
Posts: 14,452
Layouts: 86
| Posted: 2/1/2013 10:00:08 AM
I think the pastor's original actions were lousy.
I think the girl who posted the receipt *with the name visible* made a huge error in judgment with that choice. She obviously hasn't learned from the lessons of dozens of stories told of people fired for over-sharing about their jobs/customers/students/patients/etc. on the internet.
I think the pastor has a real knack for bad choices, because getting this girl fired, even if her actions did warrant it, is likely just going to lead to more notoriety and embarrassment for her.
And I'd go ahead and guess that she is typically a lousy tipper, if she tips at all. So this was probably just one of many waitresses she left high and dry. It was just the first time a waitress's coworker decided to post the evidence for all to see.
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TeamSteve
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.
PeaNut 263,696
June 2006
Posts: 5,158
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Loc: Florida, for now.
| Posted: 2/1/2013 10:05:28 AM
If this so called pastor would have done the right thing from the beginning, this all could have been avoided. This "pastor" should be ashamed of themself. |
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melanell
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 26,836
January 2002
Posts: 14,452
Layouts: 86
| Posted: 2/1/2013 10:06:07 AM
She tried to weasel out of it by saying that she left a $6 cash tip plus the credit card tip, so she actually left two tips.
I'm having a hard time believing that one. Technically, she could have left it and the note was simply a way for her to bitch about it, but the note *really* reads more like an excuse for no tip to me.
As a side note, when I pay by debit card, I do leave a cash tip if I can. That way a % of the tip isn't taken by the credit card company. BUT, I write on the receipt on the tip line "Tip left as cash.".
That way the server knows darn well a tip was left, even if someone else tries to say that there wasn't one. |
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