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Applebee’s Fires Waitress Chelsea Welch for Exposing Pastor’s No-Tip Receipt
Waitress Chelsea Welch was recently fired from an Applebee’s restaurant in St. Louis after posting a note on the we, from a non-tipping pastor who wrote on the receipt: “I give God 10% Why do you get 18.”
TheSmokingGun.com identified the pastor as Alois Bell.
A picture of the receipt was uploaded to Reddit.com by Welch, reports The Consumerist.
“My mistake sir, I’m sure Jesus will pay for my rent and groceries,” Welch wrote on Reddit on Wednesday. She was fired from her job at Applebee’s that day, as the story began to spread across the Internet.
Welch was not the Applebee’s server who waited on Bell's party. That server showed the receipt to Welch, who took a photo of it and put it on Reddit.com.
Welch said: “I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical. I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it entertaining.”
On the receipt, Applebee’s computer system had added an automatic 18 percent gratuity because the dinner party had eight or more people. But the pastor scratched out the $6.29 tip and wrote “0.”
Welch said she failed to remove the signature from the receipt, because she thought it was illegible. However, Reddit.com users were able to find out the pastor’s identity.
Welch said: “I had already started receiving messages containing Facebook profile links and blogs and websites, asking me to confirm the identity of the customer. I refused to confirm any of them, and all of them were incorrect.
“When I posted this, I didn’t represent Applebee’s in a bad light. In fact, I didn’t represent them at all. I did my best to protect the identity of all parties involved. I didn’t break any specific guidelines in the company handbook, I checked.
“I’ve been stiffed on tips before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man has been used as reasoning. If this person wrote the note, obviously they wanted it seen by someone… It’s strange to me that now that the audience is wider than just the server, the person is now ashamed.
“We make $3.50 an hour. Most of my paychecks are less than pocket change because I have to pay taxes on the tips I make. After sharing my tips with hosts, bussers, and bartenders, I make less than $9/hr on average, before taxes."
On Wednesday, Bell contacted the Applebee’s and demanded that everyone involved, including the managers, be fired.
Bell has since told the TheSmokingGun.com: “My heart is really broken. I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.”
In a follow-up conversation with an Applebee’s manager, Bell said she was told that the waitress was immediately terminated.
Bell heads a 15-member church and has a separate full-time job, which she declined to describe. She tithes 10 percent of her earnings to the church.
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Comments
I don't agree with automatic
I don't agree with automatic tipping, the price of the service should be included in the meal. I know that you have a different idea in the US, but I like to see costs up front. If tips are expected, and mandatory for parties over eight, then it is a breach of contract not to tip.
However the behaviour of Alois Bell in this matter is disgusting. After writing such a snide remark, she then went on to demand the sacking of everyone who worked there. This is not very "Christian" of someone who claims to be a pastor.
I wonder how Bell would feel if her wages were mostly made up of tipping, her clients routinely refused to tip.
I plan to eat at Applebee's
I plan to eat at Applebee's more than ever and to write to them commending them for their stance. It doesn't matter whether the customer was a Christian, Buddhist, Gemini, Boy Scout, or atheist. She is right. Enough of the shakedown of customers. I'll give what I want and when I want. I am not obligated to give a single dime. If and when you earn it, you will receive it. But otherwise, no.
I honestly don't follow your
I honestly don't follow your logic. It sounds like it's standard policy at Applebees for checks to include suggested gratuity. The waitress didn't write it in herself. It was calculated by the computer. So why are you praising Applebees? Anyway, it's perfectly understandable to leave less or even nothing depending on quality of service, but the pastor's reasoning for doing so does make her sound rude and arrogant.
100% correct...I get sick and
100% correct...I get sick and tired of the crying about how much they make. Nobody forced you to apply at this job and it is not my job to support you. I don't have to pay for good service that your job to give good service I pay the price on the menu for the meal I don't have to give you jack. If the job doesn't pay enough work somewhere else. I have worked my whole life and supported my family on my own i suggest you do the same. Typical excuse making support yourself and take the blame for getting fired, if you hadn't posted you wouldn't have lost your job.
The pastor was tacky to write
The pastor was tacky to write what she wrote and she was truly out of line for asking that this woman and others be fired.
But..
Ms Welch is not blameless in this.
This wasn't her customer. SHE wasn't stiffed, if anyone was. The pastor claims she left a cash tip as did others at the table.
As the article mentioned, another waitress served the group and showed the receipt to Welch. Welch photographed the receipt with her phone and posted it on Reddit without making any attempt to blur the pastor's name. It was pretty obvious where Welch lives by her other Reddit posts, so it likely wasn't difficult for people to determine the name of the pastor. This was definitely over the line for Welch's part of the situation. I think many employers probably would have fired her if a customer complained about such a situation.
~ Cyn, the Cynfully Cynical
Chelsea Welch didn't deserve
Chelsea Welch didn't deserve to be fired, according to the opinion of thousands of posters on Applebee's Facebook page, myself included. Damn right we're angry! Damn right we're going to think twice before having our next meal at Applebee's! Instead of eating at Applebee's let's do something positive for Chelsea Welch.
An indiegogo campaign has been set up for her - "Assist Chelsea Welch." What Chelsea really needs is enough money to pay next month's rent and bills so she can find another job. Together, we can make that happen for her. Even if Applebee's rehired her and paid her for time lost she still only makes about $3/hr. Chances are, she wouldn't want the job back. She's been humiliated.
We show her support online, and that's great! Let's make a real difference in Chelsea's life. Let's stand up for Chelsea and every waiter or waitress whose been stiffed. If everyone chips in a little, it can make a big difference.
Donations to assist Chelsea Welch can be made by going to indiegogo dot com and doing a search for "Assist Chelsea Welch." Please share Chelsea's assistance campaign.
If the best you can do is a dollar, so be it! Every dollar counts!
http://www.indiegogo.com/boycottapplebees/x/185955
SHAME ON YOU "PASTOR"!!! YOUR
SHAME ON YOU "PASTOR"!!! YOUR ACTIONS AND BEHAVIOR ARE RUDE, ARROGANT, SELF-RIGHTEOUS, EGOTISTICAL AND JUST PLAIN WRONG. YOU ARE AN EMBARASSMENT TO THE PROFESSION OF RELIGION AND YOUR SUPERIORS SHOULD HAVE YOU FIRED BECAUSE YOU WERE ACTING IN THE CAPACITY OF BEING A "PASTOR" THEN THE CHURCH HAS EVERY RIGHT PROVIDING SANCTIONS/CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR BEHAVIOR!! THIS IS NOT GODLY BEHAVIOR AND GOD WOULD NEVER CONDONE THIS KIND OF TREATMENT OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING! YOU ARE A DISGGRACE TO YOUR CHURCH, YOUR CONGREGATION, AND TO THE HUMAN RACE. YOU SHOULD GIVE THAT WAITRESS HER TIP, ISSUE A PUBLIC APOLOGY AND BEG APPLEBEES TO GIVE HER JOB - HER LIVELIHOOD- BACK TO HER! SHE SHOULD SUE APPLEBEES FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION! APPLEBEES MAY HAVE KEPT YOU AS A CUSTOMER YOU WITCH, BUT THEY HAVE LOST ME AND MY FAMILY MEMBERS AS CUSTOMERS AND I AM SURE HUNDREDS OF OTHERS WILL CHOOSE NOT TO EAT IN A PLACE THAT ALLOWS OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR LIKE YOURS AND FIRES A WAITRESS WHO DID THE RIGHT THING. SHAME ON YOU "PASTOR" AND SHAME ON YOU APPLEBEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No surprise. Applebee's has
No surprise. Applebee's has repeatedly demonstrated that they neither respect nor value their non-salaried employees.
Meanwhile, another sanctimonious Christian cowardly uses religion as a vehicle to validate intolerance ... or hatred ... or in this case, parsimony.
"Let us pause now for a moment of SCIENCE"
All the support I see here
All the support I see here for Ms. Welch has almost restored my faith in humanity. Almost. But commenting here isn't enough. Write to Applebee's. Drop in on your neighborhood Applebees and tell the manager why you will never again set foot in that restaurant. Organize pickets on the public sidewalks outside the place, all across the country. And someone please find out the identity of the "pastor" who acted in so unChristian a way, contact his or her superiors, and demand that the PASTOR be fired, just as she demanded that the entire staff of Applebees be fired. DOn't just sit idly at your computer. Get out and make a difference. Let the business owners know that they are NOTHING without their employees. What good is a customer with no cooks or servers?
Before I get too far into this next bit, let me make clear that I am NOT Christian. I cannot accept what the church calls Christianity, though I do believe that there was a man called Jesus who had some really good ideas. That said, nobody here is doing anyone any good bashing Christianity. I know a few Christians who really do follow Christ's teachings -- non-judgemental, loving, gentle people who act as Jesus taught, not as the churches teach. So please, don't bash the message. Bash the messengers over the past two thousand years.