An Applebee’s waitress who posted a receipt on Reddit showing a note from a pastor complaining about the automatic suggested gratuity has reportedly been fired. After the pastor complained to her manager, no less. Chelsea Welch, the waitress, tells Yahoo News that the pastor (since identified as Alois Bell) told Welch’s manager that the ensuing firestorm “ruined” her reputation. “I give God 10%,” the pastor 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 … on a bill not even totaling $35. Still, the pastor was apparently not a fan. Welch, who snapped a photo of the bill and uploaded to Reddit, defended her right to post the receipt online, along with how insulted she felt by it. “I thought the note was insulting, but also comical,” she told the Consumerist about her decision. “And I thought other users would find it entertaining.” Bell, a pastor at Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries Church, was not amused when word got around, and called Welch’s manager to complain. “[It was] a lapse in my character and judgment,” Bell said, noting that her signature ID’d her to a friend in St. Louis, who said, “it’s all over Yahoo. You went viral!” “My heart is really broken. I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.” Didn’t stop her from bringing up the issue to her server’s employer, of course. A spokesman for Applebee’s said it apologized for violating Bell’s “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, still in shock from her dismissal. Welch also isn’t buying Bell’s “embarrassment” over the note she wrote. “If a person wrote this, obviously they wanted it seen ,” she said. “I’ve been stiffed on tips before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Big Man used as reasoning.” What do you think? Is Bell being sincere? And should Welch have been fired?
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Applebee’s Waitress: FIRED For Posting Pastor’s Receipt on Reddit!
