Pastor Leaves Snide Remark on Dining Receipt, Apologizes After Server Gets Fired for Posting It Online


 
 01 Feb 2013   News, WTF

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We here at Daily of the Day are no strangers to terrible tipping. I’ve been working in the service industry since I was 16 years old (so, 13 years now? GOOD GOD, I AM OLD) and despite the tipping culture here in the US, have received my fair share of terrible gratuities (some deserved, some undeserved).

However, I’ve never in my life seen something like this before, where a pastor used her tithe as a reasoning not to tip a server. After dining at a local Applebee’s, Pastor Alois Bell of St. Louis, Missouri left this note for her server after her large party was charged the 18% gratuity required (and written in Applebee’s menu), saying that she gives 10% to God, so why should the server get 18% (because God totally pays for rent, you guys)? A fellow server who saw the tip took a picture of it and posted it to Reddit, where the receipt reached the front page. Other news outlets picked up the story and, now, Pastor Bell is apologizing for her remarks.

Bell has since said that her remarks were a “lapse in my character and judgment” and that her “heart is really broken…I’ve brought embarrassment to my church and ministry.” Of course, this was only after she called the Applebee’s to complain and got the server who posted the original picture fired. Bell claims that despite scratching out the 18% gratuity, she left $6 in cash and only called to complain because the charge still showed up on her credit card (something that hasn’t been confirmed by the server or Applebee’s yet), but I believe that about as much as I believe narwhals are the pre-evolutionary form of the unicorn.

So, let’s just recap this for you. Pastor doesn’t want to tip because she tithes, calls the restaurant and gets an employee fired. Just doing God’s work, right Pastor Bell? Bad form. Bad, bad form.

In other news, awesome Redditor BlueNurseRedState decided to counter Pastor Bell’s bad form with some good for (and karma) of their own by going to Applebee’s and leaving this gem:

8gl8YdB

via thesmokinggun, reddit

 



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  • TruuuV

    The only tithe I know of is the blood tithe and I’m relatively positive they don’t do that in churches…. Anyone able to elaborate?

    • Conspiracy Einstein

      The tithe comes from Levitical law. There were three types of tithe (off the top of my head, I can’t remember the kind). The main tithe basis comes from the 10 percent that the farmers would give. Instead of pulling all of their crops to sell, they would take 10% of that that they harvested and gave it to God (in different forms … many gave that food to the priests and rabbis). Nowadays, people take 10% off of their paycheck (pre tax) and give that to the church. That’s the tithe (which means “tenth”).

      • TruuuV

        Ahh, well now I know. Thanks. *Shmileh face*

        • Conspiracy Einstein

          Sure thing!

  • Mermaiden

    Pastor Bell was in the wrong. She is also guilty of eating at a horrid chain………WHY NOT SUPPORT a small business establishment?

  • WaldoSandiego

    This is not all Christians. I hate seeing things like this.

    • WaldoSandiego

      And I apologize on behalf of cheapskate Christians.

      • http://dailyoftheday.com/ Madame McThunder

        I like you.

    • RogueRetlaw

      As someone who is pursuing a career in the ministry, I’d like to see this Pastor removed from her post. She is not the leader her congregation needs.

  • ilovellamas

    I still think it’s absurd when people say they’re giving their money to god. I’m sorry, but you’re not giving anything to god. God has no use for money. You are giving money to pay the salaries of the staff of the church. You are paying for their service.

    Anyway, this lady is an asshole and should lose her job as a pastor. I don’t understand what behooves a person to post things like this online, as I think it’s inappropriate and immature; however, I hope this pastor’s congregation see this and she loses some followers. It’s unlikely, since if they go to her church, they probably agree with her actions. People like this make me so sad :-/

    • CalGore

      Youre 2nd paragraph is a little confusing to me. You make it sound like the pastor is the one who posted it?

      • ilovellamas

        How did I make it sound like the pastor posted it? :-S

        • CalGore

          “Anyway, this lady is an asshole and should lose her job as a pastor. I
          don’t understand what behooves a person to post things like this online”

          Just sounded odd when i first read it i guess.

          And i still agree with Anselm. I dont think someone should lose their livelihood over something as stupid as this. But i definitely agree with you that her congregation should think twice about going back to listen to her. I just dont think either should have lost their jobs over something as silly as this. And i dont think hypocrisy is a good reason to fire someone. Do you agree with all these stories we’ve heard the past couple years of teachers being fired once its found out that they were porn stars?

          Also i find your “It’s unlikely, since if they go to her church, they probably agree with her actions.” to be true. And also funny. Because when i brought up obamas 20 year attendance at wrights church on tdw the response i got was “well people dont pay attention in church anyways, he probably just sat and zoned out for 20 years”

          edit: also i hate the automatic tip…especially 18%.. holy shit. I usually leave 18-20% tip depending on the change i have in pocket(which is so much because i keep everything that i have been on the search for a sweet change holder) but there will always be times when you get terrible service and i wouldnt wanna be giving them an extra 10 bucks for it.

    • Anselm

      People are “fire the person” crazy lately. The waitress should not have been fired for breaking the rules; nor should the pastor be fired for being a bit of jerk. Scolded, reprimanded at most–not lost one’s employment or career. Don’t over react.

      • ilovellamas

        A pastor’s job is supposedly to teach people to be good. I didn’t say she should be *fired*, but that she should lose her job – as in, her congregation should find someone who actually lives the way they’re supposed to be teaching to others. This to me is as dishonest as anti-smoking campaigners who throw around statistics and try to convince people not to smoke, but actually smoke when they’re not working. I don’t think firing is the right answer, but these people should not have these jobs.

      • cdn_bakun

        How about you give me your credit card information and I post it online? Sound reasonable? It shouldn’t. Yeah, people lose their jobs for that kind of crap and they should every time.

        • Ruminum

          Assuming that the image on Reddit is the image that was posted originally, it does not contain the pastor’s signature, or her name, and it doesn’t contain any string of numbers from her card. There is nothing there that anyone could use to commit fraud.

          • CalGore

            I wonder how her name and place of residence came out then?

          • cdn_bakun

            “Assuming that”, indeed. Reddit is always the bastion of secure identity control. Never a breach of protocol there, nossir.

            • Ruminum

              Uh, that wasn’t what I was implying. I was saying that if you go to Reddit, the photo there doesn’t include any of her identifying information, and that therefore, if you’re basing it on that, there’s no security issue. However (and that’s what “assuming” implies) if it was changed later from a more exposed image, then that would be a problem.

  • http://www.fwfr.com/user/?UID=5171 Sludge

    “And what am I supposed to do with this currency?”

    – God

    • http://twitter.com/Idontgetyou Wait, what?

      Redistribute it to the people who pray for it, no doubt. Damn socialists.

  • Bling-Nye, the Daft Punk guy

    Jesus saves. Because he doesn’t waste money on tips. Bitches.

    • http://twitter.com/Sabocat Sabocat

      He shoots.
      Jesus makes the save.
      The crowd goes wild.

      • JeremiahCatclaw

        Jesus saves. Everyone else takes full damage.

        • Sigmund_Jung

          Jesus saves. And makes backups.

          • https://twitter.com/#!/asirenblue lolwow

            Jesus saves, and now YOU CAN TOO!!!

            SHOP AT THE ONE DOLLAR STORE TODAY! WE SELL THINGS AT LEAST 50 CENTS CHEAPER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE SO YOU CAN AFFORD A THIRD THING FOR EVERY TWO YOU BUY!

          • Crunchy Munchies

            Jesus saves souls
            and redeems them for cash and other valuable prizes.

          • lottesometimes

            Jesus saves. Don’t remove the memory card.

        • Bling-Nye, the Daft Punk guy

          CRIT!

          All the upvotes to you good sir.

  • Missin’ Mississippi

    Is he Mormon….they take 10% of your earnings.

    • Bling-Nye, the Daft Punk guy

      No, they don’t allow women in the ministry. It challenges the whole patriarchal thing they have going…

      • Missin’ Mississippi

        They’re not allowed in the ministry, but I’m pretty sure any income anyone makes, they have to give 10% of it to the church. Maybe things have changed. Either way this was asinine.

        • Bling-Nye, the Daft Punk guy

          Well, now I’m really curious as to what you replied with that resulted in the ninja editing…
          :)

          • Missin’ Mississippi

            I just said, I thought this was a Mormon and that they require 10 percent of all wages from their members…..something like that. She wasn’t Mormon so I erased it. I hate that religion…I gotta a whooping from my mom when she forced me to get baptized into this church! Then I had to give them 10 % of my wages from a part time job…..and we were dirt poor! She finally got wise! So this idiot uses that as a reason not to tip reminded me of that.

            • Bling-Nye, the Daft Punk guy

              I can sympathize. My extended family on both sides are Mormon, but my immediate family is not. I’ve gone 20+ years hearing all about the church and how great it is… Fortunately though I wasn’t brainwashed baptized til I was old enough to choose for myself. And I chose not to, given all I’d seen, learned and witnessed.

              • Missin’ Mississippi

                We didnt have that much time invested..the money thing was an issue and even bigger than that was the no caffein! My mom couldn’t live without coffee. We begged to be expelled, they had a ‘trial’ and removed our names.

  • L_Ron_Hoover

    How many times are you going to post receipt photos with the same story? Either someone rich or someone religious pissed some waiter/waitress off.

    • Luna93

      Oh dear Ronnie. *pets*

    • dailyoftheday

      How many times are you going to not skip over stories you have no interest in?

      Because that’s how many times I plan on posting them. :)

      -N

      • L_Ron_Hoover

        I have complimented you a lot on what you post in the past. I get critical when the article serves no purpose. I’m sorry I don’t always kiss your ass for what you post, I’ll keep that in mind for future posting.

        • Ruminum

          Yes, and how many more times are they going to post articles where a politician says something or does something dumb or outrageous and people react, because I’m so tired of those repetitive stories.

          Or those ones where some animal is cute. It’s redundant. I’ve already seen one cute animal before3, jeez.

          • L_Ron_Hoover

            I think an article like a receipt photo is A LOT more specific than news or cute animals.

            Dick.

            • Ruminum

              Well for the record, I’ve never seen an article posted here about a photographed receipt with religious-based notes. But by all means, continue to apply arbitrary utilitarian criticism followed by pious defensiveness to your absolutely free blog content experience.

              Jane.

              • L_Ron_Hoover

                I just found 2 others by typing in “tip.”
                This one is from less than a month ago: http://dailyoftheday.com/when-1ers-throw-hissy-fits/

                This one is from September: http://dailyoftheday.com/no-this-is-not-an-okay-tip-to-leave/

                Just take 2 seconds to do a little background check, asshole ;)

                • Ruminum

                  That’s the thing: I don’t think many people “background check” blogs they’re interested in reading for previous instances of similar content. “Oh! This free blog mentioned a story about tipping on reddit and then another one about tipping on reddit. Not interested.”

                  But you’re right. Like you, my entire day has been ruined because this free blog featured two stories out of hundreds in the space of 6 months about a waiter getting a religiously-motivated note with the check. And don’t even get me STARTED on the story about how a guy’s Conservative politics against Obama made him stiff a waiter.

                  GODDAMNIT, DOTD. DON’T YOU KNOW HOOVER AND I ARE TOO BUSY TO READ ABOUT QUASI-SIMILAR YET SEPARATE INTERNET PHENOMENA MORE THAN ONCE???

                  I’m sure reddit would also love to hear your concerns about their redundant content, since both stories originated there. I’m sure they’ll all be more receptive to your concerns there.

                  As a parting note, it’d save you 30 seconds spent writing a message about how butthurt you are that noner didn’t bend over backwards to make you feel better, by realizing that this content isn’t tailor suited to you or the specifics of what you do or don’t want. And instead of whining and being entitled about how this one story was so redundant in your life (one you could have easily just skipped over, btw), you could instead recognize that the content is produced for free for the entertainment of all of its readers (including those who joined after you), shrug your shoulders and leave it at that. But sure, I’m the asshole.

                  • L_Ron_Hoover

                    Too long didn’t bother reading but I skimmed some of it.

                    I think you’re being very dramatic about this. I made a critique about their posting and no, this post has no affect on me. Just because this blog is free doesn’t mean they don’t deserve feedback or are free of criticism.

                    The fact that you were wrong and still refuse to drop something that you started with me is obviously why you are so mad and spent the time to write all that. Anyways, I’m glad you see I was right :)

  • Luna93

    I usually give more than 15% when I’m eating out at a restaurant and I pay tithe. Really, it isn’t your money, if you’re going from that angle. If you’ve got a considerable amount of cash, spread it around to people who don’t have much.

  • cdn_bakun

    So you realize the 18% was ALREADY ADDED ON to her bill, right? She paid the 18% on her credit card. She put 0 for the additional tip. She stiffed no one.

    And her waitress didn’t get fired; the one who thought she should post it to the internet got fired after she posted it online. Do YOU want YOUR credit card receipts posted online? She SHOULD get fired!!

    And I think it’s a fair question: why the automatic 18%? Who decides that you’re obligated to pay an extra 18%, no matter the service quality, at an Applebee’s?!?! This wasn’t some fancy restaurant; it was five adults and five kids at a family restaurant. To me, a mandatory 18% is over the top.

    • CalGore

      agreed all the way

    • Ruminum

      You realize that the waitress served a party of 20 people and that the pastor asked that the bills be separated? (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/31/i-give-god-10-tip-story-takes-intersting-twister-pastor-revealed-and-the-waitress-has-been-fired/) And that it’s pretty standard that parties of 5 or more people includes an automatic gratuity, of which 18% is also pretty standard as the automatic gratuity?

      Given that Pastor Bell chose to eat at the restaurant and has probably eaten at restaurants in parties of 5 or more before and was therefore likely to have experienced having an automatic gratuity added to her bill, she probably would have known full well that choosing to eat at a restaurant with 20 people in her party would result in her having an automatic 18% gratuity added to her bill. (Not to mention that it’s usually spelled out somewhere on the menu.) So basically, she went to a restaurant knowing what she’d have to pay and chose to be an asshole about it.

      No sympathy here.

      • cdn_bakun

        Your link doesn’t work and the information you’re posting is different than what was stated on the Smoking Gun story linked above. Parties of five or more with kids now trigger automatic gratuities? Not anywhere I’ve lived and few places I’ve travelled.

        The linked story says her church members (all 15 of them?) eat there weekly so obviously she shouldn’t be surprised at the gratuity addition if it was standard practice at that establishment but I still think it’s lame that her bill of $34 triggers the 18% and the other dude’s bill of $37 doesn’t.

        • Ruminum

          Remove the closing parenthesis from the link.

          http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/31/i-give-god-10-tip-story-takes-intersting-twister-pastor-revealed-and-the-waitress-has-been-fired/

          And it’s not different, it elaborates on details not specified at all in the Smoking Gun article. She ate in a party of 20 people, and it is indeed standard practice for parties of 5 (or 6) or more to be issued a standard gratuity. It comes from the fact that a single waiter needs to take on and coordinate the orders and needs of more people than in a typical dining situation, which most restaurants count as 5 or more. It’s even more common at places that get regular service, as it also means that it’s one less (or in this case, probably two or three less) tables the waiter gets to serve to make their money.

          That’s why it’s not about the amount of money. The individual in the Reddit article has stated that she/he went out to eat at the restaurant, which is likely as a party of one. Being in a party of one would not result in an automatic gratuity, since the party size is manageable. The pastor’s bill received the automatic gratuity because she was in a large party.

          In fact, I’m shocked you’ve somehow never encountered this, because it’s fairly standard practice where I lived in the Midwest and the South all my life. I usually find it a good thing, particularly because I usually tip 20% anyway.

          • CalGore

            Not trying to argue because you do bring up a good point with the coordinating. But you say the automatic 18% is tacked on when they are doing large tables because they miss out on other tables. So if they had normal party sizes of 5 and were doing 3 or 4 tables, wouldnt it be even more difficult serving those 20 people spread across 4 different tables rather than at a single table?

            Tbh ive never encountered it either(in nc) except for one time out of the country. And the service was absolutely terrible, so getting charged automatically for a high tip was just great.

          • cdn_bakun

            Your link doubles the size of the party. That’s different, not elaboration.

            She’d eaten there regularly so this 18% shouldn’t have been a surprise because her church eats there as a GROUP regularly so I’m not really sure what that means: 1) they don’t usually get that charge; 2) she was feeling particularly broke that day and didn’t want to max out the tip; 3) service was lousy; or 4) she intended to tip in cash and not via the auto-gratuity.

            She herself specifies #4 and names an amount worth about 17%. I suspect #1 & #2 also played into her decision to write that note.

            I understand the difficulties in coordinating wait service for larger groups: my wife manages a convention centre and the standard automatic gratuity on an event there is maxed out at 15% under BC law. These gratuities are spread out between servers, cooks, janitors, busboys, etc. However, the restaurant in the same complex does NOT have auto tipping, so it’s not mandatory here by any stretch of the imagination.

            I’ve spent my life on the West Coast and auto-tipping is not prevalent.

            • CalGore

              cdn…where abouts in BC are you?(if you dont mind me asking)

              • cdn_bakun

                North Coast. Prince Rupert. 100 miles from the nearest city…..one road in, one road out.
                The nearest town is actually Ketchikan, AK, 5 hours away by ferry.

            • Ruminum

              Actually, in my first response, I was going to ask if you were American, because auto-tipping is not something I’ve encountered in Canada.

              In the US, auto-tipping for large parties is pretty standard. There is no way the pastor and her group could have frequented Applebee’s with a party over 8 that many times and never been auto-tipped. As the waitress said, it’s an automatic calculation the computer does, not something she chooses or does not choose to add. I can see why you might find it weird, but that’s the name of the game here when you dine out with large groups at certain restaurants in the US.

              And even if she did leave a cash tip, the line she left was shitty to someone who works at less than minimum wage and relies on tips to make the job worthwhile. And if she was feeling particularly broke, when she dropped at least $20 on a meal, then she should have either ordered less to account for the tip or not gone out to eat at all. Again, there is no way this 18% tip could have surprised her. She’s a grown adult, and she knows that tipping is a clear part of the deal when you go out to eat.

              And that’s why the waitress says she posted the receipt: To highlight the shitty remark she left. She was being cheap and rude.

  • DanielCopeland

    The tithe is 10% of income. The tip is 18% of the bill’s total. I understand that pastors aren’t required to actually know anything other than whatever interpretation of the Bible they choose to believe, but can this lady not handle basic math?

  • So

    Well, that pastor wanted the ALL staff fired. And that makes things even worse.

    See: http://gawker.com/5980558/pastor-who-left-sanctimonious-tip-gets-waitress-fired-from-applebees-claims-her-reputation-was-ruined

    “The pastor called it a “lapse in my character and judgment” that “has been blown out of proportion.” Somewhat an ironic statement coming from someone who ordered Applebee’s to fire everyone who came into contact with the receipt.”