Man Stiffs Waitress Writing, “We Only Tip Citizens”

A man stiffed a waitress on her tip writing, “We only tip citizens.”  The waitress, 18-year old Sadie Karina Elledge, was born in the United States and is a natural-born citizen.

These types of stories disappoint me.  This one especially disappointed me because this story took place in the state I live in.

According to the Patch:

HARRISONBURG, VA — A nasty individual in Harrisonburg not only stiffed a young waitress but also wrote a note on the receipt falsely suggesting that she was in the country illegally.

“We only tip citizens,” the tip line reads on the receipt. The waitress was 18-year-old Sadie Karina Elledge, who was born in America and is of Honduran and Mexican descent, according to The Washington Post.

Her grandfather was upset by what happened, and posted the note to Facebook.

The customer was furious and returned to the restaurant to complain about it.  The restaurant responded by posting a statement in support of the waitress.

As a former restaurant worker, I usually disagree with the decision to post a bad tip online.  People technically have the right to tip whatever they want, and I never know the whole story behind the tip.  (And there’s been situations where it turns out the server lied about the poor tip).

But I think this specific customer opened himself up to criticism when he wrote that note.  The story is more about his specific social commentary than the lack of tip.

And the story is credible since the customer expressed anger at his note being posted, not anger at being misrepresented.

According to the comments threads on both of these posts, the server and her grandfather both kept the restaurant’s name out of it.  The restaurant decided to engage on their own and encouraged the server to share where she worked.

If you are interested in armchair handwriting analysis, check out the grandfather’s facebook post for a discussion over whether the signer of the check also wrote the note.

Edit because this is coming up on Twitter:  the consensus end up being there was a couple, and they assumed one wrote and one signed.

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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11 comments

  1. is it just me or is handwriting not even close to being similar? Seems odd

  2. This “you-won’t-believe-what-someone-wrote-on-their-restaurant-receipt” meme has gotten a little tired–and it’s so very easy to fake, anyway.

  3. Guess we know clearly who this couple will vote for president later this year~

  4. This blog is SUPPOSED to be about travel, deals, etc. and NOT about libtard political garbage. I think I’ll stick to apolitical blogs without an agenda from now on.

    It was entirely wrong for a private communication between a patron (who paid his entire check) and a waitress to be posted publicly without permission.

  5. But regardless of who the message, the guest didn’t write in a tip anyway. So whether or not he/she wrote the message, this person stiffed the waitress. Shameful.

    • Maybe she left a cash tip but the server didn’t think it was enough ………… Just a thought as the signature and the annotation are clearly not the same handwriting.

  6. Hi Ryan

    The two are different – here is a quote in relation to the story

    “”The way I understand it, the woman who signed the receipt is at the restaurant this very second with the police,” he told Huffington Post. “She’s angry and the police are there. Apparently, she just signed the receipt. She didn’t write the comment.”

  7. As much as I disagree with the insulting nature of the message scribbled on the receipt, I disagree equally with making this type of information public, ie, publishing on social media.

    This type of behavior, on the part of service staff, is comparable to shaming a customer/client into giving a tip. There is a possibility of it being carried too far–and at what degree does it end? The worker doesn’t like my measly 15%—so now I am shamed into tipping 18, or 20%?

    Further, this intrudes on my privacy as a consumer.

    I’ve worked service jobs before: waitressing, bartending, cleaning hotel rooms. There are plenty of a*holes out there, no doubt about it. But I’ve always maintained the attitude that the end of the day, those
    same a*holes have to look in the mirror and face themselves and see the miserable human beings that they are.

  8. Relevance to travel/points? I suppose telegraphing your own political affiliation in an election year could result in more affiliate link usage.

  9. How dare you broadcast your political affiliation with human decency, Jeanne!

    -Signed
    Bigoted on the Internet

    Keep my email address and real name private, ok?

  10. I think this blog is really supposed to be about what Jeanne wants it to be. She regularly posts about the trials and tribulations facing those in the service industry. Nothing new.

    And to those commenting that Jeanne took a liberal bent on this, you are showing your true colors. Nowhere in the article does she point to a political party/person as being responsible for this type of behavior. It was you critics that jumped on that and showed exactly who is responsible. And that’s just my opinion. Again Jeanne hasn’t weighed in at all on this point.

    She’s got a successful blog, and likely not concerned with you haters. In fact, the comments increase only serves to up her bottom line!

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