Many of us who have worked jobs in the catering industry will have horror stories to tell about rude customers – but one couple have topped the list of awful patrons after they left no tip for their waiter because of his sexuality.
The couple, who were dining in a restaurant in Wisconsin, US, even went so far as to explain why they left the waiter - who did not wish to be identified - no tip with an awful message written on the receipt of their $143 (£104) bill.
They wrote: “Service was good, but we don’t tip sinful homosexuals.”
The incident caught the attention of Eric Salzwedel, the co-founder of local non-profit group Do Good Wisconsin, who immediately posted pictures of the receipt on the group’s Facebook page to rally support for the waiter.
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He posted: “This came across my table this morning and upsets me greatly! This just happened here in Madison at a local restaurant. Even though I probably will not know who wrote this and instead of writing a lot more about this person, here is what I want to do:
“I plan to go back into the restaurant, request this server and show them that this community and so many others do LOVE them with the biggest tip they have ever received! BUT I NEED YOUR HELP!
“100% of anything sent will be given to the server! We know unfortunately this money won't change some people's behaviours, but hopefully it will show the amount of love there is for this server!”
And after starting a “Venmo Challenge” for the waiter, Do Good Wisconsin managed to raise a huge $4,500 (£3,300) through 250 individual donations.
Eric then travelled to the restaurant to hand the waiter the cash, and after sitting down for a meal, he posted proof with his own receipt that showed a $4,500 tip on top of his $45.10 bill.
The charitable man has previously spoken about the motivation behind his charity, as he told local news station NBC15: “There’s a lot of opportunities every single day we wake up and we go out that we can either make a positive difference in the lives of people we run into or we can make a negative impact on people we run into every day.”
