Yahoo Finance Backlash after restaurant 'refuses to hand $2700 tip to waitress'
A man’s very generous tip for a restaurant waitress sparked a public stoush between her and her employer.
Emily Bauer had been working at Red Hook Seafood and Bar in San Antonio, in the US state of Texas, for about two weeks when a customer tipped her US$2000 (A$2700).
Earlier this week, Ms Bauer told KENS5 she planned on spending the money on her two kids.
She initially told the US news station the restaurant wasn’t able to process a tip that big, nor were they able to give it to her in instalments and the system kept saying “invalid” when trying to put through the amount.
Ms Bauer spoke out in hope of reaching out to the man to thank him for his generosity.
The man apparently contacted the store after leaving the tip and said he was disappointed Ms Bauer could not take the money.
“Even though I can’t receive it, thank you. Thank you for having such a big heart. This world is filled with messed up people. It’s like, how did he know I needed that?” Ms Bauer said.
Man’s $2000 tip made on fraudulent card
Once the story emerged, Red Hook Seafood and Bar responded to the article on Facebook to dispute what was reported.
“Unfortunately KENS5 did not tell the entire story, nor did Emily,” Red Hook Seafood said.
“The tip was tried multiple times by management, by Emily, by the owner and would not post... it was INVALID.
“The gentleman called and was told the tip would not take, we asked him to come back to the restaurant to pay Emily in cash or check. He said ‘ok’ and hung up but he did mention he had a lot of money & owned 3 restaurants in San Antonio. Unfortunately he has not come by the restaurant.”
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The restaurant added management encouraged Ms Bauer to take the story to the press, but said she left parts out.
KENS5 did say in their initial article the news site had reached out to the restaurant for comment.
In response to Red Hook Seafood’s comment, Ms Bauer said she did not lie, nor did she leave anything out.
“I told them everything from start to end,” Ms Bauer said.
“I did exactly what I said I was going to do, I’m trying to draw attention to the man that left it, am I not?”
Restaurant gives waitress ‘Christmas gift’
Following the public back-and-forth, the restaurant has paid out Ms Bauer and she has publicly defended Red Hook Seafood and Bar after people left the establishment negative reviews.
The restaurant shared a screenshot of a post Ms Bauer made on her Facebook, explaining she now has proof the man’s credit card was fraudulent and the restaurant would give her US$2,069 (AU$2,789) as a Christmas gift, the full amount of the tip and what the man’s bill was.
“The fact that the owner of my job is willing to give it to me, even though it wasn’t his mess-up, I can’t thank him enough for that,” Ms Bauer told KENS5.
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