INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

LOL For A Tip? Seriously? Stiffed Waitress Isn’t Taking It

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 12:54 PST, Aug 24, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgSGXyC7AO0

LOL for a tip? I wish I was joking, but alas, it’s true. E! Online reports that’s precisely what Jess Jones, got for her troubles last Monday night. The waitress at the iconic D’Jais Bar & Grill in Belmar, New Jersey didn’t take the blatant insult sitting down, either. She took it to social media.

Jess posted about her LOL for a tip ordeal on Facebook the day after she was so rudely disrespected.

“Last night, I was stunned by this receipt that was left for me by a party of eight people. I would have preferred a ‘$0’ tip than a ‘LOL’ tip, but as a waitress, bad tips and harsh notes are all part of the job. Even though they did wait an hour to eat, they remained satisfied with filled drinks and proper notice that the kitchen was a bit busier than normal. I’ve worked in the service industry for five years and I take pride in providing great service to my customers.”

Her post quickly went viral, with people coming not just to her defense but to the defense of servers all over the nation. The LOL for a tip tweets are still flying.

The details of the tip-less meal experience are admittedly one-sided. That being said, according to Asbury Park Press and Jess herself, there was nothing about the meal that should have led to such unreasonable treatment from her customers. She recounts that it was a busy night, and that the large party of eight people did wait an hour for their food. She also said she warned the large group in advance about the wait. Other than the delay in the kitchen, Jess maintains that the customers were well served.

Their bill totaled $112 and they calculated that a tip of LOL was all their harried server had earned.

It’s important to remember that in most states, the wait staff makes next to nothing out of their employer’s pocket. In New Jersey, wait staff wages are a meager $2.50 per hour. Employees depend on their tips to make ends meet. Getting an LOL for a tip doesn’t pay the bills. Some would say it’s as insulting as a middle finger.

The fallout from this insult-gone-viral has sparked some serious internet debate about tipping, too. I mean, shouldn’t customers be able to refuse to tip for what they believe to be poor service? It’s not illegal or theft to be a bad tipper. Should consumers be shouldering the burden of paying servers’ salaries while businesses only pay out a couple bucks per hour to their employees? If you feel as though it’s warranted, shouldn’t you feel free to leave an LOL for a tip? Is it really worse than just leaving a couple of pennies?

Not everyone thinks the LOL tipsters were out of line.

No matter your thoughts on tipping, in general, I think we can all agree there’s no need to be blatantly rude to someone who’s just doing their job. If you don’t want to leave a tip, you certainly don’t have to. You also don’t have to add insult to injury by being snarky, rude or demeaning to your server. In fact, in the digital age, if you leave LOL for a tip, you might just find yourself blasted all over the media.

You might even find that you’re the reason so many restaurants automatically add a tip to the bills of large groups. Could this practice be in place at D’Jais Bar & Grill’s in the near future?

At the end of the day, as her tip suggested, Jess seems to have gotten the last LOL.

[Image Credit Tim Boyle/Getty Images]

Share this article: LOL For A Tip? Seriously? Stiffed Waitress Isn’t Taking It
new jersey
More from Inquisitr