So…I take it a href=http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/seattle-waitress-exposes-rude-tipper-online-nabs-wrong-guy/youve heard/a:
blockquoteNever leave a waitress scorned.
Beware of the dangers associated with having a common name in the Internet age.
Those two lessons were learned the hard way by all parties involved in “tippergate,” the Seattle tipping scandal that sparked a social media-fueled manhunt, and an apology.
It all began Friday night when a male customer at the city’s Bimbo’s Cantina restaurant left waitress Victoria Liss no tip, just this insult directly below the tip line on his credit-card receipt:
“P.S. You could stand to loose (sic) a few pounds.”
Angry and armed with the receipt as evidence, Liss began a virtual manhunt, posting a picture of the receipt, with the man’s name, Andrew Meyer, clearly visible, on her Facebook page.
With that, the search was underway for the man Liss called “yuppie scum.” Comments poured in and soon the photo and Facebook page of one “Andrew Meyer” were tracked down and posted and reposted through social media and on news sites.
Seattle area bars even posted photos of the man, like the “Wanted” posters of old.
One small problem. The angry mob marshaled by Liss had nabbed their wrong Andrew Meyer.
The Andrew Meyer in the photos, and now at the end of countless angry emails and posts, was, in fact, an Andrew Meyer living innocently in Texas, not Seattle.
By Tuesday, Liss’s angry posts seeking revenge were replaced with remorseful words seeking forgiveness.
“So sorry to the wrong guy, everyone please just drop it?” she wrote Tuesday.
“Honestly I have been hiding in bed with the covers over my head for 2 days so upset for the Wrong Andrew Meyers getting hate mail. I still feel so sick over it,” Liss followed up with on Wednesday.
“Beyond sorry, believe you me, just tried to make a point about the (expletive) way food service staff are treated. Threw the wrong guy under the bus,” she added.
While the real Andrew Meyer of “tippergate” fame has yet to be identified, or come forward, another Andrew Meyer, from California, stepped in to save the day for all the Andrew Meyers of the world.
This Andrew Meyer sent Liss a 100 percent tip for the Seattle Andrew Meyer’s Bimbo’s Cantina bill, which was $28.98.
“My ‘name’ can’t be shamed anymore,” he wrote Liss./blockquote
Personally, I intend to file this under rude and disgraceful. I spent a good chunk of my college years waiting tables in both franchise and fine dining establishments and even though Ive had horrible experiences – shoutout to the confederate-flag wearing racists who were unbelievably rude to me during their stay and left me a nickel and a penny CASH on a credit card-paid $90 bill – Ive never had anything as crazy as this.
a href=https://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/abc_gma_receipt_ll_111013_wblog.jpgimg src=https://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/abc_gma_receipt_ll_111013_wblog.jpg alt= title=abc_gma_receipt_ll_111013_wblog width=478 height=269 class=aligncenter size-full wp-image-20865 //a
Was she a bit cruel for releasing all this to the public? Perhaps a bit unprofessional? Or was it justified because he was a TOTAL jerk? The Today Show coverage tells more of the story:
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I mean, social media is making it hard out here for jerks to be jerks… I have to wonder: is that such a bad thing? What do you think?
27 comments
Wow! That is crazy! I can’t believe the other guy paid the tip. She should have to give more than an apology for people posting that guy’s pic everywhere.
Weird.
What the article doesn’t mention is the server’s performance. Although he was certainly callous for making a comment that had nothing to do with her service, I’ve had some truly terrible servers who I have left little to no tip for. A tip is not deserved, it’s earned which someone should understand going into the job.
Let me be clear: there is a giant difference between leaving no tip and leaving a disrespectful comment in lieu of a tip. LOL Come on.
ITA Erika. If the service was bad then not leaving a tip says enough. Or even asking to speak to the manager if it was horrible. However commenting on the appearance of your server is no way to address poor service. And where to people get off feeling like they have the right to tell others how they should look? IMO society is getting a bit out of hand with its constant critiques and disrepectful comments. This is real life not the comment section of a gossip blog. (yes I realize the irony)
I agree. And even if the lady did not provide the best service; in my opinion, the customers had no right to leave that rude message to her. Yesterday, I went to a restaurant where the waiter was not the best (he wasn’t the worst but hey) and we didn’t leave him a tip. That’s all – nothing more. I’m sorry this lady had to be discriminated like that.
I agree! I’m would love to know how her service to this person was! This was very unprofessional and if it were my restaurant I would fire her for putting a customer’s information out. If she was that determined to find this guy to give him a piece of her mind she should have did this on her own and made sure she had the right guy. When reading this article all I can think is “poor wrong guy” instead of poor Victoria.
Regardless of bad service, and rude comments, going on a tirade to out an individual for their behavior can end in innocent people getting hurt, as this instance demonstrated. I sympathize with her, and the guy who wrote the comment is a jerk. But life is full of jerks and she needs to find a more mature route in dealing with these jerks.
I think the comment was, indeed, rude and hurtful, however, I don’t think she should have done a nationwide search to find the guy. You said it right. People are going to be jerks and we just have to learn mature ways of handling rude situations. It definitely hurts to be called fat, but I think she overreacted just a little bit. It’s great that she is apologetic and I hope the real culprit is as well.
This chick is a nutjob. She has a habit of accusing the wrong people of doing her wrong…including sending an innocent person to jail. She gets no sympathy from me. http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/10/nbc_coddles_vengeful_bartender.php
I think the link you meant to include is this one: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/10/victoria_liss_bartender_in_wro.php
Found it after viewing the one you left. It refers to what you’re talking about.
That’s crazy. Those comments on that page are disgusting, though.
I’m a bit conflicted. On the one hand, calling out jerk behavior via social media is not a bad idea. It’s even become kind of a thing for restaurant workers to share the dickish things written on their receipts (e.g. the priest who complained about leaving 10% to God but 18% to the waiter/waitress).
But would it have been better if she had blacked out the dude’s name first? (Or the girl’s name, if it had been a woman patron who left the rude comment?) Amateur sleuths seem to always get the wrong people, and the wrong people have to live with that for some time.
And then there is Dee’s link above. That is deeply disturbing behavior: to ruin someone’s life for months and then suddenly go, “Nevermind,” like it’s no big thing.
So, some empathy for Liss is lost because of how she and others handled it (wanted signs in bars?), not making any direct apologies to the harassed Texan, and the info in Dee’s link.
At the same time, I do feel some empathy for Liss, because she will get harassed by trolls for being 1) female (if Liss were a thin man, I’d imagine we’d hear loads of BS about how we ought to forgive him, etc, etc) and 2) being fat, neither of which are the issue or should even matter. It sounds like she needs help, because she hurts innocents and not the actual assholes on her revenge trips. But sending her hate mail isn’t mature.
What a mess.
the only thing i fault her for is not doing enough research before the wrong guy was tagged. I think it was a fantastic idea to put him on blast. even if the correct guy was never pinpointed on fb, he has most likely heard about it and hopefully realized how much of an anushole he was and choose not to behave that way in the future. Again, I don’t know all of the information but it looks as if all she did was broadcast what that “person” willingly put out, and firing her would be like condoning that person’s behavior. to me, firing her says you can act like a jackanus and degrade my employees as long as you patron this business. in fact, the article says that other area bars posted pictures of the man (albeit the wrong man).
and how someone performs their job has absolutely nothing to do with treating them inhumanely. even if he had left a written “tip” that had to do with the way she provided service, thats still different. i’ve been with someone who wrote something to the effect of “you may want to check on your customers more than once an hour” and i do not believe that was out of line. to me the only wrongs commited was a) that man leaving that note on the receipt and b) people jumping on the wrong person.
i do feel very sorry for that man whose picture was posted erroneously
So, here’s the thing: no matter how much it gets publicized that she had “the wrong Andrew Meyer,” there are still going to be a lot of people that don’t hear about the mistake. That poor, innocent guy is going to have to live with this label for a while, and THAT is what is most wrong about this situation to me. She hurt an innocent man trying to get revenge on someone else. :/ This is why our parents teach us to always take the high road.
Of course, I believe the guy was wrong for writing what he did on the credit card slip, but her response was also out of line. It’s scary to me that a Facebook post can change a person’s life overnight. I feel bad for the wrongfully accused Andrew Meyer, and anyone with that name in the Seattle area.
I don’t understand this. Whatever happened to brushing things off and moving forward? Yes, his comment was hurtful and insensitive, but dang! Was it really worth all that? Even if she had the right guy, doesn’t her response seem a bit extreme? Look at it from a different point of view – how would she feel if someone posted her name and photo after she gave them awful service? Would she feel that justice had been served? Probably not. She would think the person overreacted.
This is crazy for too many different reasons. People need to chill out.
People don’t leave tips? Never have I ever!!! How rude to leave nothing when you wouldn’t have gotten your food had the server not brought it to you. I can see not leaving a generous tip to a bad server, but not leaving anything makes YOU the rude one – not them. If u can’t afford to leave a tip then u can’t afford to eat out. Those servers are there to make money. People are so callous and ridiculous.
@Alissa
“If u can’t afford to leave a tip then u can’t afford to eat out”
That statement in itself is bull!
I am one of those people who “can’t afford”, but at least I try to be nice even if I’m not made of money.
People complain about lousy SMALL tips and complain about not leaving a tip at all. MAKE UP YOUR MINDS! Something is better than nothing and paying for food pays the server’s paychecks too. So even if a tip is not given, servers still get paid hourly.
Being nice to your server can sometimes be more worth than a tip. Kindness is as good as GOLD and lasts longer.
Get off of your high horse and come back down to earth. Because even though some of us are not as well off, we still try to treat others as we want to be treated: with kindness. Because with your type of thinking too, you also are being rude and callous.
May God bless you with a more open heart and mind.
Kindness isn’t going to pay the bills. And in a lot of states, the hourly wage for most servers is less than minimum wage so your kindness isn’t going to help make the rent. If the server wasn’t attentive, then by all means, don’t tip them. The meaning of tips is, “To Insure Prompt Service” so that the server can rightfully earn their tips.
I also think people fail to realize this. Servers, on average, make $2.13 per hour. It’s legal because their income is intended to cover tips. The $2.13 is simply intended to cover anticipated taxes, and please believe that servers who DO legally claim their income, receive checks with NEGATIVE balances, because they have to pay out of their tips to cover the anticipated balance.
It’s not “uppity” to expect tips (particularly for exceptional service.) It’s expected because it’s better for the restaurant to have the guest pay the server based on their service than to have the restaurant simply guarantee the server a wage, and then the server deliver poor service. Having the guest pay servers directly provides an immediate feedback system. If you can’t afford to tip, then no, you cannot afford to dine out – order something less expensive and reward your server accordingly or use that time spent to buy something quality for yourself and cook it yourself at home. It’s that simple.
I DO order the less expensive option. Its the only option I can afford honestly. And I’m not going to go to Mickey D’s and make it worse. I sometimes just eat sandwiches at home or cook. I am fully aware of that. But I don’t have to go into detail about my life and finances on the web now, right?
Even with the information you just provided, I feel worse leaving a measly dollar, because its just insulting to a person or even something like a quarter. I feel like its treating them like garbage to leave something so small. I really only eat out with friends, and we try to do our best treating our servers like people and leaving them tips.
But I can’t stand attitudes like Alissa’s and Lisa’s. They are just as rude as people who don’t leave tips. Kindness may not pay bills, but rudeness doesn’t either.
And quite frankly, I don’t like your assumptive “use that time spent to buy something quality for yourself and cook it yourself at home. It’s that simple.” because you really don’t know people’s lives. Too many situations play out differently. Call me crazy, but that’s just how I roll.
/end transmission…
You’re right, Kitty – I don’t “know your life.” I DO, however, know that someone who says “I DO order the less expensive option. It’s the only option I can afford honestly” WOULD, in fact, be better off cooking at home instead of dining at a sit-down restaurant and stiffing the server because they “can’t afford to tip.”
I think that all the fancy marketing from the giant franchise restaurants has allowed us to forget – dining out is a LUXURY, an expensive one at that and often one that results in poor quality food and questionable nutrition decisions simply because folks are “treating themselves.” There’s nothing wrong with saying “I cannot afford this” and simply NOT partaking. We do it with lots of things, and perhaps dining out needs to be another one of ’em.
I think the customer was rude indeed. However the waitress has broken Data Protection laws. In the UK she would be facing prison and her place of work a hefty fine. It was not her business to tell the world that customer ate there and left no tip. She should have left his name out. Vigilantes often get the wrong person as is what happened here. Plus the receipt contains data sensitive information and a con artist only needs a few details to run a mock.
In the UK tipping is touch and go. I personally do not feel tips are compulsory unless that is the restaurant policy. Your paying for your food and the cost of eating out is often reflected in the price. Businesses should pay staff well so they do not get into this dependancy of needing a tip to pay a bill. Tips to me are like bonuses, they are not guaranteed. Life goes on. Some places do not allow tips. But they probably pay good wages.
You will only get a tip from me if I feel you deserve it. Not simply because you want it.
This is why in 12 step programs they say justified anger is just as bad as unjustified anger.
Being angry is okay, but taking it out the way she did was NOT okay.
Sofrolushes, my sentiment exactly! I Could not put it better mysef.
While visiting friends in another country, I asked if I could leave the tip when we went out to dinner. After laughing, they patted me on my hand and asked me not to bring “that American BS” to their country. Essentially, I was reminded that capitalism creates systems where it is not only legal, but common, that employers don’t pay a living wage and that customers literally pick up the bill. So, while I see where people are coming from when they talk about the affordability of eating out, it gets my back up a little because this could just as easily be a discussion about health care. I have also paid some crazy restaurant bills (tip included) knowing that the cost of the meal could’ve more than covered a sensible hourly wage for the server (and the dishwasher, cook, woman handing out towels in the bathroom, etc.) as well as the cost of the meal, overhead and a healthy margin for the owner.
This argument is weird.
Regardless of whether or not the amount is paid via a tip or not, customers “literally pick up the tab” either way: if tipping didn’t exist and owners were responsible for the server’s full income, the owner would simply inflate the cost of each plate to accommodate the server. You’ll be paying it anyway, and THAT is capitalism. Those “other-countrymen” are probably in a country with more accommodating social services, making it easier to subsist on a lower income.
Restaurants are not high-profit businesses, and many fail within the first year or so because the profits are so low. It is an optional engagement between a server and a guest. You know the deal when you walk in the door and, if you’d prefer not to comply, you do not have to walk in that door at all. And comparing that optional engagement to something that is an absolute necessity like health care is really absurd.
It’s not the ‘no tipping’ that is the problem, clearly it’s that he pushed his own opinion and insults on her. I understand her knee-jerk response in putting him on blast, but it was the wrong thing to do. He should be shamed, that was uncalled for and just goes to show, once more, how people think it’s okay to say that to an overweight person.
Fat people are not human and are always the target for unsolicited ‘weight advice’. I have been there before. He is a jerk and sadly didn’t get the outing he deserved.
What a real winner. Next time, she tries to shame someone with a name similar to the likes of “John Smith,” she should do herself a favor and verify their identity.
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