Just becuz the customer was wrong doesnt mean the stupid waitress should take the info and publish it. She should be fired. I would fire any of my employees if they insult and embarrass a customer. Im sure not the 1st time someone left a small tip. Did she post and embarrass them all. Rule 1. The customer always comes 1st.

PAYING customers come first. Accepting service and not paying for it is theft of service. The waitress is assigned a ticket for the bill which is reported to IRS by Applebees and she is taxed based on it, people bully service workers because employers don't stand up for them and while I understand the privacy issue would lead to termination most anywhere, I am glad to see the customer who wants to receive service and not pay for it get embarrassed. If the customer stole from Applebees they would take issue, but steal from the employee's bottom line, they could care less. This is how these folks make a living, and if you are too cheap to pay for service based on our standards of gratuity DON"T GO OUT TO EAT. As a manager in a different service industry I don't feel the customer is always right. When they are right they are right .....but I feel my business benefits from having employees who feel like they are supported, respected and their boss has their back. People work harder and roll with things more when I need it.

the waitress did not show thecustomers name - though if she did - she should get fired - but some holier than thou moron who doenst think she deserves a tip is and idiot - these people make less than minimum wage to wait on ignorant self centered morons who dont even know how to say thank you. everyone should work as wait staff once in thier life to under stand what it is like - and for the customer comes first - in theory its a great idea - in pactice a lot harder - if your dealing with the self centered egos that live on the main line - the barely look at you and have no idea what real manners are -

Hogwash. I owned restaurants for years, all over the nation. Rule number one is NOT 'the customer is always right'. There are some customers who cost far more than they are worth. This is a simple case of a group, not a single person, a group, of apparently twenty people. It is likely that is the only group that waitress worked for the entire time they were there. Then they knowingly and intentionally attempted to stiff her of her tip. Literally not pay her for her services. These people are so tight, so cheap, that their business is literally not worth having. If I had been the manager, I would have discreetly confronted them, explained the difference between frugality and cheapness, and asked them to please frequent another establishment in the future (all assuming they were happy with the service and food to begin with). Was the server in the right by posting the receipt? IF she had not included the signature, sure. With the signature, she should have, at most, gotten a reprimand. And maybe lost a nights work. I stood up for my employees when it came to bullies and cheapskates. My restaurants were successful, and my employee turnover averaged less than 1/4 of the industry average. Food for thought to the bean counters at corporate headquarters. Doing the right thing for employees, as well as customers, is always good business.

I feel really bad for the managers that have to deal with this backlash. As a server I know that some days will be better than others. We get bad tips sometimes, but most times the good outweighs the bad. The pastor did act in an inappropriate manner, but guess what that happens. If you are a good server and mature you just learn to let things like that go. Unfortunately, I have to side with the management. It was not right for the server to post this online. Anyone that runs a business knows that this is not appropriate and it is not someone I would want representing my business. I feel that Chelsea has some growing to do before accepting another serving position. The pastor was wrong for doing what she did, but Chelsea was also in the wrong. For the record I do not work for a corporate restaurant. Corporate restaurants generally have horrible policies regarding employees and they do not provide realistic training on how to handle customer service conflicts. I hope people realize that both of the people involved in this situation were in the wrong and management handled this situation the way they should have.

I agree with Michael. I think if your rude enough to write it then you shouldn't be so upset when everyone knows of it. I think a Pastor of all people should be less rude & have more patience. Didn't the Pastor ever hear of WWJD?

“I give God 10% why do you get 18?” --um, because God doesn't get paid less than minimum wage to wait on d-bags like you all day. That's why. Seriously folks, waiting tables is hard, back-breaking work that requires physical stamina, mental clarity, and great customer service skills, all working in tandem to make sure customers get what they want. If every high school student was required to wait tables for a semester, there's be a lot more respect and appreciation for service workers--who happen to be the largest growing segment of our economy. Down with cheapskates! This customer deserved to be shamed.

How about when service sucks and no one leaves a tip!!!!! Then what!! Waiters and waitresses suck all the time. They don't deserve any money for that

How did the protest at chik fil a work out for ya? Hahahahahahahah. I will now dine at crappy applebees and chik fil a. Good for them.

Good, I see the Rebel flag crowd is supporting you and Chik Fil A. That should save you Applebees!

Better than the food stamps crowd!

Applebee's is committing corporate suicide by trying to justify their questionable reaction on social media. The pr person responsible for the posts is sadly mistaken if they think they put the fire out. In reality they poured gasoline on the flames. According to Applebees' this is not ta case of the customer being right. quoting from their post, "Please note that we are also not excusing the Guest's behavior in this matter and the unacceptable comment she wrote on the receipt, which is offensive to us and all our hard working team members." The firing of Chelsea Welch was an overreaction that they can quickly and quietly correct by hiring her back. If she wants to come back....

Same crowd!

I guess I'm the only one thinking "What did this waitress do wrong to piss off a pastor?". I'm not a fan of the "automatic" tip. In most jobs, you encounter great, average and poor customers. A waitress does not have it any harder than other customer service positions. She made had it coming when she posted it on a social media site. She should have vented or gone home. Then she could have started the next day anew. You never take back words spoken, or in this case photos posted.

“I give God 10% why do you get 18?”

Oh, boo hoo. I give my government about 40% in taxes.

The wife and I both waited tables when we were younger. Its one of the most physically demanding jobs out there, and you're paid minimum wage for it. Sure, we had great customers that tipped - but there were many that paid without a tip, depsite being given great service. Perhaps the pastor should work a day in their shoes to see how difficult a job it really is.

When eating out, unless the service is abysmal, I give a 20% tip.

Remember Susan G. Komen

It never ceases to me amaze how exceedingly cheap those who claim to be among those most blessed by the christian lord. LOL! It is as if they actually think their saying “Jesus loves me” gives them a right to be perfect bores. The waitress was right and neither Applebee nor any church or church related charity will ever see my money again.
Praise be to the true gods on high: Zeus, Apollo, Thor, Mars, Mercury, Aphrodite, Poseidon, most holy Fortuna, and all other the true living gods. LOL! Let’s bring back the true old fashioned religious values of our ancestors. LOL!

Unless someone has been a server they have no idea how hard the work is and how horrible some of the customers can be. That's not to say that all servers are great, but it is very hard work and those who have done the job and done the job well are the best tippers.

1. from the 74,700 viewers on this page i want your opinion
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/applebees-waitress-fired-pastor-receipt-193820748.html

https://www.facebook.com/HireBackChelsea?refid=17

https://www.facebook.com/BoycottApplebeesUntilChelseaWelchIsRehired
They fire here for this when they recently posted this
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=136476209851670&set=a.136363439862947.31309.136358593196765&type=1&theater

Please go to https://www.facebook.com/applebees and UNLIKE their page

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/applebees-waitress-fired-pastor-receipt-193820748.html
over 70,000 comments

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=421422541273375&set=o.136358593196765&type=1&theater

And pastor if your only giving god 10% something is not right with you how would you like it if he only gave you 10%?

who cares, stop sending me this crap on facebook

What would Jesus do?

The server should get her job back, the customer is just rude. But keep in minds what TIPS mean. TIPS = To Insure Proper Service. There is no theft of service, the pastor was just a cheap woman who was snarky as well.

I know lets raise all the prices on the menus so the establishments can pay their wait staffs $18 Dollars an hour. Would you like that, Rule 1 customer comes 1st? That way you'd be paying the tip without knowing it and these kinds of things wouldn't happen again. We don't tip McDonalds, Burger King or any of the small fast food craps, so lets make it fair for our regular, hard working wait staffs. I think its time. They deserve it and they do work very hard, I know, I started out as a dishwasher back in the 80's at $2.85 cents an hour. It is not a fun job and by the way I always tip 20% it makes up for the losers tipping like crap.

That little wipper snapper got what was coming her way. Waiters these days are the worst.

I have worked at Applebees and I can tell you the average tip most customers leave is like 10-12%. some do 15 and more but most don't. this guy was a jerk but I would have asked him if I did something wrong or how could i earn more next time instead of attacking him. 2 wrongs don't make a right

Next time anyone eats out and gets good service, please tip 15% or more. thanks

I have always been a generous tipper, but became more so many years ago after having worked at a well-known Cherry Hill restaurant. Sure, some people were lovely and appreciative of my service....they had real class. But the morons who came in, sometimes with their out of control kids who made a mess of their area, who were rude, demanding, critical, etc. always left the WORST tips! I know there are good servers and bad servers, gracious customers and customers from hell, that's a fact that will never change. Keep smiling!

According to Applebees' this is not ta case of the customer being right. quoting from their post, "Please note that we are also not excusing the Guest's behavior in this matter and the unacceptable comment she wrote on the receipt, which is offensive to us and all our hard working team members." The firing of Chelsea Welch was an overreaction that they can quickly and quietly correct by hiring her back. If she wants to come back....

I agree with Sally Jesse, waiters are the worst and should be tipping the customers, not receiving tips.

I would definitely work for Clayton! The customer is NOT always right, and in this case is a cheap no good loser! If the customer wrote the note to the waitress and signed it, and that is what was posted, then that's her decision as well. It is not private, both parties are aware of the note. If that was my daughter busting her butt for 20 people and then after waiting on them as her only customer and getting $4 for her 2 hours of work ($2 per hour with no tip), I would be trashing that person as well, and whatever so-called Church they were associated with! Everyone knows tips are their salary when you walk in.
HOWEVER!!! Every waitress and restaurant SHOULD clearly state that the gratuity is already added on!!! I have seen plenty of times where they think they can basically steal an extra 15 to 20% off the customers!!!!! And why is it 18% anyway?? 15 is normal…… 10 for bad service, and 20+ for very good to excellent. So, what if the waitress was horrible??? They still get 18%… Now that's BS. But this is not the case here… this is a cheap SOB with NO values!

Here's a tip, get a real job if you wanna make them dolla dolla bills yall.

If you aren't willing to pay a server for attending to you (taking your orders, lugging heavy plates while you sit on your 'chair'), do a potluck dinner somewhere. Use paper products for your chicken and macaroni casseroles and serve yourself from 2 liter bottles of diet soda. People know by now that gratuities are automatically included for large groups. Show me a menu where it's not mentioned.

And maybe reward the restaurants that treat their staff well...

http://rocunited.org/dinersguide/

Because when Darden makes it so that sick food prep people /servers can't take off, they come in and handle your food. And then you get sick.

And when a chain makes it so that the children of their employees have to go on CHIP, all they've done is pass on an operating cost to the taxpayers.

I think those are things we can all agree are offensive. Oh, and Applebees is among the worst.

PorterinCollingswood...not for nothing but Darden owns Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Capital Grille, Corner Bakery & a few more.

Applebees is corporate owned & franchised own.

So perhaps it is the franchise owner who is instilling different rules.

*Sigh* This employee was NOT an Applebee's Employee. They were an employee of a Franchise. Applebee's has nothing directly to do with the hiring and/or firing of employees.

The "pastor" was in error for her actions.

The employee was in error and in violation of the Franchises Social Media Policy and was rightfully terminated.

Applebees handled the issue on their Social Media web site poorly.

Why can't people see this?

James please see the whole story here befor you start making assumptions... This Applebee's WAS part of the corporation.Furthuremore this same location posted a identical photo not even a month earlier... So it's right for them to do it but not her?????

Why do you Americans pay your waitstaff so poorly. The minimum casual wage is $20/hr in Australia so we don't need to tip and we almost always get excellent service.

I have been a server for 10 years now. I worked for Ruby Tuesday for 8 years and it was awful. The management and the Corporation in general was all about money and would fire employees at the drop of a hat. I have been working for Applebees for the last year and a half and must say, they are a wonderful corporation to work for. The manner in which they treat their employees is amazing. I am so happy here. They treat their employees with respect and get respect back tenfold. I get rude guests often and I get really nice people too. I get bad tips or no tip from some tables but I get extra good tips from others. Some days I get so discouraged because of ignorant people who treat you like a slave and leave you nothing. They take your time away from other tables with their constant whining and complaining when there is clearly nothing wrong. They just want control or they are simply "spoiled" people who think the world revolves around them. Or they want free food. I work very hard and professionally to please my guests and all of the guests that come into the restaurant. You just have to deal with it; it is your job. I, personally would never have posted that comment for the public to see. But from what I understand it wasn't the actual server who posted it. What I think is that Applebees had to fire her to prevent a lawsuit. I think if they didn't fire her, this pastor WOULD have filed a lawsuit. For all we know they hired her back already. I hope so!

Ex-columnist here, with my two cents: Whether you agree with the US practice of tipping or not, you must leave a tip when you dine out. Servers make almost nothing (what they do make is usually taken out in taxes) and often times tip up to 4% of their SALES to busboys, hostesses, bartenders, etc. When you eat out, the tip represents the cooking, cleaning, serving and atmosphere you didn't have to do.

Tip 20%. If you're feeling cheap, leave 15%. If you're vehemently against tipping, order take out and eat at home. Kudos to the waitress for posting the ignorant customer's receipt. The publicity will only help her. Applebees is a mess anyway, getting fired from there was more a service than disservice to her.

The Applebee's that posted a customer's receipt to their Facebook page is located in Mehlville, MO. We've had a lot of St. Louis residents who thought they occurred at the same restaurant, so here's our report on the incidents: http://patch.com/A-17Gx

Shame on that Pastor! I am a devout Christian and no way is this Pastor following the ways her real Boss would have!

Thanks Karlie!

This paster needs to be excuminicatex from church! What was the matter you didnt get enough money on your collection plate and took it out on the waitress! You are such a cheap fake christian! You make me not want to go to chuch anymore. Next timei do go to chuch im writing a letter why i shouldnt be for ed to pay your sallary and place that on the plate! How do you like those applebees? And applebees- why dont you pay your workers real money instead of low wages and hard labor? I hope you all close down and then we have one less mediocre ace to eat! New name should be crapplebees! This waitress should be commended and given a real job! At least she doesnt have to deal with that job no more! Shes better off!

"This statement comes after a similarly widespread brouhaha online after Chik Fil A founder S. Truett Cathy made some unsavory comments about gay marriage. You see, sometimes the internet is a democracy, and as a democrary, the people vote with their voices and their wallets."

Yeah, they did vote with their wallets, didn't they? Which is why there were hours-long lines at Chick-Fil-A's across the country. But hey, nice try at trying to use that as an example of a business suffering because it opposed a particular political orthodoxy.

Your commentary that restaurant patrons enter into some sort of implied contractual obligation with waitresses is beyond silly and stupid. The only contract I enter into is the one dictating that I pay for my meal after I order it and eat it. The waitress isn't owed anything. And if those individuals are going to whine about what they are paid, I will state that perhaps they should have thought of that before they applied for the job. Maybe you should look up the definition of the word gratuity before you start making asinine claims about how tips are some sort of quasi-legal obligation.

Mark, the customers at Chik Fil A did vote with their wallets. Chik Fil lost revenue and it no longer supports "traditional marriage" groups according to many news sources. Servers are paid well under minimum wage because of our accepted cultural custom of tipping. Otherwise, restaurants would be in violation of federal law. Finally, perhaps YOU should "look up" how to state your opinion without name calling and personal attacks.

Was the pastor the only one? Or was there 20?If the sevice was very bad for only one ,than the pastor shouldnt had tipped, but if it was ok she should had , even though she doent have to. If there were 20 , well give the girl a breck , thats alot of work .sHE SHOULD HAD GOTTEN A BIG TIP. Why is it that the ones who work and are hardly mmaking endmeats, give the most , and the ones who can afford it are cheap,,WHY ILL TELL CAUSE WE KNOW HW IT IS TO WORK FOR NOTHING. Applebees should get tis girl a rasie after they hire her back.
AND HE PASTOR , CAN I ASK YOU SOMETHING , ARE YOU A PASTOR FOR THE LORD?J.C.......... THE DEVIL?? OR THE ALL MIGHTLY DOLLAR???? IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED TO LEAN A FEW THINGS FROM THE LORD.. AND STOP BEING SO CHEAP! ........ AND PLEASE SOMEONE LET US KNOW IF APPLEBBEEES HIRES THE GIRL BACK.

really people have you eaten at an applebees. its not that good. how much do you recommend we tip if we have a burger for 8 bucks and 6 beers for 22 bucks? I say 4 bucks

Never had,, yes $4 or 5 is ok.

but that's not 18 or 20% how much do you tip on soda or coffee then?

The ignorance of people on here astounds me. "I'm not obligated to tip", "a tip is VOLUNTARY". Tipping IS voluntary. So is holding doors for people, saying please and thank you, not answering your cellphone during a movie, cleaning up after your dog in a public park when no one is looking. But when you ignore these common acts of courtesy, you're a jack ass. So next time you get on your high horse of ignorance about not tipping your server who is busting their ass for you and who you essentially have working for free, make a mental note to never return to that restaurant. Your food WILL be tampered with. Servers make the VOLUNTARY decision not to spit in it because of the tip they're expecting at the end of your meal. If you choose to tip the scales, there will be consequences.

Like i wrote earlier: if you are so adamant about not tipping, order it to take home. if your service sucked, tip the server and speak to a manager later. You're messing with a persons livelihood when you don't tip. This is America, this is how the system works. If you disagree, don't eat out, you cheap bastards.

It depends, you're right. Mostly, hostesses make a percentage of the severs sales, so they aren't relying in tips. Sometimes the bartender takes the order, and they obviously don't rely on take out tips for income. I typically tip a few bucks when i order takeout, but that's mostly due to having spent so long in the industry and having a soft spot for tipping. Unlike stiffing a waiter, it's not usually frowned upon if you don't tip on take out. Anything you leave is considered a bonus by the person taking the order.

If you've got a problem with government mandated serving wages, take it up with someone who won't be affected by your problem. I agree in principle that the government, and by extension the restaurants who pay their employees $2/hr, created a problematic system that mandates tipping. Taking a stand and not tipping doesn't do a damn thing to the government or restaurant, only to the server who you're forcing to work for free. I take a tone because i worked in the service industry for four years and have been affected by customers on a pedestal who impact my livelihood.

And to James, if a server is downright rude to you, you're certainly in the right to withhold a tip. I should have clarified. Oftentimes, a situation arises that affects service but is out of the servers hands. A kitchen mistake, or some other confusion. I've seen customers withhold a tip for those reasons, and i think that is wrong.

One time, my girlfriend and i went out to eat at a nice restaurant on a whim. We were young and dressed down; our server virtually ignored us all night, while fawning over surrounding tables. A mistake, as we both worked in the industry and tip 20-25%. The bus boy paid more attention to us than our server. In that situation, we left our server the tip he was apparently expecting (5%) and gave the rest of the tip to the bus boy. Situations like that, in my experience, are an rare. Typically, servers do a fine job and should be rewarded thusly.

Restaurants, at times, will make an 18% tip mandatory if a dining party is larger than a given amount of people. It's not really mandatory because in this case the customer crossed out the mandatory tip.BTW, the server did not impose this tip, the restaurant did it. Moving on...
Somebody, who thought she was speaking for God, made a ridiculous statement and chose not to pay that portion of her bill. There were two things wrong with what she did. The customer's first mistake was that she acted as if the server had made the 18% tip demand. The customer did not appreciate the mandatory 18% charge and so elected to penalize the server and get mean about it, as well. Again, there is no mention that the service was deficient in any way, rather it seemed to come down to the customer not wanting to pay an 18% tip.
The second mistake the customer made was to conflate the 10% tithe on one's income as seen in the Bible with a server's tip on a meal that the customer had purchased which is actually a business or service charge not a tithe on income.
Using her logic she should refuse to pay for anything that is more costly than 10% of her income. If she earns $100,000/yr she should refuse to pay $30,000 for a new Honda because she only gives God 10% ($10,000) so why should she give the Honda dealer 30%. Given this woman's lack of ability to reason correctly I can only imagine the mess she makes when delivering a sermon.
My advice to her, "Give it a rest, lady."

@Paul, Well said!

I can understand the employee's outrage. It was not just over the amount of the tip, it was about the message. A smaller than normal tip hurts the wait person. A message that amounts to saying 'your not god' is really insulting. The tithe of 10% is meant to direct people to contribute 10% of their incomes. A tip on the other hand is a reward for services performed. Tithes and tips are just not equatable.

I employed people during my career. I can understand that no employer will tolerate an employee doing something that embarrasses even a bad customer. However, Applebees employed a double standard. It published customer information when it was good PR. It fired someone when it was bad PR. Its rules prohibit the practice altogether. It breaks its own rules – it's OK. An employee breaks its rules – it is not OK. Business owners have to set an example. Applebees did when it broke its own rules. Good for the goose is god for the gander. Applebees was wrong to fire the person.

I am so sick of idiots. These servers are taxed on their sales and they have to tip out the bus boys, bartenders, and hosts @ 5.5 percent plus pay taxes on the total of the check. So on a 100 dollar check they are already paying 8 dollars. If you do not tip them that's 8 dollars they have to pay out of their own pockets!

The "Pastor" was taking advantage of the situation and probably does everywhere she goes. Well guess what why not "do unto others". Lets stop beating around the bush, Applebee's would rather fire the girl that to have Al Sharpton protesting out front.
Nuff said.

What the heck did the NAACP DO? And if f rev al the racist came in to one of my places i would kick his fat ass out .HO AINT NOTHING BUT A TROULBLE MAKER WHO ONLY WAY HE WORKS IS TO WHITES RACISTS ,WHEN HE THE B IGGEST ONE OUT THERE. DID APPLEBEES HIRE THIS GIRL BACK YET?

Both my teenage kids work at a local chain restaurant, go to diverse schools with all races, have friends from all races, work with people from many races, and the one common comment I hear them make is black people don't tip well. Obviously not all, but enough to make them stand out. They also state that they are rude, demanding. and will try to swap food items on the menu that the server is not allowed to do. Again, not all, but enough to stand out.. This so-called pastor is a small example of a bigger picture. For those folks that don't understand, here's what's expected when dining out: This is the menu, these are the prices, if you recieve good food and service you tip a minimum 15%. If Bad food or service was the result, request a managers assistance and work it out. If you can't afford that, then stay home and cook a meal. Rudeness or demeaning comments should never have to be tolerated, and no this isn't a racially biased comment, it's FACTS related from my kids. Blacks represent the largest race group in most US jails, another FACT. Political correctness needs to take a back seat to common sense. If any group is offended by facts , they need to consider changing there habits, even rude cheapskates.

I already boycott Chick-fil-A, Papa Johns, Red Lobster, &The Olive Garden. I just added AppleBees to the Dung list.

On a positive note....Yesterday, I was "cut" at 2:30 after the lunch rush and I wanted to stay on longer, but everyone was a "double" so I couldn't. Anyway, my table heard one of the servers telling me I was "cut" and handed me a $20 bill and said "Here, put this in your pocket, I've been in the restaurant business for years and I know what it's like when you want to stay and you're cut"...