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Last month, two lucky workers at an Arkansas restaurant received a massive tip. However, one of them is no longer celebrating. You see, the waitress got fired right after earning the lucky sums and, even today, her bosses will not say why...
Denying The Tip
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Grant Wise, a business owner in the city of Bentonville, Arkansas did something incredible last month while dining at The Oven and Tap Restaurant: he tipped two waitresses $4,400! One of the waitresses in question, Ryan Brandt, thought she would split the tip with her co-worker and have a happy holiday. Unfortunately, that's not exactly what happened...
"I was definitely like just in shock and overwhelmed with joy and gratitude in that moment as soon as I realized what he was saying," Brandt said. There's even an emotional video, where Wise presents the tip to the waitress, which immediately brings tears of joy. A perfect holiday story, right? Well, not so fast. Once Brandt went back to the employees' area, the owners of the Oven and Tap, Mollie Mullis and Luke Wetzel, took the money away from her. That's right! An hour later, they told Brandt she could only keep 20%.
"I was told that I was going to be giving my cash over to my shift manager, and I would be taking home 20%," explained Brandt. "To turn right back around and find out that I wasn't keeping it, was kind of disheartening because we don't tip share in any way." And she should know, she has worked there for over three years! However, Mollie Mullis and Luke Wetzel had other opinions...
Waitress Fired For No Reason
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Meanwhile, Mullis and Wetzel have a different view of things. "We commend the organization that dined with us and generously gave to our staff. They have an absolute right to tip whoever they want, and we honored that request," the co-owners said in a statement. However, they say that tip splitting has always been a part of their practice. Moreover, "[Wise and his guests] did not call ahead and ask about our tipping policy, nor did they email," explained Mullis. "Because of the customer's request, we honored it and handed it out to the servers that they asked us to distribute it to."
But Brandt disagrees. "They fired me from Oven and Tap over the phone, and I've been there for 3.5 years, and that was really heartbreaking," she said. "Especially, because I didn't think I did anything wrong."
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. First, Brandt walked away with her fair share of the money, even if she had to leave the restaurant. Meanwhile, it did not affect the other waitress' income. "Because we feel the entire staff worked so hard that night to serve a large party of 32 people, we distributed approximately $7,000 in additional compensation to the rest of the team from that evening's shift to ensure they know their hard work is appreciated as well," the co-owners said. Finally, Wise started a GoFundMe page for Brandt. In just a single day, it already raised over $8,700.
Sources: Good News Network, NY Post
