Pastor Who Left Sanctimonious Tip Gets Waitress Fired from Applebee's, Claims Her Reputation Was Ruined
Hell hath no fury like a pastor scorned by the Internet.
After a copy of her Applebee's receipt began circulating online yesterday, Pastor Alois Bell of the St. Louis-based Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries phoned up the restaurant and asked to have everyone involved fired.
"My heart is really broken," the 37-year-old told The Smoking Gun. "I've brought embarrassment to my church and ministry."
Last Friday, after evening services, Bell and her congregation headed to Applebee's for dinner as they did on many nights.
But a disagreement over the establishment's auto-gratuity of 18% for parties of 8 or more would soon propel the pastor to the heights of Internet infamy.
"I give God 10% why do you get 18," Bell wrote on her credit card receipt after crossing out the tip amount she was obliged to pay.
A server working at the restaurant uploaded a scan of the receipt to Reddit, and the rest is viral history.
Though Bell was denied her request to have a brand new staff awaiting her the next time she dined at her neighborhood Applebee's, she did succeed in getting at least one person fired: The waitress who posted the receipt online.
"I originally posted the note as a lighthearted joke," Chelsea Welch told Consumerist. "I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical. I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it entertaining."
They did — but Bell did not.
The pastor called it a "lapse in my character and judgment" that "has been blown out of proportion." Somewhat an ironic statement coming from someone who ordered Applebee's to fire everyone who came into contact with the receipt.
For her part, Welch did what she could to avoid having Bell's identity exposed, asking Reddit to stop posting the personal information of potential culprits.
In fact, Welch still isn't sure what exactly she did wrong.
"I didn't break any specific guidelines in the company handbook - I checked," said Welch, who had no complaints about her service prior to this week. "Because this person got embarrassed that their selfishness was made public, Applebee's has made it clear that they would rather lose a dedicated employee than lose an angry customer. That's a policy I can't understand."
Neither will Reddit, which is no longer being kept at bay by Welch, and has already put out a call to "grab them pitchforks."
