Michigan server who got $10,000 tip says she was fired in ensuing dispute

[Jilly_in_VA]

A Michigan restaurant server who recently received a $10,000 tip on a $32 tab says the establishment has since fired her amid a dispute over how many of her co-workers deserved a share of the remarkably large gratuity.

The story of the tip that Linsey Huff earned while waiting on a table at the Mason Jar Cafe in the western Michigan community of Benton Harbor on 5 February initially went viral on corners of the internet dedicated to uplifting news because it had been left by a patron who wanted to pay tribute to a late friend.

But as an increasing number of Huff’s co-workers sought a cut of the gratuity, the tale devolved into her dismissal from the Mason Jar as well as threats from ownership to sue her because she discussed her firing on social media, her attorney Jennifer McManus told the Guardian on Monday.

McManus remarked that Huff’s ordeal illustrated the disparity of power between those in charge of the US food service industry and the rank-and-file workers they employ.

“The people with the money … control the narrative, and the people that work for them understand that and often have to cower because of that,” said McManus, who added that she was mainly representing Huff in case the cafe followed through on threats to sue her client for damages.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/20/michigan-server-10000-tip-firing

That last comment is disturbingly TRUE.

[Shermann]

1. Sounds like Needful Things. Was the middle-age man Leland Gaunt?

[MichMan]

2. I worked in a restaurant for a year in college

Servers openly bragged about how much they earned in tips which dwarfed my minimum wage Busboy earnings. Once, one of them gave me $1. Once.

Usually, the servers who were most attractive and had impressive physical attributes were the ones raking in the biggest tips.

The servers in general seemed to look down on anyone who wasn't a server, hostess, or bartender as being of lower social stature then them. Not surprised in the least in this instance that they wanted to keep from sharing any of the $10k tip to anyone who wasn't a server.

[Shermann]

3. Same here

I was a dishwasher but didn't have to bus tables. The waitresses bussed the tables, but they didn't always move with a purpose. They got all the tips, but I never thought much about it. That was certainly the better gig to have.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I did too

One place the waitresses bussed all the tables except on Saturday nights when we did have a busboy during supper hour because it was crazy busy. We gave him some of our tips but didn't split them. The other, we likewise gave the busboy some of our tips but didn't exactly split evenly. One busboy we liked, we actually were more generous with. And one busboy was actually fired for stealing tips. In neither place did we ever have to pool our tips or split them with kitchen staff. And in both places, bartenders had their own tip jars.