This waitress from Arkansas claims she was fired from her job after she disclosed the tipping policy of the restaurant to several of the patrons.
Today, there’s a GoFundMe page opened up by the patrons to support the woman who’s already raised more than $15,000 and will pay it forward for others.
On a Friday shift, Ryan Brandt and two other staffers served a big group in Oven & Tap in Bentonville. Their customers left $4,400 tip for the three workers to share, according to Grant Wise, the organizer of the dinner.
Brandt Was Told She Will Have to Divide the Tip with Others
Wise wrote on the GoFundMe fundraiser that they were hosting a $100 Dinner Club where each of the guests tipped $100 for the servers. Seeing the reactions on the servers’ faces was amazing, they added.
After Brant got the tip, she was told she would see only a part of the gratuity because she will need to divide it with the rest of the coworkers. She said that this tip was her first in three and a half years of working in this restaurant.
She claims how she was told by the restaurant to give money to the shift manager and that she’ll only take 20 percent for herself.
Wise Reacts to the Splitting of the Tips
After she gave the tip to the manager, she contacted Wise and told them what happened.
Her lawyer said that Wise contacted the owners of the restaurant about giving the woman’s money back and also gave Brandt and other servers their tip.
The owners of Oven & Tap, Mollie Mullis and Luke Wetzel, stated that they didn’t fire Brandt for keeping the tip money, emphasizing that the two other servers got tips that night, including a $2,200 one, and they were still working at the restaurant.
However, they didn’t specify the exact reason for her termination.
It Still Remains Unknown: Did Wise Know About the Tipping Policy of the Restaurant?
A representative of the restaurant explained that they’re a team and have always shared tips; however, when the guest told them that they want the tips to go directly to the servers, they honored that request.
The restaurant also added that they’ve been committed to providing quality and fair compensation to all of the restaurant team members. Their policy for tips covers other members, making sure that anyone who helps out in the success of the dinner gets rewarded.
But, according to Wise, they had contacted the restaurant in advance to learn about their tipping policy and were informed that the pooling protocol isn’t a norm; however, Mullis says Wise didn’t ask for their policy info in advance.
The restaurant claims that they usually split the credit card tips among the employees, but allow the servers to keep the full cash tip.
They also decide how to handle tips for bigger crowds on an individual basis. The owners threatened to sue Brandt as well, saying she’s made permanent damage to the reputation of the restaurant.
Brandt is currently employed as a server at another restaurant.
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