I am of the opinion that poor tippers are doing a disservice to their servers, and even if you don't feel your service was particularly good, it's better to bless that person than to try to teach them some sort of lesson by being chintzy.
But even if you feel the same, does that justify restaurants using social media to publicly humilitate customers who tip poorly, and more so, to call them out by name if they are public figures?
Apparently the owner of a Philadelphia restaurant called PYT thought so, and chose to do that very thing when Philadelphia Eagle LeSean McCoy left a
20 cent tip on a check of $61.56. According to the restaurant owner, he alone made the decision to post the receipt on PYT's Facebook page after the staff bent over backwards to give good service to McCoy and his friends, only to be disappointed by the meager tip.
I think it's wrong to do that to a server, and the fact that you make big money really has nothing to do with it. If you can afford a $60 lunch, you can afford a decent tip. But I still have a big problem with what this restaurant owner did.
For one thing, as we've told you here before, this whole trend of posting customer receipts on
social media has been characterized by hoaxes more than once. We don't have any evidence that was the case this time, but it ought to bother you that this practice has been mainstreamed by people who are often complete liars.
But in a more basic sense, what kind of business practice is it for establishments to publicly attack their customers? If you enter a public establishment hoping to be served, do you now have to walk on eggshells for fear that saying or doing the wrong thing might lead to your server or your server's boss going on Facebook and calling you out? The customer may be king, but now your server apparently has the last word, because once you walk out the door there is always social media that can be used as a weapon against you - including the possible use of sales receipts that show part of your credit card number.
Finally: I suppose I'm drifting into spiritual teaching here, but when someone does you wrong, the better thing to do is to forgive and not to lash out - especially in such a high-profile and angry way.
I have no idea why LeSean McCoy tipped his server so poorly. I suspect he was unjustified in doing so, but it's really none of my business and none of yours. We don't all need to see every wrong action that every person takes, no matter who they are. And if someone does you wrong, while I understand the impulse to get revenge by publicly humiliating that person, you're not going to make yourself whole in any way by giving in to it.
