Earlier this week, Pastor Alois Bell of Word Deliverance Ministries (who, and I’m not kidding, is liberally referred to as “Prophetess” on the web) and nine other diners – five of them children – went out to a St. Louis Applebee’s for a post-service meal. As is the rule at Applebee’s, a brand of Glendale, CA‘s DineEquity, Inc., an automatic service charge of 18% (known commonly as an “autograt”) was charged due to the size of the party.
Bell apparently objected to the charge, which I get. I happen to consider those automatic charges a little obnoxious but I understand the concept, so I oblige. Depending on the service and the percentage of the autograt, I generally add a bit more onto the receipt. I know it can be pretty difficult dealing with the public. Especially when they’re hungry. And cranky. And throw kids into the mix? As someone who “waits” on my own kids every night of the week, I think servers should get a high five and a tip. But that’s just me.
But Pastor Bell objected to the tip. And rather than simply cross out the amount and go on her way – or better yet, talk to the manager – Bell decided to be snarky. And rude. And (insert your own word here).
She crossed the tip off of the bill and hand wrote a little note: I give God 10% why do you get 18[?].
Nice, huh?
t gets better. She even went to the trouble of writing in the word “Pastor” on the receipt – apparently, just to make sure that the server knew that she was really, really a good person and really did give 10% to God.
Not everyone was impressed. A picture of the receipt was posted to Reddit with the fairly brilliant retort: “My mistake sir, I’m sure Jesus will pay for my rent and groceries.”
And it caused a bit of a stir. So much of a stir, in fact, that the pastor complained to the Applebee’s. The server who posted the receipt, Chelsea Welch, was eventually fired.
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The Sunday after church crowd were allways the worst tippers
The story has gone viral: A group got together at Applebees. When the tab came the minister wrote on the ticket, “I give God 10 percent, why should I give you 18?” She scratched through the automatic large-group tip and substituted a fat zero and signed it with the word “Pastor” in front of her name. The waitress posted an image on Reddit. The pastor called to complain. The waitress got fired. The internet went wild. Last I saw, one story had 80,000 comments and counting.
In reality, the pastor simply exposed something that is all too common to Christian thinking: the sense that giving to the church and to religious charities is the be-all and end all of generosity. As indignant reactions to the Applebee’s incident show, service workers sometimes pay the price: