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Waitress Fired After Refusing To Split Her $4,400 Tip With The Restaurant
Promptly fired right after.
The Arkansas waitress who was beyond elated for receiving $4,400 tips from a group of people dining late at night had been fired from the restaurant after refusing to split up the money with the manager and other waiters. Ryan Brandt refused to give up 80% of her tips with the restaurant.
The real estate company CEO had brought his “$100 Dinner Club” to the diner Oven and Tap in Bentonville, Arkansas, for dinner with his friends.
In a shocking turn of events, she and the other waitress (who had to leave before this video from feeling unwell) received $100 in tips from each person, totaling a generous amount of $4,400.
Wise recalled, “It was an incredible thing to do, and to see her reaction was awesome, to see what that meant to her, the impact that it’s had on her life already.”
But not long after she got it, Brandt was asked by her managers to split up her tips with the other workers. Suddenly, for the first time in her three and a half years working there, she was allowed to bring home only 20% of her tips, she shared with FOX 59.
“I was told that I was going to be giving my cash over to my shift manager, and I would be taking home 20 percent,” she recalled what she was told.
Brandt shared, “It was devastating; I borrowed a significant amount for student loans. Most of them were turned off because of the pandemic, but they’re turning back on in January, and that’s a harsh reality.”
After splitting the money with the other waitress, she was planning to use the money to help lighten up her student loans. The Spanish major from the University of Arkansas told the issue to Wise, who later asked their money back from the manager as he gave them back to Brandt right in front of the restaurant.
The restaurant’s owner has refused to reveal their reason for firing Brandt.
But she was fired after the incident for “violating” the policy by telling Grant about what happened.
Wise himself confirms the restaurant did not have a tip-sharing policy, saying that he’d called the place beforehand to make sure of it. He asked for two servers, one of whom had to leave early as she felt unwell.
One of her friends commented, “Ryan is a good friend of mine, and I 1000% can guarantee she is the most deserving person of this kindness. Oven and Tap, we’ll never dine with you again!”
The “$100 Dinner Club” idea came from a friend who thought of how they could give back to servers who are most hardly hit by the pandemic.
Upon hearing about the issue, Grant Wise has decided to use his platform to share about her plight and started a GoFundMe page for her. Over $8,700 was raised before it was closed down as the woman had found a job at another place.
The restaurant was Wise and his wife’s favorite place to dine which was why they chose that place.
Co-owner of Oven and Tap Mollie Mullis denied ever receiving a call from Wise, “They did not call ahead and ask about our tipping policy, nor did they email. Because of the customer’s request, we honored it and handed it out to the servers that they asked us to distribute it to.”
“My only goal is to help her get through this experience with the least amount of stress and anxiety possible and onto whatever her next opportunity may be.”
