A server who received a $10,000 tip at a Michigan restaurant last week has been fired.
The Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor reported last week, on a since-deleted Facebook post, that the server had earned a massive $10,000 tip on a $32 check. The tip was split nine ways with other staff members.
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This week, rumors started circulating on social media that the restaurant had fired the server. The restaurant confirmed the news with a Facebook post on Thursday, saying it had nothing to do with the tip:
A claim has been made about a recent employee of ours. We can not comment on the nature of her losing her job due to labor laws and to protect the staff involved. However, I will say it had nothing to do with the tip. She did receive the entire tip, she did not pay taxes on it (the business did). Yes, she shared the tip at the request of the man that left it.
We do truly care about our staff. We’ve had the same crew for 5-6 years. We have college girls that come home every summer and have been for four years now, we take our staff up north at the end of every summer season, we give donations for college funds for them, we kept them employed through Covid, we do everything in our power not to lose staff.
We hope it is clear this was not a decision made lightly or hastily.
The Mason Jar Cafe
Many fans of the restaurant aren’t accepting the statement as enough of an explanation, with more than 800 comments on the post. One woman said, “When she received the tip, you had nothing but good things to say about her and now you fired her. There are always 3 sides to every story.”
Another commenter said, “You can give all the kindness in the world and you can list all the good you’ve done for your employees but firing her days after she received that tip doesn’t make sense. I know that there’s two sides to every story, but this is super coincidental.”