A server at a restaurant in Arkansas was brought to tears after a group of guests left a massive tip. But this once-in-a-lifetime moment was overshadowed when she lost her job two weeks later.
According to USA Today, she alleges that she lost her job because of the big tip.
In an Instagram video, real estate agent Grant Wise can be seen talking to his table at the Oven and Tap restaurant in Bentonville, Arkansas. He goes on to say that their server, Ryan Brandt, will be receiving a $4,400 tip, to be shared with another server who also worked the table.
The group was reportedly the “$100 Dinner Club.”
“We knew servers were really hit hard through COVID, and it was something that we had come up with to help give back,” said Grant Wise, who dined at the eatery following a conference in town, per CBS 5.
But the restaurant manager had other plans — he instructed Brandt to pool in the tip with others who didn’t serve the generous party, an arrangement she hadn’t witnessed in the three years of working at the restaurant.
- “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,” said Brandt, according to Fox News.
After she handed over the tip, Brandt reached out to Wise and told him what had happened. He was upset since he had made sure to check in with the restaurant about any such policies.
- “Our team contacted (Oven and Tap) to get a reservation and confirm their policies surrounding tip sharing or tip pooling to get confirmation that they did not have such a policy,” he wrote, per USA Today. “We went back to (Oven and Tap) and got the tip money back and tipped the servers directly outside of the restaurant to make sure they got their money.”
The report added that Brandt said she was fired after the restaurant owner found out she had contacted Wise.
- Oven and Tap released a statement in response: “We recognize and regret that a recent incident in our restaurant could have been handled differently by reminding our team how we would be splitting any tips prior to the event. Tip sharing is a common restaurant industry practice that we follow to ensure all of our team members are adequately compensated for their hard work,” they said, per the report.
Since then, Wise has started a GoFundMe to raise money for Brandt, who now has another job. Currently, the GoFundMe has $15,145 in donations. Wise will also host another “$100 Dinner Club” to raise money for Brandt and any excess money will be given to another group of servers.