(Updated below)
St. Louis pastor Alois Bell is under fire after leaving a nasty note for her waiter at a local Applebee’s restaurant.
The pastor was upset that a tip was included on her check – something the restaurant does for groups with over eight individuals.
Pastor Alois Bell now says she’s sorry.
The meal came after an evening service at the Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries church. (Smoking Gun)
FOX 2 reported:
A pastor says when she left a snide comment on a receipt, she did use bad judgement, but she did leave a tip. The St. Louis pastor found herself at the center of a viral mess when her receipt was posted to the online site, “Reddit”. It happened at an area Applebee’s Restaurant, according to the pastor.
“What they didn’t show is the money that I left and that we all left on the table,” said Pastor Bell. She says she left $6.29 on the table and her credit card was also charged the tip amount. Everyone else at the table also left tips in cash.
When the receipt was posted to Reddit, reportedly by a server, people started sending her messages. “I’ve actually been harassed because of this and it doesn’t tell the whole story,” Pastor Bell says. While she admits it was a lapse in judgement, she says she and her ministry do good work around the community and would never want to tarnish the light of Christianity.
Hat Tip Ed
UPDATE: The waitress says she was fired for posting the receipt on the internet.
UPDATE 2: Pastor Alois Bell called the restaurant today and got the waitress fired.
Yahoo reported:
An Applebee’s waitress who posted a receipt with a note from a pastor complaining about the automatic gratuity added to the bill on the Internet was fired on Wednesday after the pastor complained to her manager.
Chelsea Welch, the waitress, wrote in an email to Yahoo News that the pastor (who has since been identified as Alois Bell) told Welch’s manager at the St. Louis-area Applebee’s that the ensuing firestorm had “ruined” her reputation.