Some Gays ... Oy!

It was just over a month ago that I posted a tale of the server in a restaurant that was stiffed — meaning the guest did not leave a tip — because he was gay. The guests told him so in a vile little note they left for him — see that post HERE — and now it seems to have happened again.

Dayna Morales, an openly gay former Marine and a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, Connecticut posted a photo on Facebook of a bill she’d given one of her guests, with a line running through the space for a tip and a note that read:

"I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle."

Morales said, on both her Facebook page and in media interviews that followed, that the guest left no tip at all and wrote the note.

Disgusting, no? Sad, in this day and age, no? True, no? Maybe not.

A family — who wish to remain anonymous — has come forward claiming the receipt Morales posted was theirs from the restaurant, but that they did leave a tip and never wrote those words on the receipt.

The husband and wife offered as proof a credit card receipt from the restaurant that seems to have been printed at the same minute, on the same date, for the same $93.55 total, except they left an $18 tip. And, they also included a bill from their Visa account that indicates their card was charged for $111.55 — $93.55 plus an $18 tip.

The couple believes their receipt was used for a hoax, and the wife says, "We've never not left a tip when someone gave good service, and we would never leave a note like that."

She added that she is left-handed and could not have made the slash in the tip line.

Morales maintains that she did not receive a tip from that charge and insisted that the handwriting on the receipt wasn’t hers. When she was asked if there had been some kind of misunderstanding, she said, "I don't know, all I know is what I've been saying."

Both a manager and the restaurant owner insisted they had the original ticket for the $93.55 charge, but would not produce the original receipt; they could also not explain why the couple’s credit card was charged for the bill plus the gratuity. The restaurant owner later said he was aware of the allegations and had no comment pending an internal investigation.

However, the couple seems to have an explanation for what might have happened. It seems that when the hostess sat their party, she told the group their serve would be “Dan” and when Dayna appeared, the wife says she said, “Whoa, you're not Dan."

And in fact, Morales wrote in her Facebook post that the wife said, "Oh I thought you were gonna say your name is Dan. You sure surprised us!"

After that little gaffe, the couple says everything else was just fine. They say the reason they came forward is because the story didn’t seem to be going away, and because Morales kept saying that people from all over the world were sending her tips, which she would donate to the Wounded Warrior Project. That kind of rubbed them the wrong way, with the wife saying, "I just felt like people have a right to know that -- it's fine if people want to donate to her or to the Wounded Warriors, but they're doing it under a false pretense."

Who do you believe? I’ll tell you my theory.

It all began with “Dan”. I imagine Morales told some of her co-workers what happened and maybe the idea was hatched through them. But then how do we explain that the manager and owner say they have a receipt for the $93.55 bill, with the note, but won’t present it. And how did Morales get the $18 tip the family said they left if, in fact, there was no tip on the bill. Funny, though, that the amount charged to the card is the amount the husband and wife said they spent.

I get a feeling that, because of that other story, and all the publicity it spurred, that maybe this story was 'crafted’ for a little media attention and then spun out when the couple came forward.

It’s too bad, though because it makes The Gays look bad. Again.

But then I guess that proves we are just like everyone else.

source