Updated, November 27, 2018: The post about the tip was removed from Monarch & the Milkweed’s social media sites on Monday.
On Small Business Saturday, a small business owner in Burlington publicly defied the long-standing adage,” the customer is always right,” and posted on social media the restaurant receipt of a customer who left no tip. On a bill for $48.94, in the line reserved for a tip, the patron wrote 0.00.
But it wasn’t the lack of tip that compelled Andrew LeStourgeon, owner of Monarch & the Milkweed, to post a photo of the receipt on Instagram and Facebook. It was the comment the customer left for the server that prompted his action, he said.
In capital letters, the customer printed: “YOU LOOKED @ MY ID AND DID NOT SAY HAPPY B-DAY.”
Accompanying the image of the receipt, LeStourgeon posted a series of hashtag comments under the phrase OMG, including: #outrageous #tipcovered, #getalife, #happybirthday #birthdayzilla, #wtf.
“I knew I was pushing a button, but I didn’t know it would be a wildfire,” LeStourgeon told Seven Days. “I don’t regret it.”
By 1 p.m. on Sunday, the post had accrued 585 “likes” on Instagram and 169 comments. On Facebook, the tally at that time was 207 likes and 84 comments.
“The reason I posted it is because, now that I am a small-business owner — and, ironically, it was on Small Business Saturday — I have spent a lot of time reflecting that some people treat small businesses as a one-way relationship,” LeStourgeon said. “There are people who forget that they still need to adhere to the basic principles of being a human being. My definition of hospitality does not involve mistreatment on either side of that relationship.”
The response online to Monarch’s post covers a range of opinions, with the majority seeming to cheer the post while agreeing with LeStourgeon that the customer’s comment is inappropriate.
But some people wrote that the post is an example of “public shaming” and an “unprofessional” response by Monarch. The customer’s note called for “compassion,” not bullying, one person wrote.
Other commenters expressed concern that the photo posted on social media includes the customer’s name and last four digits of a credit card number. Some people noted that they don’t always know what the date is, or that when checking IDs for proof of age you look at the year, not the precise day. The online discussion includes commentary on the culture of tipping, and what it means when a person’s wage is determined in part by a discretionary gratuity.
One Facebook commenter wrote: “Restaurateurs stay quiet way too often for fear of political (correctness) retribution for sharing their true feelings. This customer behaved badly.”
On Instagram, a commenter called the customer a profanity before observing, “there are 365 days in a year and 7 billion humans, it’s always someone’s birthday.” Another person wrote: “prolly [sic] has expectations of a free birthday dessert as well…” One commenter posted: “It just goes to show you that every detail of customer service is a detail to notice. Not everyone believes that [a] tip is entitled. They’ll probably say it next time.”
Other people thought the post was an overreaction, including this opinion: “This is something you complain to your coworker about, not put on Instagram for a public shaming.”
Some commenters were unimpressed by both the customer and the restaurant: “I love the Monarch, and I think it’s shitty not to tip, and I also think the public shaming response seems kind of petty.”
On Instagram, LeStourgeon thanked people for the online discussion, adding: “All valid!”
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What is not mentioned in your article is the number of posts that were deleted from the comments on the Instagram and Facebook accounts because monarch and milkeeeds owner didnt agree with what was being said. I find the public shaming and sharing of a persons name In poor taste and said so and in both cases, I was blocked from the conversation. If you want the right to post controversial content on social media then man up and let everyone comment.
This tip debate always makes its way into print around the Christmas/holiday season. I worked in a restaurant for tips for long time when I was younger. I always found that for every $50 check with no tip or $100 check with a 10% tip I got a $10 tip on a $20 check or a $50 tip on a $150 check. It all evens out over the course of a night, week, month.
This is awesome. People are so intently focused on themselves and what they want. A grown person got upset because the waiter didn’t “wish them happy birthday”? When did we become a nation of spoiled children? Grow up. Stop whining. I’m glad this was posted to expose the ridiculousness and entitlement of this person. Shame away. Might actually do some good. Anyone who’s ever waited tables for a living would probably agree.
Why is the waiter entitled to a tip? I say this as someone who waited tables. Frankly, I think the concept of tipping as part of the salary is ridiculous but that is a different conversation. Yes, the birthday person is a brat but who knows if that note tells the entire story. Maybe the waiter/ess was a jerk and the note was left as a way to bother them. Maybe the waiter/ess did everything right except noticing the customer’s birthday. One never knows what is going to trigger getting stiffed or over-tipped. It’s part of the deal when you wait tables and as I said, it evens out over time. Feeling entitled to a tip based on the amount of the bill is the same type of entitlement the birthday person felt in wanting everyone to celebrate his/her birthday.
No on is required to tip and a poor way to pay the overhead of a business. I was always taught that a tip was for exceptional service. I expect someone to take my order when I sit down, I expect my food to be at my table, that’s part of the business. I don’t tip the person checking me out at Wal-Mart, or at Hannaford’s. I get that people who wait tables have a very hard job but the owner of that business is getting free help.
Mark Lade – the waiter is entitled to a tip, unless the service was particularly poor, because that is how waiters get paid. Do you think the waiter should work basically for free or at a loss? If you want to change the law to ensure waiters get paid regardless of tip, feel free. Meantime, this is the world we live in.
In any case it wasn’t the waiter posting the receipt on social media, it was the restaurant.
Waiters and waitresses are not entitled to tips. They are required to earn minimum wage and if the amount they are tipped does not meet minimum wage for the week then the employer has to make up the difference. At least that is how it was when I waited tables.
One of my pet peeves as a small business owner was the the stupid customer bill of rights that was frequently posted at other small businesses. The customer is not always right! The customer and the business owner both should treat each other respectfully.
The article doesnt mention Monarch deleting comments that didnt fit their narrative, or the fact that the hashtags have been edited here, I have a screenshot of #birthdaybitch, find it on yelp. On that same yelp you can find comments from the owner essentially attacking reviewers for their negative reviews.
This guy is just a nobody bully.
Wait staff earn their living through tips. As a patron, you MUST build this into the cost of the meal/experience. If you are going to short a server, there should be a major reason. And to be clear: not saying happy b-day is not a major reason.
This system may be wrong, that may be true, but taking a stance on the tips-as-wages system on one particular server isn’t advancing the cause. It’s just screwing over an individual who doesn’t deserve it.
Seriously. There needs to be a pause feature on any post, anywhere, all the time. If the post is relevant after say, six hours, then its go time. It seems like these ill timed posts (that have literally closed businesses) needed a pause before you post. IMHO.
How about we just get rid of tipping and pay people a fair wage because tipping is classist and demeaning?
Wow. Way to treat your customers…I think I know someone that’s not going to be in business very long, even if the person he was shaming is an a hole.
Maybe a better use of the owner’s time would have been to contact the customer and find out what happened with her service. I wouldn’t be surprised if not acknowledging her birthday wasn’t the central problem. If it was, and as petty as that would be, a quick apology and the offer to make it up to her with a drink or dessert upon her next visit would have been a good way to handle this. I suppose posting the receipt is another.
Shame on Citizen Cider for liking this post, as well.
Didnt the business owner learn anything from the Magnolia closing? Lotsa Luck. Now I have one more reason not to be a patron.
justoneview – One more reason ? Like the fact that it’s terribly overpriced .