People aren’t as willing to part with money as they use to be and when it comes to tipping, some folk are a little more careful with their extra few cent.
When a woman decided to opt out of a 12.5% service charge placed on her bill by at a London eatery she most certainly did not expect to receive an angry text from her waiter moments later.
But that is exactly what happened Olivia Cook following a meal at Big Easy in Covent Garden on September 26th.
According to The Metro, approximately 20 minutes after Cook had left the restaurant she received a passive aggressive iMessage from a member of staff.
The badly worded text expressed the waiter’s frustration at the lack of tip, which totalled to around £12 (€15).
The messages read in full: “I am your waiter thanks for tips… Shame. Yes shame you need understand that we working and we are person respect before was better if you complaint me poor pe pole. Shame I’m no slave I’m person sorry.”[sic]
Cook believes the waiter was able to get her details from the establishment’s online booking system.
“My first reaction was panic,” she wrote in her official complain to Big Easy.
“I had left the restaurant alone, and now a stranger was texting me on my phone, angry I had not left a tip. As a woman alone in London late at night, it was unsettling”.
“Then I wondered how he had got my number,” she continued.
“Slowly I realised he must have gone onto your online booking system to retrieve my name and number, so he could send me this message. He would also have seen my email address and postcode – something I was quite upset about”.
Adding: “I am beyond furious that your staff feel this is appropriate to do this”.
Owner of the establishment, Paul Corrett, issued an apology to Olivia for any distress caused and confirmed that the waiter had been “dismissed”.
“The Big Easy prides itself on the quality of the customers experience, from service to food we strive for perfection, and incidents like this are taken extremely seriously by the entire team,” he said.
“Following a thorough investigation, it has been established that this was an isolated incident and the actions of one rogue individual, who has subsequently been dismissed.
“We are extremely apologetic for any distress caused to this customer and have kept her informed at every stage of the investigation.
“We regret that a customer of Big Easy has had this experience, in over 25 years of business and many millions of happy customers, we have never had anything like this happen before and are determined that nothing similar will happen in the future”.
