See, this is why I think tipping is such a bullshit part of our society. For all the people who preach that people in the service industry ‘survive on their tips,’ I want you to get a load of this f*cking lady and tell me that all servers deserve 20%.
This is EXACTLY why the managers need to be paying waitresses regular minimum wage. I’m not the one who gets to hire these people, so why should I have to pay them? Whoever owns/runs/manages this IHOP or whatever, literally hired a person who was willing to hold a deadly weapon to not only a family but a family with two special needs children. And yet, I’m sure this very same woman has gotten 20-25% tips strictly because people ‘feel for her’ and her life as a waitress. Little do they know that very same waitress will be willing to cut you at a moment’s notice like you’re in the middle of the Marcy Houses.
Via NBC:
The mother tells NBC 4 New York she, her husband and their two kids, who are both younger than 4 and have special medical and learning needs, had poor service at the pancake house on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa Friday morning. They asked to speak to the manager and the manager asked them to leave. The mother says the family got up to leave, but heard another waitress comment about the kids’ disabilities and turned back around.
At that point, the mother alleges, “all the wait staff engulfed us,” an argument ensued and the waitress who had been serving the family, Rhonda Kelly, grabbed a steak knife and threatened the parents and kids. The mother said another IHOP employee snatched the knife from the server. The family left.
According to authorities, Kelly was arrested on a charge of menacing and released on an appearance ticket. She’s due in court later this month.
The owner of the Massapequa IHOP franchise, Camile Gnolfo, released a statement on the matter:
“This was a situation that would be difficult for anyone to imagine and we wish the outcome had been different. Multiple employees reacted to what they viewed as an immediate threat to their personal safety,” Gnolfo said in the statement.
