Waitress who got $4,400 tip is fired by her manager for revealing that he made her split the money with other staff
A waitress who received a $4,400 tip from a group of good Samaritans to split between her and another server has been fired from her job after the restaurant manager forced her to cough up most of the money.
Grant Wise, who owns a local real estate company, organized the ‘$100 Dinner Club’ to dine at the Oven and Tap in Bentonville, Arkansas, earlier this month, with each member contributing a $100 tip.
Wise told KNWA he called the restaurant ahead of the outing to confirm that its servers did not share tips, and as he presented one of the waitresses, Ryan Brandt, with a check for $4,400 to split between her and another waitress who served the group, she was left in tears.
But soon after, Brandt said, restaurant managers told her she would have to split the tip with all of her co-workers – something she said they have not requested in the three and a half years she has worked there.
‘I was told that I was going to be giving my cash over to my shift manager and I would be taking home 20 percent,’ Brandt told FOX 59, noting that she had never been asked to split her tip before in the three and a half years she worked there.
Brandt, who studied Spanish at the University of Arkansas, said she was ‘devastated’ at having to fork over the large tip as she had planned to use the money to help pay off her student loans.
A few days later, Wise found out that Brandt had been fired for ‘violating’ the restaurant’s rules by telling Wise about its tip policy.
Wise posted on social media, he had found out that Brandt was fired from her job.
‘I’m so saddened to hear that the girl we tipped the other night at our $100 Dinner Club has been fired from her job,’ he wrote on Facebook.
‘I don’t fully understand why this would happen to what seems like such a sweet and kind-hearted woman.
‘Nonetheless, I’m committed to showing her that there are great people in the world that will do good when they can.’
He repeated that sentiment in a video he posted on YouTube, in which he announced that he would put together a GoFundMe for the waitress.
‘I hope that we can help this girl stay on top, and not let something like this get her down,’ he said, noting: ‘I don’t fully understand it … but I want to do as much as we can to help.’
In a statement to FOX 59, Oven and Tap officials said: ‘After dining, this large group of guests requested that their gratuity be given to two particular servers. We fully honored their request.
‘Out of respect for our highly valued team members, we do not discuss the details surrounding the termination of an employee.
Wise wrote in the online fundraiser that he wanted to help Brandt ‘get through the next couple o months, and to hopefully find a new job opportunity,’ noting that he does ‘not know Ryan outside of her waiting on us in the past’ and does ‘not know what type of employee she was outside of what I personally experienced and what we’ve read from other people commenting that were her regulars.
‘My only goal is to help her get through this experience with the least amount of stress and anxiety possible and onto whatever her next opportunity may be.’
On Thursday, Wise posted an update saying Brandt was offered a job at another restaurant, and began work on December 8.
He shut down the fundraiser on Saturday, after it surpassed $8,700.