“One Week I’m Amazing, Now I’m Jobless”: Waitress Who Was Tipped $10k Gets Fired

An American server was sacked from her job after scoring a whopping $10,000 tip, sparking lawsuit threats and a stir among co-workers who missed out on the cash frenzy. Linsey Huff, who also goes by the last name Boyd, a waitress from Michigan, was fired after receiving the bonus of a lifetime but refused to tell on her co-workers, who had complained about not getting a cut. Linsey also claimed the restaurant’s owners where she worked threatened to sue her.

Linsey had reportedly collected the super generous gratuity off a bill amounting to a total of $32.43 from a customer named Mark at the Mason Jar Cafe, where she worked, while he was in the area for a friend’s funeral earlier this month.

Mark, who left the now-viral tip in honor of his late friend, had requested the $10,000 be split among the service staff, as eight of the servers walked away with approximately $1,200 each, The New York Post reported.

However, kitchen staff were left feeling snubbed over the immense tip, reportedly getting angry with Linsey for not getting a cut of the nearly 31,000% tip. Soon after, the drama started to unfold at the venue located in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA, causing significant conflict among the workers.

Linsey Huff was fired after receiving a $10,000 tip and refused to tell on her co-workers, who had complained about not getting a cut

Image credits: Sam Dan Truong/Unsplash

Linsey had reportedly gone to management to assist with appeasing the tensions, but her employers wanted to know who was causing the issues.

Jennifer McManus, Linsey’s lawyer, told The Guardian that her client had told her bosses: “I’m not going to give any of their names … because I don’t want to create a bigger issue. 

“I would just like some assistance in getting this resolved.”

Jennifer reportedly claimed the restaurant fired her client after she was unwilling to reveal her angered co-workers’ identities.

Linsey, who is a divorced mother-of-two, took to her social media to shed more light on the conflict

Image credits: WSBT-TV

Upon learning about her work termination, Linsey, who is a divorced mother-of-two, took to her social media to shed more light on the conflict that had been unfolding before management had asked her to take a day off as a mental health day, according to the Detroit Free Press, citing a now-deleted Facebook post.

Linsey also revealed that she had been asked to take an additional day off before asking her employers if they were trying to tell her “in a professional way to not come back.” Which her bosses finally confirmed during a phone call the following day. 

Her Facebook post read: “One week I’m such an amazing, hardworking employee, awesome mother … couldn’t have happened to a better person. 

“Now, I’m without a job, for the first time since I was 15 years old.”

A customer named Mark left a generous tip on a bill amounting to a total of $32.43 in honor of his dead friend, requesting the total to be split among the service staff

Image credits: Mason Jar Cafe

The saddened mother allegedly received a phone call from a Mason Jar Cafe manager, informing her the restaurant had attained attorneys to file a lawsuit against her unless she deleted the Facebook post, The Post reported.

Jennifer claimed the threat was enough for her client to erase the post, which “truthfully” documented the firing. The restaurant’s threat also included suing “for her full estate.”

The lawyer further told The Guardian: “She kind of chuckled [at that] and said, ‘Well, good luck — I’m a waitress. There’s not an estate here.’”

The venue’s owners, Able Martinez and Jayme Cousins, reportedly denied the claims and said Linsey’s termination was “purely a business decision.”

Linsey allegedly received a call from a Mason Jar Cafe manager, informing her they had attained attorneys to file a lawsuit against her unless she deleted a Facebook post

Image credits: Google Maps

Able and Jayme wrote on Facebook: “I will say it had nothing to do with the tip. 

“She did receive the entire tip, she did not pay taxes on it (the business did). 

“Yes, she shared the tip at the request of the man that left it.”

They added: “We do truly care about our staff.”

The venue’s owners, Able Martinez, and Jayme Cousins, denied the claims and said Linsey’s termination was “purely a business decision”

Image credits: CBS 7

Lawyer Jennifer slammed the restaurant’s ownership for firing her client, pointing out the bill between food service management and their employees.

She told The Guardian: “The people with the money … control the narrative, and the people that work for them understand that and often have to cower because of that.”

The restaurant’s venue had initially reacted positively to Mark’s generosity, with manager Tim Sweeney telling The Hill at the time: “Typically, we’ll see every now and then $100 (tips). But not ever anything of this gratitude or magnitude.”

Tim had also said he felt “absolute disbelief to begin with” before confirming the amount with the customer. “We went back and forth. I had a conversation with him. He wanted to proceed. [The waitress] was absolutely shocked.”

The manager went on to reveal that staffers were quite moved by the gesture, a very different picture painted than what the recent drama suggests. 

Tim said: “Any time you can lend a hand and change somebody’s life — whether it’s a small act or a large act — it’s very important to just keep that in the forefront, keep that top of mind. 

“A little bit goes a long way. In this situation, a lot goes a long way.”

“Seems impossible for people to act right anytime money is involved,” a reader commented

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