A Minnesota ice cream shop employee was fired after the shop owners accused him of taking advantage of an elderly customer with “dementia” after the customer tipped $100 in the tip jar.
Seth and Lisa Swenson say their adult daughter Emily, who worked at The Freeze in Moorhead, Minn., for five seasons, was canned after a fall at a roadside eatery last month. claims.
According to the newspaper, Emily had just finished serving a customer when a customer tried to leave her with a large bill, even though the employee said he couldn’t take it. Family Facebook post.
“My daughter was offered a $100 tip, but she told the customer she couldn’t take it. The customer put $100 in the tip box and drove off,” the couple said.
At the end of the employee’s shift, management at The Freeze allegedly became furious with Emily and accused her of “accepting” a large tip.
Two days later, on April 24, the company provided Emily with an “employee warning letter” requesting “corrective action.”
“Emily needs to understand that some of its customers are elderly and may suffer from dementia or other illnesses that make it difficult to understand their behavior,” the store said in a notice. Stated.
“No one in their right mind would tip $100 at a restaurant where everything on the menu is under $12,” the notice shared by the Swensons continued.
Ironically, the ice cream shop became concerned about its public image within the community after word got out that its employees received large tips.
“As an employee of The Freeze, it is your responsibility to protect the establishment’s reputation. If a customer is dealing with an issue and her family finds out that she was allowed to put $100 in the tip jar… If this happens, The Freeze will be looked down upon as a place that takes advantage of the elderly. Customer care should be prioritized over the opportunity to receive a tip.”
Emily was fired the next day, and her family argued that the large tip violated Moorhead Freeze’s policy of accepting bills of $20 or more as payment.
“The policy says nothing about tip amounts,” the Swensons argued.
The store fired back at the family’s social media post the next day, claiming that Emily was not fired for tipping, contradicting a warning notice it handed out days earlier.
“We did not terminate an adult at-will employee with five years of service because he received tips. There is more to the story,” Schopf said. In a Facebook post.
It wasn’t clear how old Emily was, but the roadside ice cream stand was an exception for her parents, who went above and beyond for their “adult daughter.”
“We won’t go into details because it’s a personal matter. But we think that if parents are posting for their adult children, they may not be asking the right questions of their adult daughters.” ” the store said.
“We are a small business built on a strong work ethic and Moorhead values. Our values and expectations reflect those of our community and customers,” the post said. continued. “Ice cream makes people happy. There’s not a lot of bullying on social media.”
Emily’s family said she did not blame the client for her termination.
“Our daughter appreciates the generosity of the woman who gave the tip and feels that this kind woman is not responsible in any way for what happened,” the couple said.
In February, a coffee shop worker in Michigan was fired for splitting a $10,000 tip with other front desk staff and upsetting kitchen staff for not sharing the hefty gift with them. .
Lindsey Huff, also known as Boyd, collected a huge tip of $32.43 from customers at the Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor during a nearby funeral for a friend.
As eight servers walked away with about $1,200 each, the anonymous man who left behind information that has now gone viral in honor of his late friend asks the service staff to split the $10,000 into chunks. Was.
Disgruntled backroom staff were angry at Huff for not receiving a tip of approximately 31,000%, and drama soon unfolded, causing problems within the staff.
