Using God as a Scapegoat?

You can read the article below, look at my synopsis, or both (which I prefer!)

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/applebees-waitress-fired-pastor-receipt-193820748.html

Synopsis:  In short, Applebees fired a waitress who posted to Reddit a copy of a receipt in which the autotip kicked in (8+ people in party) and the pastor who was paying the bill marked out the tip of 18%, wrote a zero, and remarked (in writing) “I give God 10%, why do you get 18?”.

Now, we can look at the usuals:

1)  The waitress was tired and worn-out and just vented a bit.

2)  The Pastor was upset at the amount and chose an interesting way to state her anger.

3)  Applebees was trying to keep from being sued.

But, I think I will go with the angle of using God as a scapegoat to protest paying a tip.  The biggest problem is that, unless I have lost it, Applebees prints this autotip process in the menu.  If it is a problem, then everyone should pay their own way or split the ticket in half and the Pastor pays for both.

Next, 18% is 2% less than the 20% expected on a food bill and, while I find that quite a bit of money, I know that waitresses make $2.15 / hour (up $0.10 an hour from when I waited tables in late 70s and early 80s).  At between $80 and $100 per week paid by the restaurant, it is difficult to make ends meet for most waiters/waitresses.  If I am waiting a table for 9 people, getting stiffed will ruin me for the night as I will devote more to that table than to several other smaller ones because I will have to.  Usually, someone else will cover my smaller tables for that time.  To go 1/2 hour or more without tips is bad on the paycheck.  So, knowing I will get a bit less than 20%, but will get something makes me work harder.

Now, at no time did the Pastor ever say that the waitress didn’t do an excellent job.  She just complained about the tip.

This is what really bothers me:  if I make $400 week and tithe 10%, I give God $40.  That doesn’t mean that I can complain that I pay $45 week in gas or $85 in groceries because “I give God 10%”.   This Pastor is, in my opinion, using God as a scapegoat to complain about prices.  I find that people do this with religion all the time.  When religion makes a demand about something, it’s not right to use that rule or obligation as a source of complaint about other things.  It simply struck me wrong.

What I wonder is that, since the Pastor wasn’t asking or thinking that the waitress should be fired for what happened, then why isn’t she standing up for this person and saying, “Hey, I won’t be coming back to your restaurant if you are going to be that bad about this.”  I mean, she complained, but a simple “I am sorry.” might have sufficed.  Why didn’t Applebees ask the Pastor what she expected as compensation?  Why just fire the waitress for this?

Now, as a last thing, just to be fair, I suppose it would be good if the policy was to let the party know, up front, that they would be getting the autotip for the meal; however, should the waitress be responsible for saying something negative to her customers?  I fault Applebees for firing the waitress and the Pastor for not reading well enough.  She should have known that 20% was the usual and expected to pay that and been happy to save the 2% – she could have given that extra 2% to God…now, that, probably, never occurred to anyone.

What do you think?

Namaste,

Scott