A recently fired Outback Steakhouse server posted on social media after a local mega church didn’t tip her on a $735 takeout bill.
Wednesday night, Christ Fellowship Church called in the delivery order. A church member said Outback was running late, so they sent a volunteer to pick it up. They were hosting a conference at their Palm Beach Gardens location.
Tamalyn Yoder helped with the order.
“When I brought it out and put it in the car and received the payment, there was no gratuity. I got upset. I posted a post on Facebook about the church not leaving a gratuity tip,” Tamalyn said. “We live off of tips. If we don’t have that then we have nothing.”
A friend of Tamalyn saw the post and called Christ Fellowship to complain the next day.
The church said the volunteer sent to pick up the food didn’t know about its policy to tip on takeout orders.
“Coming in to eat or takeout, you should automatically be wanting to tip 15%. From there you either go up or you go down, based on service,” she said.
Trying to make it right, the church called Outback Thursday to offer a tip to the stiffed waitress. When Tamalyn showed up to work later that day she was fired. Outback’s policy does not allow social media posts about customers.
“I feel that we should be allowed to say something especially to big parties that don’t leave anything...they pay the exact amount. I probably would still do it the same way. I wouldn’t change anything,” Yoder said about the post and subsequent firing. She wanted to raise awareness about parties that don’t tip.
Christ Fellowship says it never intended for anyone to lose their job.
“The church did reach out to me, they are trying to rectify the whole thing. And I thank them,” Tamalyn said.
The church called it a ‘misunderstanding.’
Tamalyn is looking for a job as a waitress and hopes to own her own restaurant one day.
