After the story went viral recently that a gay waitress at a NJ restaurant was left a hateful note about her lifestyle in lieu of a tip, a family has come forward to say that they did in fact tip that waitress and never left any such note. And they’ve provided a copy of their receipt as well as what they claim is a credit card bill that disputes the waitress’ story.
From NBC News4 NY:
Dayna Morales, a former Marine and a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, posted a photo on Facebook earlier this month, showing the bill with a line through the space for a tip. The photo of the receipt showed someone had written, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle.”
Morales indicated in her Facebook post, and in subsequent media interviews — including with NBC 4 New York — that the customer wrote that line.
But a family contacted NBC 4 New York claiming their receipt from the restaurant shows they did leave a tip, and provided what they said was a credit card statement as proof.
The husband and wife, who asked to remain anonymous, showed NBC 4 New York a receipt that appeared to be printed at the same minute, on the same date, for the same $93.55 total, except with an $18 tip.
They also provided a document they said was a Visa bill, which appears to indicate their card was charged for the meal plus the tip, for a total of $111.55.
The couple told NBC 4 New York they believe the whole thing may have been triggered by a misunderstanding. When the hostess first seated them, they thought the hostess said their server’s name was “Dan.” When Morales showed up to their table, they were surprised and the wife said, “whoa, you’re not Dan.”
According to the NBC 4 New York report, Morales did say the family called her “Dan” and was offended by this and did complain to the manager about it.
The couple is not surprisingly bothered by the whole ordeal. “I think there’s enough hate and intolerance in the world, that to create it when it wasn’t there is shameful and dishonorable,” the wife said. The couple insists they would never write such a thing. The husband added that he didn’t vote for Gov. Chris Christie because the governor doesn’t support gay marriage, reported NBC 4 New York.
Since the story went viral, donations have been coming in for Morales, CNN reported more than a week ago.
Morales says that between the people who have called in to the restaurant to give credit card numbers, those who have mailed tips, or donated to a special PayPal account the restaurant set up, she estimates that she has received more than $2,000 so far.
She plans to donate the funds to the Wounded Warrior Project, and the restaurant plans to match the donations and give it to a local LGBT organization.
“It wasn’t for the money. I never planned on this. I just wanted to vent,” she said. “The purpose was to inform people it wasn’t OK.”
The family says they finally came forward because they believe it all may have been a scam, and the story about the note on the receipt did not seem to be going away.
“I just felt like people have a right to know that — it’s fine if people want to donate to her or to the Wounded Warriors, but they’re doing it under a false pretense,” the wife said.
The restaurant owner and a manager would not produce the original receipt for the $93.55 charge, but insisted they had it, according to NBC 4 New York. They offered no explanation as to why the family’s credit card was charged the higher amount that includes a tip.
When asked about all this, Morales said, “that’s not my handwriting. I don’t know. Again, I don’t know.” She told NBC 4 New York she is certain she wasn’t tipped.
The restaurant said in a statement it is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.
(Featured image credit: NBC 4 New York video)
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Comments
What we as a society reward, we get more of.
Our culture rewards “victims” and gives get out of jail free cards to “victims,” so we get more “victims” even if there are fewer traditional victims.
What self-absorbed gay waiter wouldn’t lash out at the hateful oppression of a 20% tip? Please, put yourself in her shoes.
Dayna Morales wrote on the photo after it was posted:
“Thanks everyone for your support – it took very fiber of my being not to spit in their food and say something. (Not gonna lie if kids weren’t there it would of been a totally different story)”
She may be totally off her rocker.
Wow, saying something like that puts her and the restaurant in a really bad legal position, if anyone ever has a problem with her and feels ill after eating there. If I were a business owner, I couldn’t keep someone working for me who flat-out said that they would spit in a customer’s food under any circumstance. These words could come back to haunt her and her employer.
Actually, that might not be a bad idea for her employer to help her by canning her. Ask Jesse Jackson — he actually admitted doing it. Didn’t hurt his future much.
She should be fired right now for that public remark. She is a terrible reflection on that restaurant.
If she contemplated spitting in their food, it would have to have been before they allegedly wrote the note on the bill, unless they received a take-home bag after they handed over the signed bill, which doesn’t seem likely.
So, was she that bent out of shape over thinking someone called her “Dan” (and she never considered that she may have heard incorrectly)?
Dare I say that she would be the takeout bag? After all, it’s not like she’s cute or anything like that.
That’s only because you have some patriarchal heteronormative concept that women should be attractive, or something.
I bet if someone compared samples of her handwriting to the handwriting on the receipt, there would be a striking similarity between the two.
The problem with handwriting analysis, from a right-wing viewpoint, is that no one is better at it than the French, who actually believe in it. This means you would have to send the samples to Paris, where they might be mistaken for snails and eaten.
A zombie must have written those words in order to hurt Dayna and to shame the couple and to gain national media attention for homosexuals. Lord knows there is not enough sympathy for the devil.
Not homosexuals. That’s a slur. Sexual boundary pushers.
“The couple is not surprisingly bothered ”
Ahh, English translation, please?
“The couple is, not surprisingly, bothered.”
Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.
Good grammar! It saves lives….
OTOH…are any of us surprised that this woman did this? Having worked at a fast food restaurant, I would not be surprised if this woman had, in fact, spit in other people’s food.
And a liar to boot.
Magazine cover headline:
Rachel Ray
Enjoys Cooking
Dog and Family.
Somehow I don’t think the dog and family would.
This woman is creepy because she lied about others so that she would get sympathy.
and money! Don’t forget the money! Americans are fond of giving money to victims of injustice. People around the world follow suit.
Just looking at the customers handwriting to the receipts handwriting, the merchant copy does appear to be forged. the extra note left in the side margins by the waitress herself does appear to be similar to style that the offensive message was written in. So I would say that this is a dupe receipt and for some reason she stupidly filed the real one…..
She filed the real one
‘Cause she wanted to pocket
An eighteen buck tip!
It’s one thing to post something on Instagram because you got your nose out of joint about a perceived insult, but it is another thing altogether to give away almost twenty dollars!
If they had known they were going to be all over th news, she would have filed a duplicate without a tip. But at the moment she posted the stupid forged not, she had no idea it would become such a big deal.
As for the Gallop Asian Bistro… Not if they were the last restaurant on Earth and I was starving. They deserve the drubbing they are going to get from their customers. And the waiter’s supporters aren’t going to step up and patronize the restaurant, because that would cost real money, which costs more than phony outrage.
The waitress already demonstrated that talk is cheap.
The customers should call their credit card company and dispute the charge. The homosexual said she got no tip, yet it’s on their bill. Clearly there’s a big discrepancy and no payment should be made until it’s resolved. 🙂
Just like Matthew Sheppard, its not enough to point to real discrimination and deal with it. The lunatic lefty fringe must construct fake narratives, lie their ass off, and then use the story to tar those that intellectual dissent on culture war issues with hatred, bigotry. But hey, the ends justify the means.
That’s because there’s virtually no real discrimination. Almost all problems between straights and rainbows is due to the rainbows trying to draw attention to themselves, either via dress, actions, or affectations.
Since as a demographic they have well over double the average income stream and Lord knows how much more wealth, I’m not interested in their whining BS. If they don’t like straight people, they can just move to Frisco or some similar political subdivision where straights are the outsiders.
“The Jews are rich, so it’s o.k. if we hate them.”
Just watch, there will be a flood of similar incidents now. This small refutation of one such incident is but a finger in the dike.
Finger in the dike. Hahahahahahaha.
With all the Teabaggers out there terrorizing minority communities with their white hoods and American flag capes, it’s a wonder why so many hoax stories are needed from the grievance classes.
Yeah, and the knock out game is the real myth…
All this does is marginalize true instances of bigotry.
NOTE THE XX.55’S !!!!
Clearly, blatantly, the two receipts were written by two different hands !
The ‘guest copy’ and the ‘merchant copy’ are identical in printing – but TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE WROTE THOSE NUMBERS !
I believe the customer who provided a Visa bill to back up their words.
The dumb dyke needs to be fired for forging this false receipt and bogus accusation !
Regarding the last sentence in this comment, language like this is not appreciated. Please all, keep this in mind when commenting at LI.
Free speech is free speech, Mandy. You don’t have to like or appreciate or support what is said. You just have to defend the person’s right to say it and step back and let them deal with the consequences of the saying.
Oh for Pete’s sake.
Mandy is now the Government suppressing free speech?
Take a peek at the Terms of Use for commenting on this site which can basically be summed up as “You are a guest here, don’t abuse the priveledge by making an ass of yourself”. You get to say stuff like that when it’s your site.
Start your own blog if you want to live under different rules.
The PC crowd, are they the government? People try to suppress other people’s free speech all the time. It’s not just the government corrupting the country; it’s also the people.
This is Professor Jacobson’s blog and he has tasked me with certain duties, which includes requesting that commenters not use certain language when we see it. I’m sorry if you disagree with that policy.
Thank you, Mandy.
Wow, it’s almost like some people have a martyr complex or something
That would seem to be the case with the woman in question.
http://tinyurl.com/m8nulok
Oh, here’s the two receipts in question
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/11/26/nj-lesbian-waitress-who-claimed-customer-wrote-anti-gay-note-on-receipt-a-hoax/
Look at the ’55 cents’ hand writing !
The woman who was accused says that she is left handed. Look at the “55’s”. The top of the fives on the customer copy look like mine (I am also left handed). The top of the fives on the merchant copy were obviously made by a right handed person – note how they start at the left and trail off on the right. No left handed person does that.
There is a similar left-to-right slash on the tip line of the merchant copy. The red circles in obscure this but I’ve seen other images where it is clear. Again, not done by a lefty. At least not that kind of lefty.
About to lose her job in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …
Since she’s collected thousands of dollars as a result of this lie, criminal fraud comes to mind.
Sure, she says she “intends” to donate the money to Wounded Warrior Project. I’ll believe the statement from WWP that they’ve received the money. Until then, no way.
Somebody who forges a receipt is more than capable of screwing over a veteran’s charity. I would need to see a receipt from the Wounded Warrior Project before I believed her story.
I totally agree.
Just watch. Even if she were to get busted and admit she made up the whole thing?
Those people currently screaming on the left would simply justify their outrage by saying this is exactly what the ‘homophobes’ on the right would do anyways. They just didn’t do it this time.
The one gay website where I checked on this story was full of skeptical comments, minus the entirely stereotypical crap from this particular peanut gallery.
This story leaves me with one big question. Why would your sexual orientation come up while serving tables? You can tell sometimes if a guy is gay but normally unless a lesbian is flaunting her choice nobody knows.
Didja happen to see her picture? No woman looks like that “accidentally.”
just saw her picture.
If she didn’t like being called “Dan” she shouldn’t be trying to try to make herself/itself look like a 12 year old boy
I looked up her picture. She looks like many of the quirky girls I have known. Some were gay, some were not. None of them radiated which they were without inquiry.
Yeah, that stumped me, too. When I first heard about the story (didn’t read it), I thought the waiter was a guy and that maybe he was a bit queeny. Even then, I couldn’t see somebody stiffing a waiter for being a queen.Now, finding out that it’s a waitress makes the whole thing sound even more bogus. I mean, unless a woman flexes her strap on at you, how do you know she’s lesbian? Not so easy especially when some women are not hyper feminine.
Another day, another faked lefty meme about supposed right-wing hate.
Another day, another hoax.
Reminded somewhat of the Oberlin shenanigans.
Bet she adores Dan Rather. She sure imitates his style. “Fake, but accurate”
A head full of bad wire.
Mandy: “(Morales) was offended by this and did complain to the manager about it.”
Where are you getting this? I’m not seeing it in the NBC4 reporting.
It’s in the video report from NBC4, near the end.
Listen starting at 3:00, reporter says it at about the 3:10 mark.
According to the story, she was offended because those customers called her “Dan.” Apparently, they’d misunderstood the server when she did the “My name is X and I’ll be your server tonight” thing. Whether or not she had grounds to be offended, well, I wasn’t there.
Talk about your Rorshach test!
I’m gay, but I think I can be objective here. My first reaction to ALL of these incidents lately was skepticism, especially as they were repeated. The incentive to claim ugly discrimination and then clean up online is pretty strong.
But, in this case, two things must be noted.
First, the customer produced a customer receipt. I don’t know about anyone else, but when I go to dinner I get three pieces of paper: The bill itself, the merchant copy, and the customer copy. I fill out the merchant copy and leave it with the server. I take the customer copy and the bill with me.
The family’s “customer copy” is proof of nothing. They could’ve gotten home, filled in $18, and made their counter-claim. Same goes for the “credit card statement” that they showed to the reporter. Very easy to produce a fake one.
There are two ways to nail it down. First is for the restaurant to produce the evidence from their records. This is simple, and it baffles me that they haven’t done it. Second is for the customer to log into the credit card bank on line while a reporter is sitting there, and show the reporter the credit card statement online.
Until either one of those two things are done, I consider this a classic she said/they said story. If it’s a hoax, I wouldn’t exactly be shocked. If the customer is lying, I wouldn’t exactly be shocked. Either one of those is equally possible, and a simple investigation can tell which of them actually happened.
I wrote my comment above before watching the video. After watching it, my gut feeling is that the waitress was lying. In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if she and the manager were in cahoots, and agreed to split the profits.
That much said, my gut feeling and $2.50 will buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks. This can easily be solved with a follow up by the reporter to verify the authenticity of the credit card statement. It’s easily done. Everything’s online these days.
Of course you are correct that the “customer copy” could have any amount written on it. Keep in mind, however, that a “merchant copy” can be reprinted at any time as well.
As mentioned above, the numbers on the two receipts are clearly written by different people, so one of the parties is offering a fabricated receipt. The question is which one.
One theory is that a random couple, who have remained anonymous, go to the trouble of faking a receipt and credit card statement and inserting themselves into this situation for … what reason exactly?
The waitress/restaurant could easily debunk them by producing a record of the credit card submission for the transaction in question. They haven’t done so.
You are also correct that a simple investigation will tell what happened. Based purely on what is known to this point, however, there is no reason to give the waitress the benefit of the doubt over the family.
I agree that either receipt could be phony. Therefore, neither one of them is reliable evidence of anything. Same goes for a paper credit card statement.
Now, I’ve already written about my gut feel. In fact, my gut feel goes further. I suspect, given the manager’s refusal to simply go find the receipts record for that day and clear it up, that the server and the manager were in on it together, with an agreement to split the proceeds.
But that’s just a hunch, and hunches aren’t proof of anything. This can be cleared up in an instant if the TV reporter would simply pay another visit to the customer, go online, and read the statement on the screen. Hard to imagine how that could be phonied up.
As for the whole drama angle, I suspect (but can’t prove — see above) that this is just a scam. If it were mere drama, there’d be no PayPal account. In that case, it’d be the equivalent of the Jewish kids who paint swastikas on synagogue walls, black kids who fake racist attacks, and so on. Some people are just nuts.
There is another easy solution. The restaurant has an owner. Now that controversy has arisen, the owner should waddle on down to the eatery and say the following to the manager:
“Show me the credit batch runs for Nov. 13th and Nov. 14th. We’re going to get to the bottom of this right now. If there’s anything you need to tell me, this would be a good time to do that.”
Article above says customers provided a Visa credit card statement showing they were charged for the meal and the tip, for a total of $111.55.
The article says that the customer provided what the customer said was a credit card statement. Now, if you watch the video it seems unlikely (to me, anyway) that the customer was lying, but this can easily be verified once and for all if the TV reporter will simply re-visit the customer and have them go online so the reporter can see the statement.
In fact, the reporter could film the computer screen, and the technical people could blur out any personal information later. Doing that would remove any lingering doubts.
The customer came forward with 2 pieces of proof to dispute the server and you ask for more from them? If the restaurant hasn’t come forward disputing those facts I would take it as a forgone conclusion that they can’t because it is the truth. Besides as I stated earlier unless the server was making a big deal of her lifestyle choice how would a customer know?
Two things. First, whenever there is any dispute about something, I tend to fall into the “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out” category. I wrote from the outset that I’ve been skeptical of all these stories, at least those that followed the first one that occurred (I think I recall, but can’t be sure) in Kansas a few months ago. I think that was true, but the ones after that? Like I say, skeptical.
In any case, there’s been a followup somewhere else, and I think this does it for me.
http://tinyurl.com/m8nulok
What am I missing here? Whether or no to leave a tip is the customer’s prerogative, and last time I checked justification of one’s decision was not required. Even if justification were given, are people not allowed to have opinions anymore? If you don’t like someone else’s opinion, put on your big boy pants. The feeling is most likely mutual.
So sick of the gaystapo and the thought police.
I agree. Tipping is voluntary. But if you should happen to actually leave a bigoted message explaining why you didn’t leave a tip, well, that message becomes someone else’s property to use as they please. Free speech, baby. It cuts both ways.
Not complaining about free speech. But I reject the premise that disagreeing/disapproving of someone else’s “lifestyle” is ipso facto “bigoted.”
This particular likely hoax aside, only a real jerk would leave such a message. If you don’t like homosexuality, then don’t practice it, and certainly don’t develop any expertise at it.
I was not able to see if the receipt numbers matched. First thing I looked for after noting that the “55” on the total lines were from different hands.
Okay, both receipts look like the same time and date, so they are probably from the same transaction.
Has anyone looked into the claim she was a Marine? Fox has a story about her being a compulsive liar. (Yeah, “hearsay”)
I think this article pretty much says it all about her:
http://tinyurl.com/m8nulok