An Arkansas waitress received a whopping $4,400 tip, only to be fired after her manager made her split it with other staffers, according to reports.
The generous gratuity came on Dec. 6, when waitress Ryan Brandt and another server worked a party of more than 40 at Oven and Tap in Bentonville, Fox 59 reported.
Each diner had chipped in $100 in tip money — believing the total would go to both servers.
“We knew servers were really hit hard through COVID, and it was something that we had come up with to help give back,” Grant Wise, who dined at the eatery following a conference in town, told CBS 5.
But the restaurant’s manager instructed Brandt to pool the tip with her co-workers who didn’t serve the large party, in an arrangement she told Fox 59 was unprecedented in her more than three years working there.
“I was told that I was going to be giving my cash over to my shift manager, and I would be taking home 20 percent,” Brandt told the network.
When Wise, who owns a real estate company called Witly, found out, he demanded the restaurant return the tip money — then turned over $2,200 directly to Brandt.
Brandt was canned the next day.
“They fired me from Oven and Tap over the phone and I’ve been there for 3 1/2 years and that was really heartbreaking,” Brandt told CBS 5. “Especially because I didn’t think I did anything wrong.”
In a statement, Oven and Tap said Brandt was fired for reasons unrelated to the tipping incident and that it “fully honored” the generous tippers’ requests to reward the pair of servers at their party.
“After dining, this large group of guests requested that their gratuity be given to two particular servers. We fully honored their request,” read the statement provided to local outlets. “Out of respect for our highly valued team members, we do not discuss the details surrounding the termination of an employee.”
“The server who was terminated several days after the group dined with us was not let go because she chose to keep the tip money,” the restaurant added. “The other two servers who received generous tips that evening from the Witly organization — including one who also received $2,200 — are still members of our team.”
In response, Wise started a GoFundMe page for Brandt, which has raised over $8,700 as of Monday morning.
“It was devastating, I borrowed a significant amount for student loans,” Brandt said about losing her job. “Most of them were turned off because of the pandemic but they’re turning back on in January and that’s a harsh reality.”
