The Michigan server who received the now-viral $10,000 tip on a $32 check has been fired by the restaurant, claiming that a dispute over how many of the coworkers deserved to get a share of the money led to her losing her job. According to Linsey Huff's lawyer, the owners of Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor threatened to sue her for her "entire estate."
The tip was given by a generous man-in-mourning who had been in town to attend the funeral of his friend earlier that month and requested that it be split among the service staff, meaning eight servers received $1,200 each.
Back-of-the-house staff became upset that they weren't included in on the cut of the money. Soon, drama erupted within the restaurant. “The people with the money … control the narrative, and the people that work for them understand that and often have to cower because of that,” Jennifer McManus, Linsey's lawyer, said.
While the owners of the restaurant did confess to firing her, they claim that it was unrelated to the tip. Tim Sweeney, the manager, said that they had “not ever [seen] anything of this gratitude or magnitude." Another coworker said that all of the servers were “going through something different, so that amount of money [helps] us all a lot."
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Linsey decided to go to her managers after other staff members got angry, but she wasn't willing to give up names of her coworkers who were causing the drama. “I’m not going to give any of their names … because I don’t want to create a bigger issue,” she said. “I would just like some assistance in getting this resolved.”
Her attorney says that she was fired after not being willing to reveal the names of her coworkers who took issue with the way the tip was split. In a now-deleted Facebook post, Linsey gave detail into the drama and her firing. She says that she was asked to take that Monday off, and then received word that she was fired via a phone call on Tuesday.
“One week I’m such an amazing, hardworking employee, awesome mother," the post read in part. "Couldn’t have happened to a better person. Now, I’m without a job, for the first time since I was 15 years old.”
In a post shared by the owners, they wrote, “I will say it had nothing to do with the tip. She did receive the entire tip, she did not pay taxes on it (the business did). Yes, she shared the tip at the request of the man that left it." They also added, “We do truly care about our staff."
The post also said that the Mason Jar had had “the same crew for five to six years” and that “we do everything in our power not to lose staff”. While some commenters supported the decision of the restaurant, many others condemned the owners and even called for a boycott of the cafe.
Linsey's attorney is representing her in case the restaurant owners do decide to sue her. “Through her own generosity, sharing this tip — honoring the requests of the person who had initially been so generous — she ended up losing her job."
