Waitress loses job over $200 tip
By Charlene Sakoda, Yahoo! News April 12, 2014, 4:19 pm
Chanetrice Carter, a server at the Glen Allen, Virginia IHOP was overjoyed when she received a huge $200 tip, but never thought it would lead to her termination.
As reported by WWBT 12 On Your Side, Carter was called into a closed-door meeting with her IHOP manager a week after she received the large tip, Yahoo! News reported.
The manager said the customer had not wanted to give her such a large tip.
"He said, 'That's his handwriting. That's his signature.'
But he only meant to write down $2.00. He didn't mean to write down $200.00," Carter recounted. She said that the manager then told her, "’You have seven days to pay it back or else.’"
A customer wrote $200 when they actually meant to write $2. Photo: WWBT
Ms. Carter told the station, "A part of me was upset. A part of me was mad." The server chose not to return the money and she told the station that she was fired because of it.
When WWBT attempted to speak with IHOP management, they were turned away and told to leave a message with the IHOP district manager.
The manager at the IHOP reportedly threatened Chanetrice to return the money. Photo: WWBT
"Nobody's rights have been violated here. There has been no unlawful termination,” said Steve Benjamin, the station’s legal analyst. “She didn't have to return the money, but they can, in turn, fire her because she is just employed at will."
While WWBT was interviewing Carter, the IHOP district manager gave her a call.
"He basically said that he wants to sit down tomorrow and have a conversation and if they can correct anything then they’ll correct it,” Carter said.
At the start of that meeting Carter said she was asked, “How soon can you come back?” WWBT reports that, “Carter says she needs a few days to think about it and will have an answer for him Monday.”
