Michigan waitress who was fired after a generous stranger left her a $10k tip reveals she’s at war with restaurant owners over who gets a share of the cash after refusing to rat on coworkers

A Michigan waitress who was fired after receiving a $10,000 tip refused to complain about her coworkers complaining about not getting a discount.

Linsey Boyd was fired from the Mason Jar Café in Benton Harbor, despite generously sharing the money with eight other co-workers.

Boyd said in a now-deleted Facebook post that drama ensued after an anonymous customer left a $10,000 tip in honor of a recently deceased friend.

Boyd collected the tip from a $32.43 bill, leaving the wait staff to walk away with about $1,200 each, leaving the kitchen staff feeling rejected.

Boyd approached management to help calm the situation, but her bosses wanted to know who was directly causing the problems.

The middle-aged man who left the tip did not want to be identified but said he was in town for the funeral and planned to spread some cheer through the generous tip.

Boyd was released from the Mason Jar Café in Benton Harbor after the tip

Speak with The guardBoyd’s attorney Jennifer McManus told the newspaper that Boyd said, “I’m not going to mention any of their names because I don’t want to create a bigger problem.” I’d like some help getting this resolved.’

McManus told the outlet that her client was fired because she was unwilling to reveal the identities of her angry colleagues.

Boyd said in a now-deleted Facebook post that drama ensued after the anonymous customer left the $10,000 tip in honor of a recently deceased friend.

The middle-aged man in a dark suit did not want to be identified but said he was in town for the funeral and planned to spread some cheer through the generous tip, according to the Detroit Free Press.

‘I just gave him a hug. I didn’t even know his name at the time, but I gave him a hug. He then told me that he had left her a memorial to someone very dear to him, and that he wanted to do something kind and generous in her name,” Boyd said. WSBT.

What should have been a happy story has taken a negative turn, as Boyd revealed in her viral post that she lost her job because of “all the drama, animosity and pain” the huge tip caused.

Boyd then allegedly received a call from a manager at the restaurant, telling her that her workplace had hired lawyers to file a lawsuit against her unless she deleted her Facebook post.

McManus told the Guardian this was enough to get the post removed, and the restaurant also threatened her “for her entire estate.”

Restaurant owners Able Martinez and Jayme Cousins ​​(pictured) said ‘labor laws’ limited what they could share about Boyd’s termination

McManus added, “She kind of chuckled (at that) and said, ‘Well, good luck – I’m a waitress. There is no estate here.’

Restaurant owners Able Martinez and Jayme Cousins ​​said “labor laws” limited what they could share, but claimed Boyd’s termination had nothing to do with the $10,000 tip.

“We cannot comment on the nature of her job loss due to labor law and to protect the staff involved,” the couple wrote in a Facebook post.

“But I will say it had nothing to do with the tip. She did receive the entire tip, she did not pay tax on it (the entrepreneur did). Yes, she shared the tip at the request of the man who left it,” they continued.

But Boyd told her side of the story, saying she was asked to take a mental health day while the “drama” unfolded at the restaurant over the tip.

“Drama ensued and in an attempt to diffuse the situation and clear up any rumors, things got even worse,” she wrote.

“Staff not working on the day of the $10,000 tip expected it to be cut and created an extremely dramatic work environment,” one post said.

Restaurant owners Able Martinez and Jayme Cousins ​​said “labor laws” limited what they could share, but claimed Boyd’s termination had nothing to do with the $10,000 tip.

Boyd told her side of the story, saying she was asked to take a mental health day while the “drama” unfolded at the restaurant because of the tip

According to Boyd, management asked her to take another day off “to let things settle down,” and did not respond to her text asking if she was told in a professional manner not to return.

Boyd was fired via phone call, marking the first time she has been without a job since she was 15.

The restaurant owners have since refuted Boyd’s claims, but declined to go into details about why she was fired.

“I know there’s a lot going on that we let her go because of the tip and it just doesn’t make sense,” Cousins ​​said. WOOD TV.

“We have a staff that has continued to work for us for years and students that come back every summer and we give opportunity after opportunity to our staff, so we obviously wouldn’t let anyone go.”

The owners wrote on social media that it was a purely business decision, stressing that such decisions are not “taken lightly or hastily.”

“We give donations for tuition for them, we keep them working through Covid, we do everything we can not to lose staff,” the owners wrote.