Mariana Lambert waitress bosses forced to sue customer failing to pay $3K tip on $13 bill at Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
A Scranton, Pennsylvania restaurant is taking a customer to court after they tried to claim back a huge tip they deliberately left on their bill.
Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe of Scranton is suing a customer for more than $3,000 after the patron left a very generous tip for a waitress only to then disputed the charge on his credit card — forcing the eaterie to instead dole out the cash for their server.
Mariana Lambert, a waitress at Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe was elated when a customer left several thousands of dollars as a tip for her service back in June.
She felt like she had just hit the jackpot, until the patron decided he wanted the money back, with the restaurant now taking the man to court.
The customer identified as Eric Marcel Smith had ordered a stromboli that cost just $13.25. He charged the item on his credit card, added the $3,000 tip and wrote: ‘Tips For Jesus.’
So where did Jesus go?
The patron claimed that the tip was part of a social media movement called Tips for Jesus.
At the time, Lambert responded how the gesture, ‘really touched my heart,’ particularly during a time when many people and businesses were getting back on their feet after ending COVID lockdowns.
‘It really meant a lot to me because everyone’s going through stuff,’ Lambert said at the time.
Instead, Lambert has come to learn that generous customer wasn’t so generous, after all, with the diner disputing the charge with his credit card company.
The restaurant however had already handed over the $3,000 to Lambert.
When the restaurant reached out to Smith about the charge he was disputing they had hoped that it was just a big misunderstanding and they had started speaking with Smith through Facebook.
Restaurant management was hoping to resolve the incident, but, after many of their posts went unanswered they were compelled to file formal charges.
Will Jesus make good on the $3K tip?
Zachary Jacobson, the manager at Alfredo’s Cafe described the episode as ‘aggravating.’
‘We’re just out of money at this point and he told us to sue him so that is what we are going to end up doing, I guess,‘ Jacobson said, in part, WNEP News reported.
Jacobson said initially when his server got the staggering tip he was happy for Lambert and said, ‘somebody was actually trying to do a good thing.’
Three months later, nothing has yet to be resolved. Jacobson is hoping they will win in court and get their $3,000 back
In the meantime, he is calling Lambert a ‘hardworking’ waitress who was deserving of the money and the incident as a ‘a nice piece of PR for a small business.’
‘I hope that he owns up to his actions and comes forth and does pay this because you shouldn’t have done this if this was the end result,’ he said.
According to Alfreddo’s of Scranton, the upcoming court case is scheduled for October 25.
Which is to wonder what does Jesus think?
