A Kansas waiter has told how a slur scribbled on a receipt instead of a tip raised thousands of dollars.
Noah Bierig, a 19-year-old waitperson at Bubba's 33 in Wichita, said the incident happened on a Sunday two weeks ago.
He was serving a group of young men when he felt at least one seemed like he was staring at his painted nails and pride bracelet, giving him glaring looks.
But it was what occurred when they left that left him in tears: not only did they not tip, but one wrote a homophobic insult instead of an amount.
One of Bierig's friends shared the receipt online, setting off a dramatic chain of events. Emblazoned with the man's name in print and script, it prompted a full-blown apology.
'The first time I went up to the table, they were just shooting me a couple dirty looks,' Bierig told KAKE News of the initial encounter.
'And every time I would walk away, they would kind of just start laughing a little bit.'
He said it was one man in particular who seemed put off by his painted nails—a gift from his mum when he came out.
He said he felt like the customer and his party were not friendly. It did not bother him though, he told the local news station, sitting down with them at the eatery as he worked another shift.
He recalled how he did his best to serve the table like any other, despite being uncomfortable.
After they left, he was astounded to discover one of the group's receipts had no tip and that the line was instead filled in with the word 'f*g'.
He said the slur left him beside himself, even as he did the best he could to contain it.
'That hurt me a lot,' he said.
'I'm not the type to cry at work, but I got to say—that was definitely the first time that had happened to me.'
But after the bill got posted by one of his friends, with the offender's name in full view, some peace came when a flock of outraged observers attacked the customer with messages that circulated their distaste.
Befuddled, the customer came forward to apologise but also said he did not receive good service.
'I know it was wrong of me to write what I did,' James Blick wrote on Facebook before deleting his accounts. '[A]nd for that, I am very sorry.
'The overall dining experience wasn't that great,' he added.
'I shouldn't have dealt with it by saying what I did.
'I did try to call the restaurant to apologise to the guy but couldn't contact him. I am very sorry to anyone who was affected or hurt by my words.
'I have learned a valuable lesson in all of this and nothing like this will ever happen again.'
The man went on to complain about the 'hateful comments, messages, and phone calls' he and his spouse have received since, before scrubbing himself from social media.
But not before something good came from all the attention garnered by the incident.
Bierig's friends set up an online fundraiser through the town's LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce that's raised thousands of dollars.
There, anyone can contribute an amount that's treated and tabulated as the appropriate tip he should have received.
'Whatever comes out comes from that; it's going to be donated,' Bierig explained as the tips continue to come in.
Of the support he's seen, he added, 'It's absolutely insane. I never thought anything like this would happen based off just a couple Facebook posts from my friends and family.'
He said Bubba's 33 is matching his donation going to GLSEN, a firm that works to stop discrimination, harassment, and bullying towards those with different sexual orientations.
This guy was not broadcasting his sexuality. He might have had black nail polish on, but he might have been a Goth or into Heavy Metal. He was just assumed to be gay, which was their folly. I wonder if they think about if they had somebody they loved being dissed like that, no they wouldn't like it either.
Nobody would say anything about a woman having painted nails and jeans, but if a man does it, then it's shunned. Does this mean that women should no longer where jeans or trousers because they are deemed only suitable for a man? It's a free society, well evidently it is, and you should feel free or wear or dress however you want. I bet if the server had been female with her knockers out nothing would have been said, and she would have definitely been given a tip!
What is good enough for the goose is good enough for the gander!
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