A Kansas waiter has described how a slur scrawled on a receipt instead of a tip ended up raising thousands of dollars.
Noah Bierig, a 19-year-old server 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 staring at his painted nails and pride bracelet, giving him glaring looks.
But it was happened when they left that left him in tears: not only did they not tip, one wrote a homophobic slur instead of an amount.
One of Bierig’s friend’s went on to share the receipt online, setting off a surprising chain of events. Emblazoned with the man’s name in print and script, it spurred a full-blown apology.
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Noah Bierig, a 19-year-old server, said the incident happened on a Sunday two weeks ago
‘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 mom 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 shocked to find 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.
It happened at Bubba’s 33 in Wichita, as he was serving a group of young men. The eatery is seen here
After they left, he was shocked to find one of the group’s receipts had no tip, and that the line was instead filled in with the word ‘f*g’. A friend posted the receipt online afterwards, spurring outrage
‘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 respite came, when a horde of outraged onlookers barraged the customer with messages that aired their distaste.
Befuddled, the customer came forward to apologize, 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 apologize to the guy but couldn’t contact him. I am very sorry to anyone who was affected or hurt by my words.
The patron, James Blick, went on to apologize online, before complaining about the ‘hateful comments, messages, and phone calls’ he and his spouse have received since. He went on to delete all of his social media accounts
‘I have learned a valuable lesson in all of this and nothing like this will ever happened 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 offer an amount that’s treated and tabulated as the rightful 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 toward those with different sexual orientations.