Oh good, she can pay her rent in Apology Bucks.
We're used to crappy tipping stories (obviously, considering we publish Off The Menu every week) and subsequent online tip-shaming fiascos. This, however, is the first time we can remember where politicians -- people who theoretically know their every public move is being watched by their enemies -- were dumb enough to think that in the age of social media, mistreating their servers wouldn't somehow come back to bite them in the ass.
As spotted by SouthernBeale, on March 7, Tennessee Republican state Reps. Mary Littleton and Tilman Goins were eating at a downtown Nashville Hooters, possibly because the strip club buffet was closed that day. At the end of their lunch date [Editor's Note: We're assuming it was lunch because that's what all other sites have reported. The time stamp reads 10:24 PM, but it's possible the restaurant's internal clock was off.], during which they allegedly "acted like children," they apparently decided "haha, fuck your social contract," and both completely stiffed their server, Amanda Anderson. Littleton even went so far as to write "Sorry" on the receipt's tip line.
As servers are sometimes wont to do, Anderson retaliated by posting a picture of the receipt on Facebook. Though it has since been taken down (we're assuming this was a condition of Anderson retaining her employment, since chain restaurants have a long and disturbing track record of siding with the asshole customer in stories like these), screenshots are forever. To go along with Littleton's receipt pictured above, here's Goins's receipt:
We know some idiot saw the headline and immediately went to the comments -- which we do not allow -- to shout about how this story is a hoax because "all tip-shaming stories are hoaxes." After we're all done making the world's most expansive jerkoff motion at that commenter, let's revel in the fact that we actually have confirmation this is not a hoax: Littleton admitted to both stiffing her server and leaving the love note.
"Everyone has had a bad experience with service at some point when dining out at a restaurant. It is unfortunate that my private note to the server regarding the quality of service in this instance was made public. Due to the overall experience that evening, I decided not to provide a tip."
We will grant that, contrary to popular online exclamation, there actually are scenarios where it is appropriate not to tip. If your server physically assaults you, for example. Or calls you a cockbag. Or tells you they're voting for Trump (kidding) (sort of).
But what we're having trouble envisioning is the specific scenario where it's also appropriate or even logical to write "Sorry" on the tip line. Littleton can't claim she didn't have the money to tip, because Tennessee lawmakers get a daily spending allowance of $204 provided by the taxpayers. (In one of the universe's more dickish ironies, Anderson actually used to be one of Littleton's constituents.) Not that "Sorry, I didn't have enough money to tip you" would be a viable excuse even if it was true.
The only other explanation we can come up with for Littleton to specifically write "Sorry" is to purposefully be a dick. As such, we can only comfort ourselves with the knowledge that there is a special hell for people who mistreat waitstaff, and in the case of visible individuals in society, that special hell is social media and the realm of public perception.
