US: Waitress in anti-gay tip controversy agrees to resign from restaurant
A waitress who was embroiled in a controversy after she allegedly falsely claimed a family denied her a tip after saying they did not agree with her “gay lifestyle”, has decided to leave her post.
New Jersey restaurant the Gallop Asian Bistro last week said it will investigate the case of a lesbian waitress who said she was denied a tip by a family who said they did not agree with her “lifestyle”, after the family denied the allegations.
However, NBC 4 New York reported that the family to whom the bill belonged contacted the network after the story broke , denying they had any part in writing the abusive message. According to the report, the family had shown proof, in the form of a credit card bill, that they did tip Morales, and they said they note that she posted online was a hoax.
Morales denied that she wrote the note. According to NBC New York, she has also now apparently begun issuing donations to some, but not all of those who took pity on her and made donations.
The restaurant has now issued a statement saying Morales agreed that she should step down from her post.
It read: “The Gallop Asian Bistro has taken seriously the allegations made by Ms. Dayna Morales, and those made against her. Despite news reports to the contrary, this is not a simple, straight-forward matter and we have conducted our own internal investigation. The results of that investigation are inconclusive as to exactly what happened between Ms. Morales and the customers that night. However, in light of the investigation and recent events, both Ms. Morales and Gallop Asian Bistro have made a joint decision that Ms. Morales will no longer continue her employment at our restaurant. We wish her well in the future.
“Overall, this has been an unfortunate incident for Gallop Asian Bistro, our employees, and our customers. We are dedicated to providing excellent Asian cuisine and superior service. We have the utmost faith in our management and staff and we welcome the opportunity to serve our customers.”
Earlier, a Pentagon source told WNBC that she had been dishonourably discharged from the Marines after she failed to turn up to drills, and former colleagues have spoken out to say that she has a history of lying.
Also, many have questioned why she has not donated the thousands of dollars, the majority of which was given via PayPal, to Wounded Warriors, the charity which she pledged to donate all but the value of a tip to. Some reports suggested that she had begun refunding some of the tips.
A report by the Bridgewater Patch claims that the charity said it was not able to verify that a donation was made by Morales.
The charity, which cares for former military members, said it had searched for a donation under her name, her zip code at work and the zip code where she said she lived. It admitted she may have made the donation through a different zip code.
Social media users posting on the Facebook page of the restaurant, have criticised the waitress under the belief that the incident never took place, and that she has also failed to donate the money. Some have gone so far as to say that she should be prosecuted by the state for her actions.
