Earlier today, we told you about a receipt posted by an Olive Garden diner whose meal was comped, and about all the doubters that came out of the woodwork to claim it was a fake. We weren’t sure — we certainly wouldn’t put it past a clever marketing department — so we asked the man who originally published the much-debated pic.

“I posted the receipt on the Internet, and the Internet is a highly skeptical place,” he tells us via e-mail, “so I can’t really blame anyone for thinking the receipt was fake.”

Like a lot of people caught up in these sorts of stories, he says he had no idea his receipt photo would somehow turn into a viral sensation, with at least two Reddit threads and numerous blog posts on the matter.

“After I posted it, I finished an assignment for law school and went to sleep,” he tells Consumerist. “When I logged into Reddit today, I was a little blown away.”

As for the negative response that his photo initially engendered, he seems to be taking it rather well.

“There were some pretty nasty messages, but nothing that’s going to change my life,” he explains. “More importantly, there were a lot of positive and encouraging messages. Overall, Reddit is a great community and I know the truth about the receipt. Hopefully I didn’t cause Olive Garden too much trouble, they did a great thing for my family, and I appreciate it.”

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