Yesterday we told you about the Waffle House waitress in North Carolina whose $1,000 tip was automatically refunded to the customer who’d left it because of a policy at the restaurant chain. After being shamed in the media for keeping one of its employees from keeping money that would have greatly improved her life, Waffle House is now saying that maybe it should reconsider things.

“This has given us cause to review our procedures so we can get tips to our associates quicker in these unusual situation.,” reads a post on the Waffle House Facebook page about the incident. “It says a lot about this customer that he was willing to tip our associate this generous amount. Our intentions were for the associate to get her tip all along. We are sorry that our associate and the customer are having to go through this.”

As we mentioned yesterday, Waffle House has a policy that automatically refunds large credit card tips. The company figures it’s less of a hassle to annoy servers by taking away tips than it is to deal with customers who may later dispute an extravagant tip left in the throes of a 3 a.m. waffle binge. The company recommends that customers wishing to leave sizable tips do so in cash or with a check.

On Mother’s Day weekend, a Raleigh businessman attempted to leave his Waffle House waitress with a tip totaling $1,500 with the instruction that she keep $1,000 and give the remaining $500 to a customer in the neighboring booth.

The tip was sent back to the customer’s account, meaning neither the server nor the other intended recipient received anything.

When the customer found out what had happened, he sent the waitress a personal check for the $1,000.

[via newsobserver.com]

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