Couple Leaves Racist Message For A Latina Server Instead Of A Tip
Servers have some of the hardest jobs there are and they often don’t come with good pay. So, skipping out on a tip is one of the worst things you could do after a meal. Unfortunately, a couple at a restaurant in Harrisonburg, Va. did something even worse.
After serving a couple at Jess’ Lunch, Sadie Karina Elledge, 18, looked at her receipt looked down and saw that they had written, “We only tip citizens,” according to the Washington Post. Elledge is of Honduran and Mexican descent.
The story gained exposure after her grandfather, a local attorney with an office downtown and a few steps away from the restaurant, shared it on social media.
“I’d happily do the jail time if I could get just one solid punch in to the face of the son of a bitch who paid for his meal at the luncheonette where my granddaughter works and left the receipt for her with a note saying, “Sorry, we only tip citizens,”” John Elledge said in a Facebook post.
He also wrote, “You are a complete and total piece of dung,” as a caption under a photo of the receipt.
Instantly, his lawyer and investigator friends looked into it to see if they could find out who the couple was. But, after the exposure, the two walked back into the restaurant and got into an argument with the manager. Word eventually got back to Elledge, who soon walked over from his office and got into an exchange.
” … She was asking me why I posted it,” Elledge said. “I said obviously, it was an insult — your signature against my granddaughter — darn right I’m going to post it. And no apologies.”
Elledge told the Post that he took particular offense to the couple’s actions against his granddaughter, who is a U.S. citizen, because of his family’s makeup. After reportedly “flunking out” of college, Elledge worked in Honduras for years where he met his future wife and adopted her two children from a previous relationship before having some of their own.
“I’ve gotten six wonderful grandkids,” Elledge said. “Sadie’s the third oldest. Her dad’s Honduran — my son — and her mother is Mexican. We’re a totally bicultural family. A pretty typical bicultural family.”
Hopefully Sadie won’t have to deal with anything like this for much longer as she’s a recent high school graduate and about to start her classes at a community college.
Photo Credit: John Elledge