WASHINGTON — After serving a couple two gyros, a small Greek salad and two cans of soda, waitress Sadie Elledge could have expected about a $5.25 tip on the $26.11 bill at Jess’ Lunch, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Instead of a gratuity, Elledge got a handwritten note on the receipt from the customers reading, “We only tip citizens.”
Sadie, 18, was born in the United States, and is of Honduran and Mexican descent.
“It was just rude and disrespectful,” Elledge told Harrisonburg TV station WHSV. “I never met them; I’ve never done anything to them.”
Elledge’s grandfather, John, a lawyer, took a photo of the receipt and posted it on Facebook.
“I kind of made an intemperate remark on Facebook, saying ‘I’d do the jail time if I could get the opportunity to punch the son of a gun in the face’,” John Elledge told WUSA.
Coincidentally, the couple returned to the restaurant, to complain that the social media posting included the last four digits of their credit card, just when John Elledge walked in.
“She asked me why I posted it; I said, ‘Because it was an insult to my granddaughter.’ Of course I’m going to post it, and I’m not apologizing for that,” Elledge said.
The incident has prompted an outpouring of social media support for the teen and the owner of the restaurant, Angeliki Floros.
The customer who signed the receipt has not immediately responded to a request for comment from WTOP.
