Penny given to Texas waitress as tip lists on eBay for over $2,500. Here’s the full story
Tuesday evening at FINS Patio Bar & Grill in Weatherford was a typical steady night for the weekday.
So when a waitress got back a signed check for $28.05 with the words “Your service sucked!!!” written at the bottom and a single 2021 penny on top, she came up to manager Lily Ray in disbelief.
Ray, who told the Star-Telegram she had not been called to the table, said she remembered the customer and how the other guests at the table apologized for their friend’s behavior.
“She took our waitress taking another order as she was just standing at the table and congregating with them, which wasn’t true. She was taking an order,” Ray said.
The customer, Christina Rollins, reached out to the Star-Telegram and gave her account of why she left a tip of a penny and the note.
“The service was horrible. I do the same thing for a living. I know,” Rollins said, explaining that she works as a waitress.
She said that once the food they ordered was delivered, “We never saw our waitress again.”
The server walked around for 20 minutes, she said, and did not pay attention to Rollins and her group of friends. She said their waitress “was socializing” while they waited for service.
An exasperated Rollins said she went up to the server to ask her to come back to their table. When the server followed her back to the table the server was rude, she said.
“The note I left was a little harsh, but as a waitress I don’t go around socializing. There’s something wrong with this. I am just standing up for others,” she said.
FINS Patio Bar & Grill, located at 810 S Main St. in Weatherford, offers a variety of Texas favorites on its menu from street tacos and burgers to seafood and salads, along with specialty drinks.
FINS has an overall four out of five star rating on Google reviews with about 40 of the 430 reviews positively commenting on the atmosphere.
Even during FINS busiest hours, Ray said there’s nothing her waitstaff can’t handle, but they’re honest when they have an off day.
In this case, the waitress told Ray she had no idea what she did wrong.
“That happens a lot in the service industry,” Ray said.
Rollins took offense at how the restaurant responded to her actions.
“The manager (of the restaurant) never came up to me or my friends,” Rollins said.
In refuting the manager’s account of what happened, Rollins said, “My friends did not apologize for my behavior.”
Tipping for a service is a common practice in the United States and for waitstaff at a restaurant, it makes up a huge part of their paycheck.
About 42% of U.S. adults say they typically tip at least 20% at sit-down restaurants, according to a poll by Bankrate. Even if the service is poor, Bankrate recommends leaving at least 10% tip at a sit-down restaurant.
Similar to many in the restaurant service industry, the waitstaff at FINS are paid $3 an hour and work for tips so a penny tip is a blow to the day’s earnings.
When the restaurant owner found out about the penny tip, he listed it on eBay Wednesday under the user “johnnynobody” — within hours the highest bid reached two thousand dollars.
The listing is for a “2021 Crazy Karen Penny” which includes “saltiness with a certificate of authenticity.”
The winning bidder will get sent the penny and receipt framed, Ray said.
As of Thursday, the highest bid on the item was $2,550 and the bid was set to end July 26 just before 4 p.m.
Ray said the winning bid money will go to the waitress, with 25% donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The owner also plans to match the winning amount and split it with the entire waitstaff.
“The owner’s whole reasoning for this was kind of just to turn ugliness into positivity so that’s kind of just where we’re at with the situation and to help the waitress out,” Ray said.
A community pushes back
The restaurant could have contacted her about her note, Rollins said, instead they “put it out for the world to see.”
Many who saw what the FINS Bar & Grill account posted on social media contacted the Star-Telegram to disagree with how the restaurant acted.
“Every time they don’t have an argument, they call people who complain (names),” James Brown wrote in an email to the newspaper.
Another sent an email that said, “The establishment posted personal information about a customer. They actually posted this on their business page and they got heavy push back from our community about this.”
Yet another wrote: “I don’t know if you are really aware about how really awful the owner of FINs is being to the customers on the Facebook page.”
Jacob Gustainis prodded the Star-Telegram in an email, “There is a bigger story here. Look deeper. This is not the first time (FINS) has posted a customer’s personal information online.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2023 at 2:53 PM.
