We all learned at a very young age that lying is a bad thing. It will eventually catch up to you and get you in trouble. A big lie by a Red Lobster waitress has put her in a tank of boiling water not made for lobsters. This apparent lie – accusing a customer of calling her a racial slur – coupled with publicizing the apparent lie on Facebook, has resulted in a lawsuit against her and her employer where the patron seeks $1 million.
Last September, the waitress posted a picture on Facebook of a receipt which left no tip. The waitress, who is black, claimed that the customer, who is white, also wrote the aforementioned racial slur. The name of the patron was visible on the receipt.
The patron admits to writing “None” on the tip line but says that he did not use the racial epithet and that Red Lobster did nothing to address the situation. In the meantime, after the story went viral, do-gooders donated $11,000 to her as “tips.” She used that money to buy a car.
It seems that the patron was right. He didn’t write the derogatory slur. Handwriting experts have agreed with him and now the waitress says that she also believes him.
As a result, it appears that the patron has great fraud and defamation claims against the waitress, who said that she would share the donations with the patron “if there was any left.” It will obviously be much tougher to get Red Lobster “on the hook.”
