A waitress in Knoxville, Tenn., was allegedly denied a tip Monday by a Donald Trump supporter who was insulted for having to sign a receipt using a pen from the Bernie Sanders campaign.
The photo of the receipt from Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria, which appeared on Reddit’s r/SandersForPresident and 4chan’s /pol/ late Monday night, shows the Sanders pen and receipt featuring the following phrases:
- “Make America Great Again!!!”
- “I wouldn’t steal this pen if it was the last one on earth...Trump”
- “If you vote for Bernie you should also give one of those dollars to the poor.”
The Barley’s receipt is an example of a trend in social media known as tip shaming. As was the case in Knoxville, the process involves posting a photo of a receipt in which a patron has left a paltry tip or none at all. In September 2014, NFL player LeSean McCoy was publicly chided after he allegedly left a 20 cent tip on a $61.56 bill.
The authenticity of the receipt was verified by Barley’s manager Rodney Lee at about 12:42 a.m. Tuesday.
“We have some policies around posting of photos of credit card receipts,” Lee told me over the phone after I emailed him the photo of the receipt. “This one is more about the political commentary of it. The policy would be more about tip shaming, which this is technically under that.”
Lee admitted that he was caught off guard by the photo and did not know how it made it to the Internet. Since Lee joined the restaurant, he has never seen this happen before. Barley’s has been open for more than 15 years.
It is unclear whether the Barley's patron tipped the waitress with cash.
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The restaurant has no formal political affiliation, Lee added. It has informally hosted meetups for local Sanders organizers.
