Pastor stiffs waitress on tip with weird Jesus explanation

Atlanta pastor Alois Bell recently outed herself as a miserly person with poor logic skills when she signed the bill for a dinner with several other people at Applebee's. The chain had added an automatic 18 percent gratuity for the size of the group. Bell scratched this out and wrote in a tip of zero, then added a note that "I give God 10%, why do you get 18?"

I mean, for one thing, I give Netflix $16 a month, so why should you get $10? In other words, it's comparing apples to wildebeests. Alois Bell probably spends her money on a lot of different things, but that has little bearing on what she should tip her waitress.

For another thing, Bell gives God 10 percent of her total income, but she only tips the waitress a percentage of the bill for that meal. I'm pretty sure God is still coming out ahead on the deal.

The waitress posted her receipt online, and everyone was duly horrified, and then Applebee's found out about it and fired the waitress, and now everyone is angry at Applebee's too. What a mess. (At least the pastor has since apologized.)

Tipping is probably the single greatest source of social anxiety in America. I recently had a half-hour conversation with a friend where we tried to hash out whether or not we should be leaving a tip for a spa treatment by a student at a local school for estheticians. But as confusing as tipping can be, it's fairly straightforward when it comes to restaurants: 10 percent is the absolute minimum, 15 percent is a middle road, 20 percent if you're feeling generous.

Why people feel the need to stiff the waiter on a tip AND leave a nasty note is beyond me. Trust me, waiting tables is a bad enough job as it is without the customers getting all snotty about it.

The lesson here being, please tip your wait staff! Or if you really refuse to do so, for whatever reason, then at least have the decency to NOT leave them a note about it.