Although there is a lot of disagreement about how much to tip your server, no one can dispute that it is a fundamental aspect of American restaurant culture.

I was taught to always tip the wait staff. Although I don’t think employers should be able to get away with underpaying their staff and placing the blame on customers instead, that’s, unfortunately, the way things are done. Many waiters and waitresses rely on tips for their livelihoods.

In any event, we can all agree that most servers deserve the tips they receive. They put forth a lot of effort to assure client happiness in 99 percent of the situations; thus, whatever additional money they get should be theirs by law.

However, rumors exist that one waitress at the Oven & Tap in Arkansas was let go after receiving a sizable tip from a table she was serving.

When Ryan Brandt received a $4,400 gift from a table of business executives in 2021, she was speechless. However, any happiness was quickly replaced with disappointment when the Oven & Tap restaurant gave her her marching orders shortly after.

Rebecca Soto, one of the executives at the in-issue table, posted a video clip to Instagram to capture the moment Brandt received her for her efforts in the form of a substantial bundle of cash.

“I’m humbled to have been part of something so beautiful and generous,” Soto wrote in the caption of the touching video. to bless someone else without having met them first.

“Since I’ve been fortunate, blessing someone else in return is fantastic.

God bless everyone who gave and the servers who got it. I hope it spreads and has a positive effect on their lives.

Grant Wise (seen above), the show’s presenter, is seen in the video handing Ryan the money and saying, “Everyone at this table has given or tipped $100 for you and for the other waitress, who regrettably had to go home because she wasn’t feeling well.

“Then we shared it on our social media platforms, and much more money was sent in. Therefore, we are giving you a total tip of $4,400 to split with the other girl who looked after us.

Ryan thanked Grant and the table in floods of joyful tears, but the story had a sting she hadn’t anticipated.

“I was told that I was going to give my cash over to my shift manager, and I would take home 20%,” the server told KNWA News.

She said she had worked at Oven & Tap for more than three years and had never been instructed to turn in her tips.

When Grant Wise learned of the predicament, he demanded the money back. He then gave it to Ryan again outside the restaurant to ensure that the proper individuals received his initial gift.

But when Ryan returned to her workplace, she was no longer employed because she accepted the payment.

“It was devastating,” she averred.

“I took out a sizable amount of student loan debt. It’s a terrible truth that most will turn back on in January after being shut off because of the pandemic.

Wise and his sympathetic coworkers launched Ryan’s GoFundMe page, which quickly accumulated $8,700.

In the meantime, Oven & Tap made a statement regarding the situation in which they insisted that they had “honored” Wise’s table’s request that the tips go to Ryan and her associate.

The restaurant reported that a large group of customers asked for two specific servers to receive their tips after the meal.

“We granted their request in full. We won’t reveal the specifics of an employee’s termination out of respect for our cherished team members.

I don’t know about you, but if this institution tried to seize Ryan’s tip money, I think there’s something very strange going on.

What do you think about the situation? Please share your thoughts on this and the tipping culture in general in the comments section.

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