Tamlynn Yoder, Outback Waitress Fired Over Social Media Rant Slamming Non-Tipping Church

A worker at an Outback Steakhouse in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was fired over the weekend after venting her frustrations and posting on Facebook that she was not tipped for a $735 take-out order placed by a local church at the restaurant last week, according to reports Sunday.

Tamlynn Yoder, 25, of Lake Park, said Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach ordered 25 steaks, 25 chickens and 25 potatoes Wednesday morning at the restaurant on Military Trail near Northlake Boulevard. Their total order came to $735, which she spent preparing for most of her shift that day.

“We take the order over the phone, we put the order together, take payment and then take order to the car,” Yoder said. “It’s a lot of work, just as much as serving.”

“Tips is how we make our money, we still make a low wage as servers,” said Yoder. The minimum wage for a tipped employee is said to be approximately $5.23 in Florida.

Yoder told the Miami Herald that a person from Christ Fellowship came to pick up the order, and when she put the food in the car, she received no tip. Yoder stated that since she spent most of her shift that day preparing the 75-item order for Christ Fellowship, she could only make a total of $18 in tips that day on other orders.

Yoder came back home and out of frustration, she posted on Facebook that Christ Fellowship left her no tip on an order totaling $735 — however did not mention where she worked.

A friend who saw her post on social media and asked her to delete it, and he told her he would call the church about the incident. He later told her that the church was going to contact the restaurant in order to make amends.

But when Yoder arrived at the restaurant the next day for her shift, she was informed by her manager that Christ Fellowship got a full refund for the $735 order and that she was fired.

Cathie Koch, a spokeswoman for Outback Steakhouse, told the Palm Beach Post that as per company policy, customers should not be mentioned by employees on social media and can be subject to termination if the policy is violated. Koch declined to “go into specifics” about the incident.

Christ Fellowship church said in a statement to Palm Beach Post that their intent “was to find a way to get a tip to the employee and did not desire in any way for punitive action to be taken.”

“We did not call the restaurant to have her fired, we wanted to get the situation resolved,” David Lonsberry, an executive director of business for Christ Fellowship said.

Lonsberry added the group was trying to make the situation right.

“That night, we had a volunteer go to the restaurant and pick up the order since we were having a big conference. He probably didn’t know to tip since it was a rush of the moment thing,” Lonsberry stated.

“We love our volunteers, and the one chosen to assist with this pick-up errand was not aware of our gratuity tipping practices,” the statement said. “At no time, did any Christ Fellowship staff dine-in the restaurant that evening as we were hosting a major event at the time.”

The church’s Facebook page was filled with criticism in response to the controversy.

“I think it's a horrible thing this church did calling the steakhouse. All they had to do was give a credit card number over the phone to tip that girl. Or stop by with cash for her. They knew what they were doing. I'll bet they'd have no problems taking that girl's paycheck if she donated it to the church. It's not too late to make it right. What would Jesus do?” Amber Hart Armstrong Lester, one of the users wrote.

“So....the volunteer was to blame for the neglect to include a tip for the server? Your conference group ate steak at the expense of voluntary pick up and no compensation for the labor of the server? Then you were even refunded the cost of the meal. Must be nice to be the beneficiary of steak for free. Your took advantage of the service at no cost to your enterprise to eat steak? I think you know that what goes around comes around,” Cecelia Tucker, another user commented.