Waitress Let Go After Receiving Huge $4,400 Tip From A Customer

It can feel like a no-win situation with tipping these days—skip the tip, and you’re labeled ungrateful; leave a small one, and people think you're cheap.

But who would’ve thought leaving a big tip could cost someone their job?

This unexpected scenario played out in 2021 at Oven & Tap, a restaurant in Arkansas.

After a long night of serving a large party of more than 40 business professionals, Ryan Brandt, a server, received an incredibly generous tip.

Ryan Brandt was completely overwhelmed by the generous tip left by Grant Wise and his colleagues Instagram/@rebeccasoto_legacy

Her attentive service earned her a remarkable $4,400 tip, captured on video by one of the diners, Rebecca Soto.

Soto shared the video on Instagram, adding a heartfelt caption: "I'm humbled to have been part of something so beautiful and generous. To bless someone else without previously knowing them."

She added: "I have been blessed, so it is wonderful to pay it forward and bless someone else."

"God bless all who contributed and the servers who received it. I pray it may be multiplied and impact their life for the better."

The video also featured businessman Grant Wise, who handed over the generous tip to Brandt.

He explained: "Everybody at this table has contributed or tipped $100 for you, and for the other waitress, who unfortunately had to go home because she wasn't feeling well,"

This incident happened at the Oven & Tap restaurant in Arkansas back in 2021 Instagram/@rebeccasoto_legacy

"And then we put it out to our social media channels, and we actually had quite a bit more money sent in. So we are tipping you a total of $4,400 for you to split with the other girl that took care of us."

Overwhelmed by the act of kindness, Brandt thanked the group repeatedly, clearly moved to tears.

Unfortunately, her joy didn’t last, as Brandt was let go from her job shortly after the event.

The server later shared with KNWA News: "I was told that I was going to be giving my cash over to my shift manager, and I would be taking home 20 percent."

She mentioned to the outlet that she’d worked at Oven & Tap for over three years and had never been asked to share her tips before.

Upon learning of the situation, Wise reportedly requested the money back, according to Distractify.

Once the money was returned, Wise made sure to hand it back to Brandt outside the restaurant so she could keep it all without any strings attached.

However, Brandt claimed that as soon as she returned to the restaurant, she was informed of her termination, supposedly because she had taken the money, though Oven & Tap disputed this account.

She expressed to the news station: "It was devastating."

"I borrowed a significant amount for student loans. Most of them were turned off because of the pandemic, but they're turning back on in January and that's a harsh reality."

KNWA reported that Oven & Tap’s owners, Mollie Mullis and Luke Wetzel, responded in a statement: "We commend the organization that dined with us and generously gave to our staff. They have an absolute right to tip whoever they want, and we honored that request."

"Oven & Tap doesn't deliver terminations lightly. Because we value our employees and highly respect their privacy, we never discuss personnel issues. The server who was terminated several days after the group dined with us was not let go because she chose to keep the tip money. The other two servers who received generous tips that evening from the Witly organization - including one who also received $2,200 - are still members of our team."

"Oven & Tap has always been committed to providing fair and quality compensation to all members of our restaurant team. We recognize and regret that a recent incident in our restaurant could have been handled differently by reminding our team how we would be splitting any tips prior to the event, however, our policy has always been to participate in a tip pool/share with the staff. Tip sharing is a common restaurant industry practice that we follow to ensure all of our team members are adequately compensated for their hard work."