As a college kid/waitress who is majoring in Communication and barely scraping by, I found my interest piqued by a recent news story about the now infamous Chelsea Welch. For any of you not familiar with the Welch story the gist of what happened is this:

A waitress at an Applebee’s in St. Louis, Missouri posted a picture of a receipt on social site Reddit that depicted the note, “I give God 10% why do you get 18.” The automatic gratuity was crossed out, replaced with a zero and signed “Pastor”. A FRIEND of the server who actually waited on this customer posted the picture to Reddit and the obligatory mob scene ensued with Redditors attempting to name the insulting customer. However, although the “Pastor” in question was identified, the waitress, Chelsea Welch, who took the picture and posted it to Reddit, was fired by Applebee’s. Following this news, the Internet broke out into either indignation or applause, depending on where the loyalties lay. A Facebook group was started that was attempting to get Welch re-hired.

Personally, I feel myself caught in between the two warring factions in this ridiculous situation. As a waitress, I have been tempted many times to get revenge or humiliate or ridicule rude customers who leave either no tip or less than an 18% tip – which is the accepted standard now. However, professionalism dictates that I suffer in silence, not only so I remain employed but also so the restaurant I work at is able to keep loyal customers and retain new ones. Not only that but I frequently tweet or Facebook my frustrations with customers but am careful to leave out specific names.

While I feel for Welch at having found herself unemployed when she was simply trying to voice her astonishment at the incident, I can respect the outcome. When an employee posts a picture or status online – especially one that quickly becomes viral – and the customer and/or employer is exposed then the employee is given no choice other than to take immediate action in favor of the customer. While it would be admirable if an employer stood behind an employee in a case like this, it must be recognized that a large corporation such as Applebee’s is not going to put their employees before the customers, especially when the employee makes the company look bad on social media platforms.

Although the entire situation has been somewhat blown out of proportion, I believe that what the case of Chelsea Welch and the stingy pastor goes to show is that social media may not be the best outlet for voicing amusement or indignation about specific employers or customers.

Am I right in sympathizing with Welch and yet feeling like she may have made the most stupid mistake ever? I mean, is it really ever a good idea to voice opinions on social media with your employer’s name attached to them?