- Ice cream shop employee fired for accepting $100 tip
- The Freez in Moorhead, Minnesota, said the customer “might” have dementia
- “No one in their right state of mind tips $100,” Freez said in a warning.
A Minnesota ice cream shop employee was fired for receiving a generous tip from a customer who “might” be suffering from dementia.
Emily Swenson was working a shift at Moorhead Freez when a customer came in and tried to leave her a $100 tip.
After Emily insisted that the tip was too generous and she couldn’t accept it, the customer put the bill in the tip jar and left.
Days later, on April 24, Emily received a written warning from her boss. Her parents, Seth and Lisa Swenson, uploaded the “employee warning notice form” in their joint Facebook post.
It said: ‘Emily needs to understand that some of our clients are older people and could be suffering from dementia or other illnesses that make it difficult for them to understand her actions. No one in their right state of mind tips $100 at a place where every item on the menu costs less than $12.’
An employee at a Minnesota ice cream shop was fired for receiving a generous tip from a customer who ‘might’ be suffering from dementia.
Emily Swenson received a written warning from her boss after she was tipped. Her parents, Seth and Lisa Swenson (pictured), uploaded the ’employee warning notice form’ in their joint Facebook post.
The parents explained in their Facebook post that Emily was working on her fifth season at the ice cream shop and revealed that her boss had accused her of “taking” a customer’s $100.
The written warning stated: “As an employee of The Freez, it is your responsibility to protect the reputation of the establishment.” If the customer has problems and the family finds out that they were allowed to put $100 in the tip jar, The Freez will be disparaged as a place that takes advantage of older people.’
Emily was fired the next day, according to her parents.
Freez fired her because she violated company policy that says employees should not accept bills of more than $20 as payment, even though the policy does not mention anything about tips.
The ice cream shop posted its own statement on Facebook after receiving harsh backlash following Swensen’s post.
‘Ice cream makes people happy. Social media harassment, not so much,” Freez wrote.
Freez fired her because she violated company policy that says employees should not accept bills of more than $20 as payment, even though the policy does not mention anything about tips.
The written warning stated: “As an employee of The Freez, it is your responsibility to protect the reputation of the establishment.”
‘Ice cream makes people happy. Social media harassment, not so much,” Freez wrote in his own statement.
‘We didn’t fire the adult at-will employee for five years for not accepting tips. There is more to the story.
‘We will not go into details, it is a personal matter. “However, we believe that if parents are posting for an adult son, they have not asked their adult daughter the right questions,” Freez continued.
The public quickly took to the comments to share their reactions to the controversial firing.
“So maybe the owner should check to see if that customer was an elderly person with dementia before firing her employee,” Atlanta Swensen wrote.
‘Maybe she was someone who really appreciated Emily and her coworkers doing a good job. I doubt any other food establishment would fire someone for saying she couldn’t accept the tip and then the person put it in the tip jar anyway!’
Another user said: ‘I’m trying to understand this situation.’ How is it Emily’s fault if the lady dropped the money in the tip jar after Emily refused to accept it? It seems to me that the manager/owner was looking for faults in the employees.’
“Dementia or not, this is an insane response to the situation,” one user wrote.
‘I’m sad for everyone. It saddens me that it even happened. But the comments really need to stop,” said one user in reaction to the harsh reaction.
DailyMail.com has contacted Moorhead Freez, as well as Seth and Lisa Swenson for comment.
