A Colorado Springs, Colorado, veteran claimed that his waitress at a local Texas Roadhouse tampered with his bill to give herself a larger tip.
Doug Woodward said he was overcharged by the restaurant on three separate occasions. The first time, he didn’t think anything of it. When it happened a second time, he spoke to a manager and learned that it was his waitress that did it. He avoided that location for nearly a year before trying it again — and getting ripped off another time.
«I think the odds of being struck by lightning are probably better than this happening to the same person three times at Texas Roadhouse,» he told KXRM.
The third time, Woodward and his wife were treating friends to dinner and paid $105.01 plus a $10 tip. When his wife looked at their bank statement, it said that the total was $123.01 — meaning that the waitress took an extra $8.
The couple went in and spoke to a manager, who showed them the merchant receipt. The receipt was different than theirs, which they luckily kept and could use as proof.
«For her to show us the actual receipt that had been changed, that’s the smoking gun,» Woodward said. «You can’t deny that it was changed.»
Woodward said the extra $8 was a big deal for him and his wife, as they live on a fixed income because of his status as a disabled veteran.
«We are on a budget like no one’s business,» he said. «For us to do this, that was huge, and for her to take advantage of us like that and we even told her that we were vets. We asked about the military discount and so she knew that we were vets.»
Texas Roadhouse ultimately fired the employee, and told KXRM in a statement that they were refunding the entire amount to Woodward.
Many readers expressed shock that Woodward would leave such a small tip in the first place.
«She did do wrong for sure.. but sir u left that server a 9percent tip… That server don’t even get a paycheck it goes to taxes… She lives on those tips… It was very wrong for her to do that .. BUT it was very wrong for u to leave that kind of tip tooo it’s a insult to a server to get that kind of percent…….. Think about it… Both sides done wrong,» one Mad World News reader commented on the site’s Facebook page.
KXRM ultimately reported that Woodward was found to have scammed the restaurant by altering the bill himself.
«Sadly, we have discovered this was a scam. We have rehired the server, banned this gentleman for life from any Texas Roadhouse and are considering legal action,» the restaurant said in a statement.
