Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe, a Pennsylvania restaurant featured on the popular sitcom “The Office,” is taking legal action against a customer who left their waitress a $3,000 tip but later disputed the charge. Mariana Lambert, the lucky recipient of the generous tip, initially felt like she’d won the lottery until she learned that the customer, identified as Eric Smith, changed his mind about paying the tip.
Smith claimed that the tip was part of a social media movement called “Tips for Jesus,” where he enjoys surprising servers with large gestures. However, he disputed the charge with his credit card company after leaving the tip, leaving the restaurant on the hook for the money they had already paid to Mariana.
Despite several attempts to resolve the situation privately, the restaurant was left with no choice but to file charges against Smith. The manager of the restaurant, Zachary Jacobson, expressed frustration at the ordeal, which he described as causing “a lot of nonsense and drama.”
Nonetheless, he stood by Mariana’s hard work and described the incident as a nice piece of PR for a small business. Jacobson hopes that Smith will “own up to his actions” and pay the tip he promised to Mariana, who was touched by the gesture during a difficult time for the restaurant industry in the wake of the pandemic.
Watch the videos below, and tell us your thoughts about this “big tipper” in the comments section.
And here’s a video about the customer’s change of heart.
