Cafe sues customer after receiving $3k tip

A restaurant attempted to sue a customer who allegedly tried to take back a huge $3,000 (£2,617) tip.

Waitress Mariana Lambert was shocked to receive the tip back in 2022 after serving a $13.25 (£11.57) meal at Alfredo's restaurant in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The diner in question, who the restaurant named as Eric Smith, left the tip as part of the “Tips for Jesus” social media initiative.

According to 6ABC Philadelphia at the time, Lambert was left in disbelief after receiving the trip and ran checks on the payment to check its validity.

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"We ran his card everything went through properly and they took his ID and took pictures of everything so they waited a little bit to make sure it was legit and went through and it ended up being real,” she said.

WOW! Customer leaves $3,000 tip on $13 stromboli checkwww.youtube.com

However, she says things soon took a turn for the worse after Smith allegedly disputed the payment later, leaving him and the restaurant with a bitter dispute on their hands.

"A little over a month ago, we received something in the mail that Eric was disputing the charge for the tip that he left," Zachary Johnson from the restaurant told local news outlet WNEP.

"We thought somebody was actually trying to do a good thing. And then now we are, what, three months later? Not even, and there's nothing. There's nothing to show for it at this point.”

He went on to say that Smith should not have made the gesture if he planned on disputing the tip later.

"I hope that he owns up to his actions and comes forth and does pay this because you shouldn't have done this if this was the end result.