‘Don’t tip immigrants’: Restaurant rages after couple leaves discriminatory message

The owner of a New Jersey restaurant has launched a blistering attack on a couple’s behavior after they allegedly wrote “Don’t tip immigrants” on a receipt because their server spoke Spanish.

Santiago Orosco of Under the Moon Cafe published a lengthy Facebook post about the incident over the weekend.

Orosco said the couple, who he believes were in their mid-to-late 40s, appeared to be really enjoying their dining experience, raving about the food decor and service, until it came time to pay the bill.

They then stiffed their waiter on the tip, leaving a discriminatory note instead of cash.

“While our server was closing out for the evening and reconciling sales receipts, she noticed that these customers had written a note on the back of their bill stating, ‘DON’T TIP IMMIGRANTS’. I can only assume that they heard our American multi-lingual server speak Spanish to another employee," Orosco wrote. “I am utterly shocked at this blatant ignorance.”

The owner, who identified himself as a proud immigrant, also wrote that the couple was no longer welcome at his restaurant.

Lorena Bossi, the waitress who received the message, has also opened up on how the encounter affected her. She said the couple may have believed she was an immigrant because she spoke Spanish to one of her colleagues.

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“I spoke Spanish to him. I thanked him because he was helping me clean up because he doesn't have to do that,” Bossi said to ABC 7.

“It was so weird that they had just transitioned from loving me as a person to all of a sudden, 'Oh, she speaks Spanish? She must be an immigrant. Let's leave.’”

Despite the unsettling experience, and her bosses edict, Bossi said she would serve the couple again if they returned to the restaurant.

“If the couple does return, I'm going to continue to be the kind person that I am," she said. "I'll treat them with the same service as the first time because I'm not going to let someone's hate fill my heart with hate because that's not how I was raised.”

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