Red Lobster Waitress Receives a Racial Slur on a Receipt — And then $10,000

Workers in the food service industry don’t always get treated all that well, and if you ask servers to tell you about a time when they got cheated out of a tip, they’ll have plenty of anecdotes to choose from. Toni Jenkins, a waitress at a Red Lobster in Tennessee, was not only cheated out of a tip — she also received a receipt that had a racial slur written on the “total” line directed at her. She posted the receipt online and got some praise for taking a stand, and some criticism from people who accused her of fabricating the receipt (the customer denied writing the slur). But Jenkins is coming out on top — a California man was able to raise $10,000 for Jenkins through a fund called “Tips for Toni.”

What would you do with a $10,000 windfall? Toni Jenkins bought a car and paid off student loans:

The first thing that came to me was, ‘God just bought my car.’ So, and that’s exactly what I did with it. I paid some loans back at school. I got me a great, reliable car. And I’m overjoyed and blessed,” she said.

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