Restaurant Sues Customer Who Tried to Take Back $3,000 Tip He Left for Server

Waitress Mariana Lambert was on the receiving end of a generous gratuity as part of the "Tips for Jesus" movement. She received a whopping $3,000 after serving up a $13.25 Stromboli meal at Alfredo's restaurant in Scranton, Penn..

6ABC Philadelphia reported that initially Mariana and management at Alfredo's weren't entirely convinced at the tip's legitimacy.

"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."

MSN also reported on the gesture, additionally quoting Mariana as saying: "It really meant a lot to me because everyone's going through stuff. It really touched my heart. I still can't believe it. I'm still in shock"

However the outlet stated that the situation went sour after the restaurant claimed Eric Smith, who left the tip, was disputing the charge: "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 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," Zachary added.

The restaurant began communicating with Eric through Facebook to get to the bottom of the issue, but the good samaritan purportedly ceased replying: "It's just a little aggravating right now. It's been causing a lot of nonsense and drama."

Zachary went on to say that Eric said they could sue the restaurant for the money as they gave Mariana the $3,000 "tips for Jesus" gratuity she was handed. "Unfortunately, we had to file charges through the magistrate's office because now we're just out of this money at this point. And he told us to sue him. so that's what we're going to end up doing, I guess."

The Alfredo's manager added that Eric shouldn't have gone through with the kind gesture if he was planning on disputing the charges and that the kind act has left a sour taste in everyone's mouth as a result: "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."

"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."

It appears that word of Eric's reneging has gone viral on social media, with YouTubers commenting on the original video commending his act on 6ABC Philadelphia's post.

"Dude filed a dispute with his bank and they charged back the restaurant. Now they are suing him."

"Now 3 months later, the business is out of $3,000 because you are questioning this through your credit card company? This is fraud if I ever saw it. Not good publicity for anyone."

"He’s now disputing the tip. So much for Jesus. What a clown"

There are other "Tips for Jesus" examples floating around social media as well that don't seem to be associated with Eric Smith, however. The popular Instagram account of the same name has tons of examples of massive tips left for servers, with the comments section not indicating any foul play.

Eater reported that the identity behind the person who launched the movement to be that of Jack Selby, citing a New York Post article in their piece.