California restaurant customer leaves racist message instead of tip

Here’s another reason why we may want to consider phasing out tipping in the U.S.: A customer at a California restaurant wrote “tip for U.S. citizens only” instead of actually leaving one for his server.

According to NBC Los Angeles, the non-tip was left at Bamboo Thai Bistro in Redondo Beach, an ironic restaurant choice for a diner who apparently dislikes immigration. The server’s coworker, who asked only to be identified as Adison out of fear of retaliation, said a male customer wrote the note and then left. I confirmed this with Adison Tuesday.

NBC did not release the customer’s identity because he hasn’t responded to comment, though he has allegedly been identified elsewhere. The customer’s image was captured by security camera at the restaurant.

The server is in the U.S. legally on a visa, NBC said. And according to her coworker Adison, she is one of the restaurant’s best waiters.

The receipt soon made its way to social media. Adison said another customer must have taken a photo of it, although in a since-deleted Facebook post, a woman named Gina Darling says she obtained the receipt, or at least an image of it, from “a friend of a friend.” Her post was captured by LAist.com.

NBC says the server “hopes to get her green card someday to give her two kids a better life.”

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.