Thanks, T. (and X).
My view is that everything works both ways. If you want people to respect you, then it is up to you to respect them, and this respect has nothing to do with the way you view their station in life. Stiffing a waitress is bad enough unless this waitress was rude and indifferent. Writing a snide note on the check makes the act an "in your face" sort of statement. Getting the girl fired adds insult to injury. When public figures (and this pastor IS a public figure) indulge in such boorish behavior, they almost always do so because they view themselves in one place and the person they are crapping on another. Otherwise, they simply wouldn't indulge in this behavior.
When companies fail to back up their employess and expect them to be the butt of other people's sense of entitlement, they become part of this process. In this case, the waitress was deemed expendable because that is part of the corporate culture. Far too many companies expect loyalty, but they do not give any. I don't go for that, myself, since I figure loyalty in one direction deserves loyalty in another. I tend to be a very loyal person, so at the risk of being called more names by others in this thread, I will say that if I were running a business and this sort of thing happened, I would not fire the person who had been wronged, but explain to the woman who left the snarky note why I value the employee and want them to earn a decent living by working for me -- the sort of decent living denied her when people with an excess of attitude and shortage of class stiff her.
