Just when my faith in humanity is restored, it gets ripped out from underneath me. You may have seen our Facebook post a few weeks ago about Dayna Morales, a waitress who was reportedly denied a tip on a $93 ticket because the patrons didn’t “approve of her lesbian lifestyle.” She posted a photo of the receipt online, and the shit hit the fan. Millions of Internet users came to her defense, and a donation link was quickly set up. In just a few weeks, Dayna received a few thousand dollars in donations to make up for the missing tip. Morales, a veteran herself, even said that she planned to donate the money to the Wounded Warriors Project. A horrible story ended happily… or so we thought.
Earlier this week, a New Jersey family came forward, and identified themselves as the patrons in question. However, the family provided a customer copy of the receipt for that night, proving that they actually paid an $18 tip on their ticket. They also provided their credit card statement for further proof. Morales has not offered much comment on the new development, but from what I can tell, she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. For this reason, Dayna Morales is sadly our Douchebag of the Week.
Now, I honestly hate that we’ve come to this point. When I originally heard the story, I was sympathetic toward Dayna for not receiving a tip. I have friends who are waiters and waitresses, and they often live off whatever tips they get, so I understood the severity of that situation. The donations from complete strangers were an encouraging light in this dark story, and that light was only strengthened when Morales pledged to donate the funds to Wounded Warriors. But this latest development just tears it all to pieces.
Let’s start with the most obvious point: Dayna is a douchebag for forging a ticket to get sympathy. Look, I’m not saying that we should just let gay and lesbian waiters and waitresses be denied tips without raising hell over it. It’s a serious problem in the service industry, and we have to fight tooth and nail to end this kind of ridiculous discrimination. We’ve seen stories like this in the past, and the response is great. But don’t create a false instance of controversy if there’s really no controversy there. Making up a fake story just to get people pissed off is disingenuous and stupid.
Moving on, I want to know what Morales actually plans to do with the few thousand dollars in donations she received. She claims that she’s going to donate it to the Wounded Warriors Project, but that claim was made before the scam became public. What’s more, how many people who donated are having regrets now that they’ve learned that they gave to a false cause? Morales has not only created a false controversy, she’s wrapped thousands of people up in it as well.
In the end, I’m very bothered by the way this story unraveled. I was excited to see such a positive reaction from outsiders (seriously, you guys are awesome), but the fact that someone could drum up a fake story is just disappointing. Morales gets the Douchebag of the Week badge for trying to get her fifteen minutes of fame by exploiting a serious problem in the LGBT community. Come on, Dayna. I was rooting for you.
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Yield the Floor 