PR Lessons: The Applebee’s Receipt Edition

We’ve been closely monitoring the entire Applebee’s dilemma that developed late last week. If you’re not familliar with the situation, here’s the deets (image and description via PRDaily):

Last Friday, the pastor of St. Louis-based church Truth in the World Deliverance Ministries took her congregation to an Applebee’s after an evening service. The receipt for the meal added an 18 percent gratuity, which is restaurant policy for parties of eight or more.

However, Pastor Alois Bell crossed out the 18 percent and left the server a note that said: “I give God 10% why do you get 18.”

An employee at the Applebee’s took a picture of the receipt and this week posted it to Reddit, where it went viral. The employee was swiftly fired from Applebee’s.

Applebee’s released a public statement that you can read here. The gist of it is:

“Our franchisees are committed to acting in the best interests of guests and team members. This is a regrettable situation and we wish it had never happened. However, the disregard for an important policy left the franchisee no choice but to take the action they did.” -  Applebee’s President Mike Archer

Today, Pr 2.0 Chat had a full discussion on the issue via. Twitter. We thought we’d share some of the notable tweets from the conversation:

Q1: Do you think Applebee's did the right thing by firing the waitress? What role does Legal play in a situation like this? #pr20chat

— PR 2.0 Chat (@pr20chat) February 5, 2013

A1 For those who feel firing was wrong – how would your employer react if you posted something neg about a client on Reddit #pr20chat?

— Rachel Kay (@rachelakay) February 5, 2013

Is the backlash of firing the person more expensive than the liability issue stemming from lawsuits? #pr20chat. Does this drive the bus?

— Dan Farkas (@danfarkas) February 5, 2013

Q2: How about working with Legal on a case like this? As communicators, how should we handle that? #pr20chat

— PR 2.0 Chat (@pr20chat) February 5, 2013

Legal must become your best friend and you theirs to be successful in PR. Collaborate on the SoMe policy #pr20chat A2

— Lois Martin (@LoisMarketing) February 5, 2013

@jspepper @prtini Great pt. Biggest lesson from a situation like this can be how to work together better internally. #pr20chat

— Justin Goldsborough (@JGoldsborough) February 5, 2013

Q4: If you work at Applebee's right now, what are your suggesting they do to at this point? Next time? #pr20chat

— PR 2.0 Chat (@pr20chat) February 5, 2013

@pr20chat Applebees, and all companies, must accept social media can give a small individual (even if not #GenY) great power. #pr20chat

— Tim (@echoboombomb) February 5, 2013

What are your thoughts on the situation? Do you think it should’ve been handled differently? Discuss!

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