Server publicly shames NFL star for 'cheap as s***' tip

In the service industry, the customer is always right - even when the customer's making millions and giving you pennies. Photo / Twitter.

In the service industry, the customer is always right - even when the customer's making millions and giving you pennies.

Employees at an American restaurant banded together to out NFL star DeAngelo Williams as a bad tipper after the Steelers running back left a minuscule tip on a hefty bill.

"Just now at work I had Deangelo Williams come in and I waited on while tending bar," an employee at Ledo Restaurant in College Park, Maryland, wrote on Facebook, according to TMZ.

"His check was $128.25. He left me $129 with no tip but 75 cents. So there you go Stealers fans, your running back is cheap as s**t!!! Smh."

The heads kept shaking on Twitter, where a co-worker took the issue directly to Williams.

Johan Malcolm left a long string of tweets addressed to Williams - while frequently tagging both ESPN and well-known personality Stephen A. Smith in the hopes of making the tip snub public - in an attempt to guilt the 11-year NFL veteran, who was in town for a game in Washington.

@DeAngeloRB thanks for the lousy tip. Servers and bartenders only make $4/hr and for someone who make mills can only leave $0.75

— Johan Malcolm (@WitnessSuccess_) September 11, 2016

@DeAngeloRB people like you don't stay successful in life. Remember karma can bite you. Your momma should've raised you right

— Johan Malcolm (@WitnessSuccess_) September 12, 2016

@DeAngeloRB don't go out to eat if you cant tip right. Just cook something or order carryout @stephenasmith @espn pic.twitter.com/2TlIUuFFXV

— Johan Malcolm (@WitnessSuccess_) September 12, 2016

@DeAngeloRB @stephenasmith @espn you make about $45 mill, 21 guaranteed. Leaving like $15-20 as a tip like pocket change to you

— Johan Malcolm (@WitnessSuccess_) September 12, 2016

These kinds of stories usually end there, with celebrities who have thousands of followers - more than 230,000 in this case - not even noticing the small dent in mentions.

But Williams noticed - and wasn't backing down.

In dozens of public tweets, Williams detailed his horror story with the restaurant. His jeremiad included a wait of more than an hour and a half for food, his drink going un-refilled and a particularly bad mix-up in his order.

Williams said he used to wait tables and he's familiar with the industry. He contended leaving a tiny tip was actually a favour - and sent a subtle message without alerting the server's boss.

"I tried to leave exact change but couldn't," Williams said. "I waited on my food for over 1.5 hours ... She never asked for refills.

"I ordered chicken and shrimp in my pasta they put it on my salad. They took it back and removed it from salad and put it in my pasta leaving a shrimp tail in the salad.

"I use to wait tables and use to be a bag boy so I know what I'm doing here."

I ordered chicken and shrimp in my pasta they put it on my salad they took it back and removed it from salad and put https://t.co/gIrDkMXEKj

— DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) September 12, 2016

It in my pasta leaving a shrimp tail in the salad lol https://t.co/gIrDkMXEKj

— DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) September 12, 2016

Well, her boss now knows.

The co-owner of the restaurant, Jimmy Marcos, told TMZ the server will be fired over her handling of Williams.

"We were in the wrong," Marcos said, with a message to Williams (and the world that now sees his establishment in a bad light). "I want to offer anything I can do. I'll be sure to apologise in person next time he visits and pick up his next meal."