Quinnipiac Students 'Pay It Forward' For Waitress

Tired of seeing Quinnipiac students portrayed in a negative light, two students stepped up to turn a negative into a positive.

Several unknown Quinnipiac students were called out in a Facebook post that has been shared nearly 9,000 times for skipping out on their bill at T.G.I. Friday’s (TGIF) in Hamden and their waitress was left to pay out her tips (to the other wait staff) — after she had stayed late to wait on them and ended up missing putting her daughter to bed that night.

After seeing the post, Quinnipiac students Katie Benedito and Sara-Lynn Dickinson worked together to launch a GoFundMe page to get the waitress, Lulu Gamble, her money back, according to the Quinnipiac Chronicle.

They have done that and more.

As of Tuesday night, $870 was raised by 98 people in one day.

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The initial Facebook post that inspired Benedito and Dickinson to get the movement started was written by Kaitlyn Wescott, a fellow TGIF waitress.

In the post, Westcott wrote:

“Dear Quinnipiac students who walked out without paying their tab tonight,

The wonderful women who took your table tonight was about to go home, and stayed to take you guys. 6 of you very obviously stoned. She missed being able to put her daughter to bed to take you guys. You guys had her running around for over an hour and then RAN out on your tab, do you realize she now has to pay 3% out of her tips for your table? So not only did she miss putting her daughter to bed, you shorted her daughters Christmas money, food money, clothes money. I know it doesn’t seem like much to y’all... But it does to hard workers like us.”

Benedito told the Chronicle that she saw the post on Facebook and said she “was already aware of the negative attention QU students receive with the Hamden community and I wanted to show that the actions of those students do not define us as a student body.”

Read more at the Quinnipiac Chronicle here.

Editor’s Note: Westcott clarified that Gamble was not forced to pay for the bill, but said they “tip out 3% of our sales for our bartender, busser, and hostess. I was referring to that as well as the $30 tip she should’ve received (20% of their tab) since she stayed, getting paid well below minimum wage to take care of that table who got endless appetizers and had her running back and forth. Servers are not forced to pay for walkouts however some choose too as opposed to getting written up/documented. Too many write ups and a server could be terminated for someone else’s wrong doing.”