The manager of a Minnesota Denny's allegedly left a rude message on a receipt for an elderly woman who choked on her food while dining at the restaurant.
Bob Quigley, a longtime employee and manager of Denny's, wrote, "Add $15 for Life Alert button," on the bottom of the elderly woman's receipt after she choked on her meal at the chain, according to The Daily Mean.
The woman's daughter, Sarah Saba, shared a photo of the bill on Facebook and expressed her anger over the poor treatment of her mother.
In her post, Saba wrote:
As you all know my mom has had a few surgeries recently on her esophagus. She has trouble eating, swallowing and even keeping things down. She chokes when she eats and eating any meal is a process for her. To have a little normalcy in her day, she went to Denny's in Brooklyn Park, to try to eat on Monday afternoon. This is what the Manager, yes the Manager wrote on her bill!
Quigley declined to comment on the incident to The Daily Meal, but Saba said the owner of Denny's told her the manager would receive a "write-up" and retraining. However, he added that Quigley couldn't be fired due to the length of his employment. The chain restaurant offered the family a free meal and a reimbursement as a form of apology.
Saba says Quigley did call her to apologize. Her sister, Caroline Speikers, says she received a phone call from the restaurant's owner, in which he maintained that Quigley was joking. The owner told her Quigley's comment referred to the 60-year-old waitress serving their mother, who he said "could get hurt by running around so much."
Saba and Speikers said they didn't buy the owner's excuse and that, even if the story is true, it's still an example of age discrimination and doesn't excuse Quigley's behavior.
"Either he's mocking someone who is ill and disabled, or he's totally comfortable discriminating against someone's age," Speikers said. "He has a sick and twisted sense of humor, and should not be allowed around customers."