The New Jersey family that was accused of leaving a gay waitress a homophobic message on a restaurant receipt earlier this month has come forward and claims that the whole thing is a hoax concocted by the woman.
Dayna Morales, a former Marine who works as a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, N.J., made headlines a few weeks ago when she was supposedly
stiffed by a family of four who then left an anti-gay note on the $93.55 restaurant check.
The waitress posted a photo of the receipt on Facebook, which shows this note scrawled on the bill: "I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I don't agree with your lifestyle & how you live your life."
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Morales received nearly $3,000 in donations after she went public with her story. She told reporters she planned on donating the money to the Wounded Warriors fund.
But now the family in question has come forward and provided documentation that not only proves that they left a 20 percent tip, but also that they did not write any additional comments on the receipt.
The couple, who chose not to be identified,
contacted NBC 4 New York and showed reporters a receipt with the identical date, time stamp, and total as the one Morales posted on Facebook. Except their copy showed a gratuity of $18 written in, for a total bill of $111.55. They also produced a credit card statement that showed the total charge — which would have only reflected the original $93.55 if they had not tipped Morales.
The wife told NBC 4 she and her husband would never leave someone a hateful message about their sexuality, noting that her husband even refused to vote for Gov. Chris Christie because the politician doesn't support gay marriage.
"I don't think that way. We're the most tolerant people. I don't care what you do in your life. I'm a good person," the wife said. "We've never not left a tip when someone gave good service, and we would never leave a note like that."
The couple also noted that the message on the receipt was not in their handwriting. When confronted with the other receipt, Morales maintained her original story.
"That's not my handwriting, I don’t know," she said.
Gallop Asian Bistro released a statement this week declining to comment on the allegations against Morales. It's not clear whether the restaurant has launched an internal investigation into the matter, which could be considered fraud.
And even though Morales claims she isn't profiting from the incident, the couple still feels what she's allegedly done is wrong.
"I just felt like people have a right to know that — it's fine if people want to donate to her or to the Wounded Warriors, but they're doing it under a false pretense," the wife said.
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