After a waiter working a $3 an hour job received a Bible tract disguised as a $20 tip for his service last month, evangelist Ray Comfort warned Christians against distributing the “product” without the real thing.
Garret Wayman, 17, who works as a waiter at a restaurant in Kansas, told the media that he was very excited to see what appeared to be $20 tip, tucked under a ketchup bottle.
“I'm 17 years old, $7,000 in debt because I had to buy myself a car, juggling full-time school, and working seven days a week,” Wayman said, explaining why he was excited. “Getting a $20 tip at the restaurant I work at is very, very rare.”
With a closer look however, Wayman realized that the tip was nothing but a Bible tract disguised as a $20 bill.
“Don't be fooled! There is something you can have more valuable than money,” read the tract while encouraging him to seek faith through Jesus Christ by studying the Bible.
someone seriously left this as my tip today. pissed is an understatement. i was so excited when i saw $20 pic.twitter.com/czntdlgoqS
— garret (@BEANBURRlTO) December 29, 2015
Wayman was so thoroughly disgusted with the Bible tract that he took several pictures of it before posting them on Twitter.
“Someone seriously left this as my tip today. Pissed is an understatement. I was so excited when I saw $20,” he wrote.
He explained what upset him most, saying the customer had not even bothered to leave behind a real tip along with the Bible tract disguised as a $20 bill.
“He just left that,” Wayman said. “I wanted to tell him that I only make $3 an hour and bust my ass at my job to make way less than I deserve. But he was gone by the time I had the chance to.”
Responding to the incident, Comfort’s evangelical organization Living Waters, which manufactures and markets similar Bible tracts of various denominations, said whoever had decided to leave behind the $20 Bible tract without real money had also missed an opportunity to truly witness.
“Ray teaches us if you give somebody a tract, don't just give them a tract, give them a good tip,” said Living Waters customer service representative Danny Goodall in an interview. “It shouldn't be just a tract. If you just get a tract and you've provided a service that you would normally receive a tip for, I think that's a misuse. That's a way not to give a tract because you should always give them the tip.”
He stressed that one positive way for Christians to truly witness, especially when they are dealing with the service industry where workers heavily depend on tips, is to reward them even when their service is not the best.
“Ambassador's Alliance (Living Waters affiliate) taught me even if somebody gives you bad service, it's a way to witness by giving them something they don't deserve because that's what Christ did for us,” said Goodall, who explained that the fake money tracts are very popular merchandise.
Photo Credits: Metro News UK
