Classic Rant #1,101 (December 11, 2013): Opportunity Knocks

Well, we didn't get that much snow in my neck of the woods.

Good.

Now to move on to something more important ...

Opportunists are entities that take advantage of a current situation and run with it.

In our culture, big corporations are often accused of being opportunists, taking advantage of the little guy to make money.

We often point at the oil companies as opportunists, because it seems that every little situation leads them to raising fuel prices.

But the little guy can also be an opportunist, taking advantage of a situation to make a point, make money, or both.

I am sure we all read about the military veteran waitress who claimed that a family stiffed her of a tip because they did not approve of her lesbian lifestyle, and wrote a note on their restaurant receipt to explain this to her.

Of course, in this day and age, you just don't bring this to the attention of your manager, you take a picture of the receipt and its handwritten message, go to the Internet, post it, and see what happens.

Well, that is exactly what she did, and thousands of dollars reportedly poured into her in sympathy for her plight.

She said that she would donate all the money to a wounded warriors foundation, for servicemembers who have been horribly injured while away at war.

People even drove miles and miles just to eat at her restaurant, and they gave her hefty tips, again in sympathy of her plight.

This story became an Internet sensation, and it was almost a feel-good story in these times where we, as a society, are becoming more accepting of gays and people with alternate lifestyles.

Well, guess what?

The whole thing was a hoax, and what isn't making the Internet rounds is that the waitress has been fired for her actions.

What happened is that the family in question, the family that supposedly stiffed this imbecile for a tip because of her lifestyle, came out of the closet themselves, in a way, stating that they had the credit card receipt to prove that not only had they left a tip, but they left a pretty hefty one.

And they didn't write anything about her lifestyle, their only use of a pen being to sign the receipt.

With the waitress' back into the corner, management of the restaurant made a full investigation, saying that they were seeing if perhaps another waiter at the restaurant wrote the message, or that there was some other wrongdoing that got their waitress ensnared in this situation.

What they found is that the waitress was simply an opportunist, taking advantage of the sympathy of the public to see her scheme played out.

Now, I would say she should get a lawyer, because not only was she fired, but she could face charges of embezzlement and who knows what else if anyone wants to pursue it.

I don't know if any of the money has been turned over to a wounded warriors group, either.

So here, you see that the little guy, in this case an average, everyday waitress who just happens to be a lesbian, tried to take advantage of the prevailing over-sympathy we are now giving out as a society to those whose lifestyles are not of the usual kind.

Shame on her, and shame on all of the fools that fell for this ruse.

But it just goes to prove that when opportunity knocks, the door will be answered, whether we are talking about a multi-national corporation or your average Joe ... or Jane.

Whatever the case, and whoever perpetrates these falsehoods, it is shameful behavior, and I hope that in this case, she gets the book thrown at her.

And I would love to open that door to have that book thrown at her, I really would, and I am sure that I would have to stand in line ... those that contributed to her fairy tale would probably get first ups.

And lastly, why isn't the Internet covering this part of the story as vigorously as they did the "feel good" part?

Are those that covered the first part afraid that they will offend a segment of the population if they did?

Frankly, I don't think the waitress is the only one who should be ashamed of themselves here.