A New Jersey lawmaker publicly shamed a man who left a waitress a 74-cent tip. Now, the man is considering taking legal action.
Anthony Dierolf said he was shortchanged by New Jersey Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, who tweeted a photo of Dierolf's $119.26 bill with his full name, signature and the last four digits of his credit card.
"Wow...have to work to qualify for my calling you out specifically as a jerk," O'Scanlon said in an Aug. 13 tweet, adding that Dierolf "qualifies."
"Ashley is a great waitress and wonderful human being," the Republican lawmaker from Monmouth County said. "Certainly not a malicious bone in her body. Makes Anthony...a jerk. Live with your misplaced obnoxiousness."
Dierolf said it was O'Scanlon who acted obnoxiously in tweeting out a copy of his bill from the Colts Neck Inn Steak & Chop House and sharing his personal information online.
"It's pretty frustrating," Dierolf, 38, told NBC News on Thursday. "There is no positive outcome for this at all."
Dierolf, who lives in Northwestern Pennsylvania, said he and his fiancée spent last week in New Jersey on vacation. The couple capped off the trip Monday night with dinner at the restaurant that is next door to the hotel they were staying at.
Dierolf said they sat for 10 or 15 minutes before a server came over and the service was slow throughout their meal, though he says there were no more than 20 people in the restaurant.
"My food was good. The service sucked," Dierolf said. "My waitress was not there to receive a tip and neither was Sen. O'Scanlon."
Dierolf said he paid "for every bit of his meal" and that he did not understand why he was being outed for leaving a bad tip.
"For this waitress to keep my receipt to show it to the senator a day later is a bit pathetic in my eyes," Dierolf said. "And she should be fired from the Colts Neck Inn."
O'Scanlon, who is a regular customer at the restaurant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, but has responded online in recent days to critics.
"For the record, I’m not embarrassing this guy, he embarrassed himself," O'Scanlon said on Twitter.
"For someone to so blatantly dis her ... sorry. He’s the ass," O'Scanlon also said.
The lawmaker shared a copy of one of his own receipts.
"Actually, sick of this idea anyone’s information was divulged that they hadn’t left on countless bar and restaurant tables," he said in a tweet accompanied by a receipt of his own. "You do, and everyone posting here has. But regardless, I’m not scared."
The Colts Neck Inn Steak & Chop House declined comment Thursday and said "there's nothing to talk about."
The waitress, Ashley Sculthorpe, has said she was shocked by the "insulting" tip because Dierolf did not communicate to her that there was any problem.
Dierolf said Thursday that she wasn’t there to communicate with.
"I had the hostess get me two rounds of drinks, not the waitress," he said.
Had he complained to her supervisor, Dierolf said a manager would likely have taken one of his appetizers off the bill or offered him a free dessert, neither of which he believes would have made a difference.
"That's not what it was about," Dierolf said. "My food was good. The service was bad."
