Restaurant owner gives £1,000 table bill to waitress who was ‘disrespected and touched unwantedly’ by guests

A young waitress has been gifted £1,000 by a restuarant owner after a group of “arrogant” diners acted “inappropriately” toward her.

Lee Skeet, head chef and owner of Cardiff-based eatery Cora, shared the tale of the harrasment his waitress recieved with his Twitter followers, saying “we should start calling out rich people who think they can treat people like cr**”.

The customers allegedly touched the young woman “unwantedly”, with Lee saying that she was also “talked down to” and “disrespected” by the group.

The chef has now announced the £1,000 which the diners, who did not leave a tip for the server, had spent on the bill has now gone to directly to Elisabeth, also known as Lily, as an apology for the behaviour she endured and has asked that the group “never come back” to Cora.

Chef initially wanted to refund the table

Sharing the tale on his Twitter page, Lee, who has trained under Gordon Ramsey and Marcus Wareing, shared an email he had written to the group of customers on Wednesday 4 May.

The email read: “I wanted to firstly thank you for choosing my restaurant for your meal tonight and I understand you had the biggest bill we’ve ever had on one table here. Unfortunately, throughout the evening I was made aware that your party’s behaviour was inappropriate towards Lily, who runs front of house.

“She has told me that, as a 22-year-old girl, she was talked down to, disrespected and touched unwantedly by members of your group. I have spent the last hour having conversations with her that break my heart, make me feel like a s*** employer and a terrible dad having my own daughter.”

The chef originally had the intention of refunding the table their £1,000 bill minus a £100 tip, after the table left the restaurant without tipping their distressed server.

Lee continued: “Please provide your bank details and I will refund your entire bill of £1,000, minus £100 that I believe you should have tipped Lily, which I will pay directly to her as you left no tip. I would thank you to never come back to my restaurant. Lily means a lot more to me than money. I also think you should assess the people you surround yourself with.”

In his caption, Lee said that “we should start calling out rich people who think they can treat people like cr**”.

Change of plans sees Lily recieve £1,000 bill

After Lee’s tweet racked up thousands of likes and retweets, with messages of support from strangers, the chef announced 24 hours later that he had “reacted too quickly and emotionally”.

He said: “On reflection I reacted too quickly and emotionally last night. Sorry I was a little bit angry and protective.”

Lee confirmed that the £1000 would not be returned to the group of rude diners, with the full total instead being transferred to Lily.

He said: “I’m not going to refund the customer’s money. I’ve instead kept it and transferred to Lily.”

Followers celebrate Lee’s decision

Lee’s Twitter followers welcomed the decision to not refund the table.

Food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe said: “I was really hoping you’d do this. Class act Lee x”

She added that the chef should report the table for their inapproritate touching of Lily, adding: “I’d also be tempted to contact HR dept at their company and strongly suggest that they can’t claim it back on expenses. Their behaviour was hardly a glowing advert for the company, and having to front it themselves will possibly give them pause for thought about consequences…”

Another follower echoed Jack’s words, saying: “Well done pal. Inexcusable behaviour. They definitely don’t deserve a refund.”