Server raises thousands for anti-bullying charity

After Kansas waiter Noah Bierig was called a homophobic slur in exchange for a tip, he used the virality of his post about it to raise thousands of dollars for LGBTQ anti-bullying charity GLSEN.

Bierig was shocked and hurt after an incident with an intolerant customer while he was working one of his shifts. But after a social media post about it went viral, he quickly turned it into a force for good — and a clear message to the man who verbally abused him for no reason.

An intolerant customer wrote a homophobic slur on server Noah Bierig’s receipt instead of a tip.

Noah Bierig, 19, was working his usual Sunday shift at Bubba’s 33 restaurant in Wichita when he received a truly terrible tip — much worse than simply writing a 0 on the tip line.

Bierig told Wichita’s KAKE that the mood at the table seemed off almost immediately. He noticed customers looking derisively at his painted nails and Pride bracelet, a gift from his mother, and he could tell they were making fun of him.

“The first time I came up to the table, they were giving me a few dirty looks,” he said. “And every time I walked away, they started laughing a little bit.”

But the situation got even worse after the customers left. When Bierig retrieved the credit card receipt, the customer wrote a common three-letter slur for homosexuals on the phone line in lieu of a tip.

Bierig was shocked and hurt by the situation, and Internet users quickly tracked down the man who insulted him.

At just 19, Bierig had never known anything but support for his LGBTQ+ identity. The experience with his client was a rude awakening. “I’m not one to cry at work,” he told KAKE, “but I have to say it was definitely the first time it happened to me. I’m not used to that kind of blatant homophobia.”

After the receipt was posted online, social media users quickly tracked down the man who retracted the insult in a Facebook post.

James Blick of Wichita, Kansas, wrote the word “FAG” on a 19-year-old waiter’s receipt instead of a tip. Now he’s asking for forgiveness after the waiter posted the receipt online pic.twitter.com/dltwdiXGXS

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) August 3, 2024

“I know I was wrong to write what I did and I am truly sorry,” Blick wrote. “The whole dining experience was not a very pleasant one and I should not have addressed the issue by saying what I did.”

He added that his wife’s business had suffered because of the criticism and that he hoped “people would find it in their hearts to forgive me, I want to make things right.” He has since deleted his social media accounts.

After both posts went viral, Proud of Wichita, the city’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce, held a fundraiser for Bierig where donors could send a “tip” to Bierig to make up for the homophobic man’s lack of a tip.

Rather than taking the money, Bierig donates it all to GLSEN’s anti-bullying initiatives.

From the beginning, Bierig made it clear that he didn’t want tips. “Anything that comes out of this is going to be donated,” he told KAKE, explaining that he intended to send the money to the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, a nonprofit that works to keep LGBTQ+ kids safe in schools.

“It’s basically an anti-bullying organization,” Bierig said. “It helps LGBT kids, especially those who are being bullied at school, and it helps them.”

And for dozens of people in Wichita and across the internet, that’s all they needed to hear. Days after the incident, Bierig said an “insane” number of donations had been received. “I’ve never gotten a 100% tip,” he told KAKE, “and at this point it’s probably about a 3,000% tip.”

Proud Wichita announced that more than $2,000 had been donated as of July 29, 2024, from “hundreds of small donations from Wichita and around the world.” That number is expected to at least double.

Not only is the fundraiser still ongoing, but Bierig’s employer, Bubba’s 33, has announced that it will match whatever Bierig donates to GLSEN, doubling the impact.