In New Jersey a gay ex-marinewaitress posted a merchant copy of a customer receipt claiming the family who dined in the restaurant stiffed her on her tip and wrote a nasty anti-gay message on it. 

The waitress posted the receipt on FaceBook, it was picked up by a more than willing media and received national attention.   Including donations and sympathy.  *Remember this was prior to the New Jersey governors race;  The media hooked the story around Chris Christie’s views on Same-Sex marriage.
But the whole thing was a hoax; a fraud.   The customer/family who dined can easily prove it, and they did.
If you read the following articles, and watch this video, it is just a matter of connecting the dots, and using deductive reasoning, to figure out exactly what took place.

New Jersey – The story of a gay waitress who was reportedly denied a tip and received a homophobic note on a restaurant receipt took an even stranger turn when the family implicated in the incident came forward to deny the whole thing.
Dayna Morales, a Marine and server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, N.J., made headlines earlier this month when she posted an anti-gay receipt note on Facebook. In her post, she claimed a family came into the restaurant, called her by the name “Dan” and neglected to leave a tip. She claimed she found a note on their bill, reading, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I don’t agree with your lifestyle & how you live your life.”
“I am THOROUGHLY offended mad pissed off and hurt that THIS is what her kids will grow up learning and that I served in the Marines to keep ignorant people like them free,” Morales wrote on Facebook.
The story was picked up by multiple news outlets and went viral. Thousands of dollars in donations came flooding in for Morales from all over the world. She later said she planned to give a portion to the Wounded Warriors Project.
Now, the family has come forward claiming it’s a scam.
A husband and wife, who wish to remain anonymous, spoke with New York’s WNBC and showed the network a copy of their $93.55 receipt, printed on the same day and the same minute as the one Morales photographed for Facebook. However, instead of a $0 tip, there was an $18 tip written on the customer copy presented by the family. To verify this further, the two also showed their Visa bill to prove they were charged a total of $111.55.  (read more)

Here’s another media article and a video – the key to identifying what took place is in the video.   If you’ve worked in, or have any familiarity with, small restaurant operations, the riddle is easily solved.

NBC STORY WITH VIDEO – After a gay server at a New Jersey restaurant said a customer denied her a tip and wrote her a hateful note on the receipt, a local family contacted NBC 4 New York and said their receipt shows they paid a tip and didn’t write any such note.

Dayna Morales, a former Marine and a server at Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater, posted a photo on Facebook earlier this month, showing the bill with a line through the space for a tip. The photo of the receipt showed someone had written, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle.”

Morales indicated in her Facebook post, and in subsequent media interviews — including with NBC 4 New York — that the customer wrote that line.

But a family contacted NBC 4 New York claiming their receipt from the restaurant shows they did leave a tip, and provided what they said was a credit card statement as proof.

The husband and wife, who asked to remain anonymous, showed NBC 4 New York a receipt that appeared to be printed at the same minute, on the same date, for the same $93.55 total, except with an $18 tip.

They also provided a document they said was a Visa bill, which appears to indicate their card was charged for the meal plus the tip, for a total of $111.55.

The couple told NBC 4 New York that they believed their receipt was used for a hoax. The wife says she is left-handed and could not have made the slash in the tip line, which she said looks to be drawn from the right.

“We’ve never not left a tip when someone gave good service, and we would never leave a note like that,” the wife said.

The husband said he and his wife have both worked in restaurants and believe in the value of tipping, and noted that he didn’t vote for Gov. Chris Christie because the governor doesn’t support gay marriage.

“Never would a message like that come from us,” he said.

Morales told NBC 4 New York on Monday that she was certain she did not receive a tip, and insisted the handwriting on the receipt was not hers. When asked if there had been some sort of misunderstanding, she said, “I don’t know, all I know is what I’ve been saying.”

A manager and the restaurant owner insisted they had the original ticket for the $93.55 charge, but would not produce the receipt for NBC 4 New York and could not explain why the family’s credit card was charged for more.

The restaurant later said in a statement it was aware of the allegations and had no comment pending an internal investigation.

Whatever happened, the couple believes it may have begun with a misunderstanding.

They said they thought the hostess who sat the family told them their server would be “Dan,” and when Morales showed up at their table, the wife exclaimed “whoa, you’re not Dan.”

Morales wrote in her Facebook post that the wife said, “oh I thought you were gonna say your name is Dan. You sure surprised us!”

According to the couple, the rest of the meal with their two children went fine.   (read more)

OK Columbo Types – Can you figure out what happened ?   If you use deductive reasoning it’s not too tough to figure out.  

The best clues are in THIS VIDEO.

We’ll come back later tonight and share what is 99% probable – based on the clues.