A Minnesota ice cream shop worker was allegedly fired after a customer tipped $100 in the tip jar as the store’s owners seemingly accused her of taking advantage of an elderly customer with “dementia.”

Seth and Lisa Swenson claim their adult daughter Emily, a five-season employee at The Freez in Moorhead, Minn., was canned after the tipping debacle at the roadside eatery last month.

Emily had finished serving a customer when the patron tried to leave the large bill behind even though the worker said she couldn’t accept it, according to the family’s Facebook post.

“Our daughter was offered a $100 tip and told the customer she couldn’t accept it. The customer put $100 in the tip jar and drove away,” the couple said.

At the end of the worker’s shift, the management at The Freez was furious with Emily and allegedly accused her of “taking” the large tip.

Two days later, on April 24, the business submitted an “Employee Warning Notice Form” to Emily for “corrective action.”

“Emily needs to understand that some of our customers are elderly and could be dealing with dementia or other illnesses that make it hard for them to understand their actions,” the shop said in the notice.

“No one in their right frame of mind tips $100 at a place where every menu item is under $12,” the notice shared by the Swensons continued.

Ironically, the ice cream shop was concerned about its public image within their community if word got out that their employee accepted such a large gratuity.

“As an employee of The Freez, it is your responsibility to protect the reputation of the establishment. If the customer is dealing with issues and the family finds out that she was allowed to put $100 in the tip jar, The Freez will be looked down on as a place that takes advantage of the elderly. Looking out for our customers should take priority over the opportunity to get a tip.”

Emily was fired a day later and her family claimed the generous gratuity was against the Moorhead Freez policy to accept bills over $20 as payment.

“There is nothing in the policy about tip amounts,” the Swenson’s argued.

The store fired back the family’s social media post a day later, claiming Emily wasn’t dismissed over the tip and contradicting the warning notice they had handed out days earlier.

“We did not terminate the adult at-will employee of 5 years for accepting a tip. There’s more to the story,” the shop said in a Facebook post.

It was not clear how old Emily is, but the roadside ice cream stand took exception to her parents sticking up for their “adult daughter.”

“We won’t go into details, it’s a personal matter. However, we believe that if parents are posting for an adult child- they haven’t asked the right questions of their adult daughter,” the store said.

“We are a small business built on a strong work ethic and Moorhead values. Our values and expectations reflect those of the community and our customers,” the post continued. “Ice cream makes people happy. Social media bullying- not so much.”

Emily doesn’t fault the customer for the firing, the family shared.

“Our daughter appreciates the generosity of the lady who tipped her and feels that this kind lady is no way responsible for what happened,” the couple said.

In February, a Michigan cafe server was fired after she split a $10,000 tip with her fellow front-of-house workers, upsetting the kitchen staff that they didn’t get a share of the large gift.

Linsey Huff — who also goes by the last name Boyd — collected the enormous gratuity off a $32.43 bill from a customer at the Mason Jar Cafe in Benton Harbor while he was in the area for a friend’s funeral.

The anonymous man, who left the now-viral tip in honor of his late friend, had requested the $10,000 be split among the service staff, as eight servers walked away with approximately $1,200 each.

The disgruntled back-of-house staffers had become angry with Huff for not getting a piece of the nearly 31,000% tip, and drama soon unfolded, causing problems within the staff.

MINNEAPOLIS — Thursday, pro-Palestine supporters agreed to remove their four-day long encampment at the University of Minnesota following an agreement made with school leadership.

Encampments on college campuses across the country have popped up in response to the civilian death toll in Gaza in response to the Israel-Hamas War and students calling for universities to divest from Israel. The university joins a growing list of schools that have made deals with protestors, including Northwestern University and Brown University.

See our map: From Harvard to UT Austin to USC, college protests over Gaza are spreading.

One of the number of student groups involved in organizing the encampment posted on Instagram Thursday that Northrop Mall, where protestors occupied with dozens of tents, would be cleared by noon.

On Wednesday, organizers met with school officials to discuss their demands and interim University President Jeff Ettinger wrote in a letter to organizers they would agree to the following on the condition there are no more encampments.

• Allow the organizing coalition to address the Board of Regents on May 10 concerning their demand for the university to divest from Israel

More: Pro-Palestinian protesters urge universities to divest from Israel. What does that mean?

• Facilitate conversations with the career services department in response to the coalition’s demand to ban companies that do business with Israel from attending campus events and partaking in job fairs
• Provide additional details on university disclosures during an upcoming meeting between leadership and the coalition
• Recommend the University of Minnesota Police Department not arrest or press charges against anyone on a criminal offense as a result of the demonstrations of the last few days if the encampment is removed without issues

Ettinger said in a letter addressed to the university community that “while there is more work to do, and conversations are still planned with other student groups affected by the painful situation in Palestine, I am heartened by today’s progress.”

“It grew out of a desire among those involved to reach shared understanding. While we do not condone tactics that are outside of our policies, we appreciate student leaders’ willingness to engage in dialogue,” Ettinger said in the letter.

Nine were arrested last week for trespassing after setting up tents on campus grounds without permission, but since have seen a minimal police presence despite several dispersal orders, according to protestors.

More: Police sweep onto UCLA campus, remove pro-Palestinian encampment: Live updates

What’s happening on other campuses?

Columbia University has been the heart of the protests as violence has erupted across the country. Since Tuesday, over 300 arrests have been made at the university and City College.

Encampments and protests at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles have also turned violent and been met with police force, counter-protestors and dispersal orders. On Wednesday, over 132 arrests were made at UCLA.

More: President Biden breaks silence on college protests: ‘Violence is not protected’

Demonstrators at the University of Wisconsin Madison were confronted by police and 34 people were arrested on Wednesday as well. The encampment remained Thursday.

All buildings previously closed due to the encampment will reopen on Thursday at noon, according to a statement from the university. The university had their last day of classes on Monday, with final exams to start Thursday.

— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA Today. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com.