Minnesota
Ice cream shop worker allegedly fired for accepting $100 tip as store claims some customers have ‘dementia’
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 — The Minnesota Vikings have submitted a bid to host the 2028 NFL Draft, multiple city and team stakeholders confirmed Wednesday. The team is working in conjunction with Minnesota Sports and Events, the regional sports commission that helped secure Super Bowl LII after the 2017 season.
“Minnesota is in contention,” Matt Meunier, the bid director for Minnesota Sports and Events, said. “We’re in the game. We’re actively pursuing the right to bring a future NFL draft to our community.”
Traditionally, the NFL awards future host cities during one of the league’s annual spring or summer ownership meetings. The owners are scheduled to meet on March 29 in Phoenix and on May 19 in Orlando, Fla.
The Vikings began their pursuit in 2019. Team executives have attended previous drafts. They have also visited the league office to reiterate their interest.
“We have basically been staying in their face for multiple years,” said Lester Bagley, the Vikings’ executive vice president of public affairs.
Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf has wanted to bring the event to Minnesota for years. Last fall, speaking at the team’s practice facility in Eagan, Minn., he said that the subject remained a focus. In conversations with the NFL, league executives mentioned U.S. Bank Stadium as an intriguing location. Minnesota Sports and Events proposed multiple options, but many of them centered around U.S. Bank Stadium.
Experience helps in this regard, too. The Vikings and Minnesota Sports and Events collaborated on the winning bid for the Super Bowl in early 2018. Bagley and Wendy Blackshaw, the president and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events, said the league came away pleased with the result.
The Vikings plan to commit financial and staff support to help with the bid. The team and Minnesota Sports and Events have also obtained resources from executives from three local companies: Christophe Beck of Ecolab, Gunjan Kedia of U.S. Bank and Geoff Martha of Medtronic.
Blackshaw wouldn’t divulge the specifics on the investments, but she did suggest that Minnesota Sports and Events estimates an economic impact of more than $100 million.
“There is a significant interest in this event,” Blackshaw said, “especially an event of this scale. It would be amazing.”
Typically, host cities must submit bids for multiple years before they are selected by the NFL. Pittsburgh will host the 2026 NFL Draft in less than a month, and Washington, D.C., is scheduled to host the 2027 NFL Draft.
Last year, The Buffalo News reported that the Bills were throwing their hats in the ring for 2028 to coincide with the opening of the new Highmark Stadium.
“Certainly, if 2028 doesn’t work out, we’d need to pivot to a future year,” Meunier said.
Both the team and Minnesota Sports and Events said Wednesday that they intend to pursue the event annually until it is held in Minnesota.
A Twin Cities mom got a big scare this weekend when her 8-year-old son wandered far away from home.
Sarah Curfman’s son, Felix, who has Down syndrome, was playing with his bigger sister Sunday morning, when his mom said he suddenly went missing from his Shakopee, Minnesota, home.
“The panic was very real,” said Curfman.
After Curfman and her husband shouted Felix’s name with no luck, the Scott County Sheriff’s Office was called.
“Luckily the sheriff’s department had way better tools than the two of us to try and find him,” said Curfman.
The sheriff’s office took the search to the air with the help of a heat-detecting drone. Roughly 40 minutes later, Felix was found walking on a frozen creek bed.
“If he had gotten kind of farther up, there was much more open water,” said Curfman.
Thankfully, Felix was fine, returning home after his half-mile trek with just a wet sock and shoe.
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office has been using drones for six years, thanks to donations from local banks and rotary clubs, said Scott County Sheriff Luke Hennen.
The technology was key in significantly cutting down on search time, he said.
“I think easily in a case like this, it could have turned into an hour or two, right, just to get enough fire personnel walking, you know, sweeping through the different areas,” said Hennen.
Curfman is now taking extra precautions with Felix.
“We ordered a ton of air tags in the short term. I ordered a shoe insert that can go in his shoe, a little pin that we’re going to put a sheriff’s badge on that he’ll wear on his body,” said Curfman.
All as Felix gets a better gasp of boundaries.
“He’s an 8-year-old boy that is probably going to go on more adventures, so we just have to figure out how to keep him safe,” said Curfman.
If you have a newer car, you may be in for some sticker shock when you renew your Minnesota license tabs. That’s because the formula for calculating fees has changed due to a 2023 bill.
If your car is less than five years old, you could even be seeing tab prices go up year over year.
Jeff Craig drives a Subaru Forester. He bought it used, but was shocked when he renewed his tabs.
“We paid the tab on it for the first time and the next year it was more expensive,” Craig said.
The new formula means the average driver paid $178 in registration taxes this year — a 20% increase. Craig thinks it unfair.
“The car depreciates, but the tax goes up? Really? Is that how that’s supposed to work? I don’t thing so,” he said.
But the 2023 bill didn’t just change the state’s overall formula for calculating license tab fees; it also changed the way it calculates the depreciation of your vehicle.
The state calculates that your new car loses 5% of its value a year, so 10% over two years. The Kelley Blue Book estimates that over two years, the average new car loses 30% of its value.
GOP state Sen. John Jasinski has a bill to roll back the changes.
“People are frustrated. It’s just very expensive,” Jasinski said. “You’re paying a lot more up in the first couple years now, and it’s very expensive on a new car.”
But the state says tabs for older cars are going down, and that many Minnesota drivers will pay less. And If you can hang onto your car for 11 years, your renewal cost is a flat $35 plus taxes and fees.
The bill to roll back the changes is moving forward in the GOP-controlled House, but it’s stalled in the state Senate.
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