Amy's Baking Company Waitress Admits To Pocketing Tips, Owners Slam Her For Being Dishonest!
July 1 2013, Published 3:57 p.m. ET
Amy and Samy Bouzaglo got a lot of negative press when they appeared on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and revealed they take their waitresses tips, so now they're fighting back against a former employee who admitted to taking tips she received under the table, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
As RadarOnline.com exclusively revealed last week, employees were required to sign a lengthy legal contract with Amy's Baking Company — with one rule stating that all tips are property of the 'house' and must be forfeited to the owners — but former waitress Miranda admitted in a radio interview to keeping tips, leaving Amy and Samy in an uproar.
"I was working my shift on Friday and it got really, really busy. I was swamped, I had all these tables, I was doing everything, and one of our regulars came in. His personal friend left me my tip under the table, which people had been doing for the last few days after the show because they realized that I wasn't getting tipped. So I was taking them, of course, because legally that's my money," Miranda said during a May 17 radio interview with Phoenix station Mix 96.9.
"And Samy accused me of taking it. Stealing his money, is what he said to me. And he came to me in my face, yelling at me, 'Give me my money, give me my money.' I just looked at him in anger and told him, 'It's not your money.' I yelled at him and screamed at him. It was five dollars. Five dollars, he made a huge scene about like it's the end of the world. So I threw it at him and I walked out. And that was the end of it."
According to an insider close to the Bouzaglos, this proves that Miranda intentionally stole money from them, despite signing the agreement.
"Samy and Amy did nothing wrong, because while they took the servers tips, they also paid them a much higher hourly wage than most other servers. And Miranda signed that agreement, so the Bouzaglos just want everyone to know how dishonest she is," the source told RadarOnline.com.
"Legally they have the option to prosecute her, but they've chosen not to."
The source continued to defend the Bouzaglos, stating that a higher hourly wage gave the employees a secure income when business was slow.
"A typical summer in Scottsdale means everything is dead in the restaurant industry because of the heat," the insider told RadarOnline.com.
"The reason they paid hourly was so that their staff would make a steady income no matter how dead the restaurant was. The tips collected went to paying the busers hourly.
But Miranda seems to think she missed out on a lot of extra income by forfeiting her tips, telling the radio station, "Honestly, I've seen people tip pretty good there. I probably missed out on maybe $200 a day."
Miranda said she worked at the restaurant for four or five weeks and is now employed at Cracker Barrel.
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
"Miranda is lucky that Amy and Samy aren't vengeful and don't feel the need to prosecute her," the source said.
"It's clear she took advantage of them while she worked there."
