San Diego Reader

Theo Jones

From University City (Student)

Yes. I followed a customer into the parking lot, and I flipped them off as they were driving away because they didn’t leave me a tip. This was many years ago when I was coming to hate my job as a waiter. It obviously wasn’t for me, so I didn’t have that job for very long afterwards. It was like a T.G.I. Friday’s — it was called O’Charley’s — this was actually in southern Mississippi, the Gulf Coast before the hurricane. They saw me, obviously, and then they called back to the store, and then the manager talked with me. But it ended on all-right terms.

Clint R.

From City Heights (Surgical Tech)

I got fired from my last job. A couple of my friends...we were betting on Chargers games. We would go down to TJ — you can bet down there. We were just having fun, just $20, pick three teams. Well, my boss found out that we were betting on these games, and she fired me. I was tagged as the one who was going down there. She called me in and said, “I heard you guys were gambling on the games.” I said, “Yeah. And...?” She said, “You can’t be doing that. So I gotta let you go.” I didn’t feel it was wrong. I worked there three years. She was just a person who didn’t want to see anybody having fun. Everybody that had put their bets in, they turned their backs on me. Nobody stood up and said, “Well, we’re all doing it.” Nobody had my back.