Restaurant called to make fun of teenagers to pay in coins

LYNCHBURG, Va. – When Cohen Naulty decided to treat his friends at a meal at Beer 88 in Lynchburg, Va., With tips that he earned as a waiter at Country Kitchen, he never imagined that he would be ridiculed by the restaurant on social networks.

The 17-year-old paid his $ 45 restaurant bill with coins, a $ 20 bill and a $ 10 tip.

"It's just the American currency," Naulty told WSET, an affiliate of ABC News in Lynchburg. "I am allowed to use it, it is not illegal, I do not do anything wrong."

Beer 88 posted a photo of the pieces on Facebook, it has since been deleted, with the following caption: "We're just going to caption this … How not to pay in a restaurant because it's the most beautiful thing we can think about about this ridiculous. "

One of Naulty's friends, who is still unidentified, can not believe that the restaurant posted his payment on the social media site.

"We could not believe that they posted it on Facebook," he told WSET.

After a brutal reaction, Beer 88 posted a rebuttal on Facebook qualifying the entire joke incident.

"In response to our previous post, it was published as a joke, designed as a joke and should be taken as a joke," wrote Beer 88 on his Facebook page. "It was a fun way to say that something like this can be boring for people working in the foodservice and retail industry, but we have not in any way publicly been ashamed to pay or give tips. and had no idea that it would be offensive to anyone. "

But Naulty and his friends were not amused, especially about the hashtag that was attached to the initial publication of Beer 88 on Facebook.

"They said we had no home training," said another of Naulty's friends. "It was dirty, it was one of their hashtags, it was #nohometraining."

Kim Naulty, Cohen Naulty's mother, does not understand why anyone would say anything negative about her son.

"If anyone ever met Cohen, they knew it could not be far from the truth," said Kim Naulty at WSET. "And, you know, he's a good boy."

The owner of Beer 88 Yao Liu, who received several threats, said that she apologized for the post.

"On this part, yes, I'm sorry," Liu told WSET. "Because, you know, I did not see it."

The restaurant's social media page received a lot of comments from people saying that the post may have been in bad taste.

However, some customers believe that the incident may have been taken out of proportion.

"People jumped on the train of hatred," said Carol Henning, a Beer 88 supporter, at KSET, "which seems to be happening lately."

2018 ABC News