Ogden waiter receives tip with ‘Get Out of America, Fag!’ written on it

An Ogden man got an extraordinary tip during his shift at an Ogden restaurant. But not extraordinary in a good way. On the five-dollar bill was scrawled, “Get out of America, Fag!”

“I got this tip today while serving an older couple and their middle-aged son. They were all wearing Trump 2020 hats,” Ashton Bindrup posted on his Facebook wall alongside two photos of the bill. “I can’t imagine hating someone enough to go out of my way to write a slur on the tip I’m going to give them. They asked me for the pen, by the way. Guess I shouldn’t have walked away after giving it to them.”

Bindrup has decided to keep the bill, because he doesn’t want someone else to see it and be hurt by it.

He also addressed his Facebook post to Trump supporters, whom he says he loves “even if I don’t support your candidate.”

“It’s for you because of these pictures and these stories. Stories like mine. Stories of people being targeted at their place of business. These are what ‘liberals’ or ‘Democrats’ see and hear and think about when they meet other Trump supporters.

He says he understands that not all Trump supporters are “this way,” but noted that he experienced hate — the kind of hate he says he often sees in the Trump constituency.

“And I think you need to ask yourselves why it is so many of Trump’s other supporters speak and act with hate and with discrimination. Because if you believe differently, then these individuals are giving you a bad name. They are giving the Trump Presidency a bad name,” he wrote.

“And I hate to say it, but as open-minded as I try to be, the next time I meet a Trump supporter, I will have a hard time not remembering that five-dollar bill I got today,” he continued. “I will have a hard time not immediately worrying about whether or not I’m perceived as ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ (not that it should matter).”

In time, he says, he knows this memory will fade.

“I’m good at letting go of the hard things and moving on through forgiveness,” he wrote. “But right now while it’s fresh, I hope my words reach out to some of you — my dear family and friends — and I hope that you (at the very least) become more mindful of how you present yourselves and what you say both online and in person. Because we all have the ability to effect change in a group for the better, but it’s change that can only happen through example.”