Customers at a North Carolina restaurant said that the staff paid special attention to them praying over their meals, going so far as to write something unexpected on their receipts. This will either get the restaurant in trouble or bring in more customers.
Mary’s Gourmet Diner quickly got national attention when owner Mary Haglund said that customers who “pray in public” get a 15% discount on their bills. In fact, she has been serving it at her diner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for several years.
“Every plate of food is a gift to me,” she said, as reported by The Blaze. “And I never take that for granted. When I’m at a restaurant and someone thanks them at my table, it warms my heart.”
But don’t think for a second that Haglund makes her staff believe what she does. The wait staff doesn’t have to give the discount if they don’t like it or feel uncomfortable with it. In fact, Haglund doesn’t say anything about the discount. Instead, it’s something that staff members only offer when they feel like it.
Haglund said, “It’s just a moment or a matter of trust about the plate of food.” “It’s not even a rule—just it’s something we do when we feel like it.”
Haglund, whose father was a preacher and missionary, lived in the Philippines when she was a teenager and saw a real need there. She said, “We are so lucky to live in this country.”
Haglund says that as she got older, she lost her faith, but she still calls herself spiritual and believes in a higher power.
Jordan Smith, who was on a business trip to Winston-Salem and had breakfast at Mary’s with two coworkers one Wednesday morning, is to blame for the diner’s discount becoming so popular all of a sudden.
Smith put a picture of her receipt on Facebook after she and her coworkers prayed over their meal and got a discount.
The receipt was soon posted on Z88.3 radio’s Facebook page in Orlando, where it was seen by thousands of people who “liked” it and shared it on the social media site.
“We prayed over our meal, and at the end of it, the waitress came over and said, ‘Just so you know, we gave you a 15% discount for praying,’ which I’d never seen before,” Smith told HLN, adding that she was surprised by how quickly the photo went viral online.
She said, “I just put it on my Facebook page by accident, and it’s been fun to see where it’s gone from there.”