Days after the worst Kitchen Nightmares on Gordan Ramsay’s show had a series of public meltdowns, one of their victims is having her moment in the spotlight—on Reddit, one of the places currently on the “most loathed” list for Amy’s Baking Company.
Katy Cipriano (a self-declared alias) was a waitress whose mistreatment at the hands of her employer, Amy Bouzaglo, was shown on this week’s episode of Kitchen Nightmares. The show ended with Ramsay throwing up his hands and walking away from the whole project before he even started. The episode showed Cipriano walking away, too—quitting after Bouzaglo tells her she has an attitude problem for double-checking an order.
Horrified yelpers and redditors converged on the couple’s websites after the episode, in response to the revelations that they were taking tips from their wait staff and had gone through over 100 employees in a year. On Facebook, the couple claimed it was all a lie. But the events leading up to Cipriano’s dismissal were harder to write off, since the whole thing was captured on camera. And yesterday Cipriano took to Reddit to do an AMA that’s garnered over 8,000 comments and counting.
After verifying her identity through her Twitter account, Cipriano proceeded to sound off on the details the camera didn’t show us about what happened leading up to her tearful exit. On film, she quits in the middle of a back-and-forth husband-and-wife shouting match that makes the Grey Gardens look like a restful bed and breakfast.
IM A POISONOUS VIPER YOU GUYS
— Katy Cipriano (@cipppa) May 11, 2013
On Reddit, Cipriano clarified that she’d been having problems all night long:
[Bouzaglo] had messed up a certain table’s appetizer dish 3 or 4 times IN A ROW. and it made me look like an idiot because i was their server and the table was getting increasingly agitated. so when she told me to deliver the appetizer yet again, i asked “are you sure?”—not meaning to sound bratty or mean or anything.
Claiming that the episode was “100% real,” Cipriano noted that the couple had “never let me try their food,” so she wasn’t able to vouch for the restaurant’s actual quality or lack thereof. She also pointed out that while she didn’t get to keep her tips, the couple did pay her $8/hr, just above Arizona’s minimum wage.
still have never gotten a single tip from working there
As Reddit researched Arizona state labor laws in attempts to figure out whether Cipriano and her former fellow employees had grounds to sue the Bouzaglos, a Change.org petition asking the U.S. Labor Department to investigate the company and help the staff recover their tips grew to over 12,000 signatures. Cipriano expressed her amazement at how big the AMA had gotten. .
This AMA thing is blowing up my goodness gracious
— Katy Cipriano (@cipppa) May 15, 2013
Cipriano didn’t respond to widespread rumors that the whole restaurant was a money laundering front, but she did say that the episode had “brought out [Amy’s] inner demonic soul” and that Ramsay had been kind enough to offer her a cab ride home after the ordeal. She also complimented the company on its commitment to cleanliness, but dropped the bombshell that on the first night of the show’s filming, the cops had to be called.
they cut it off short but the first night, after samy brutally yelled at and laid his hands on that one customer, the cops did end up being called and everyone had to leave the restaurant and the producers had to pay for everyone’s meals. crazzzyyy
“Even the producers were flabbergasted,” she added.
Though Cipriano was new to Scottsdale, Ariz., at the time of her hiring at Amy’s, she seems to be happy in a new job, where she says her employers are incredibly sympathetic.
Meanwhile, Amy’s Baking Company was closed for Mother’s Day, but is planning a “Grand Re-opening” that they say will make the truth known.
Photo via Twitter