Waiter who gets stiffed by 'Hung' star pays with his job

As lowly a career as waiting on tables can be at times, it does have its perks, especially if you happen to work in parts of Los Angeles where the stars mingle and dine. But sometimes even that can backfire on you, as in the unfortunate case of Jon-Barrett Ingels, who had the misfortune of serving Hung star Jane Adams at the Barney Greengrass restaurant in Beverly Hills where he was employed until just a few weeks ago.

The key words are "was employed," since Ingels, 31, no longer works there. Here's what happened, according to the Los Angeles Times' Brand X blog: A few weeks back, Adams dropped into the swanky bistro for soup and lemonade. But went it came time to pay the bill, it became apparent that something was amiss. As Adams, feverishly fished through her purse, she realized, "I left my wallet in my car!" Ingels recalled Adams saying."I'm so sorry!"
Ingels assured the actress it wasn't a problem. She could go out to her car, get her money, and come back and pay the check. "Her face was plastered on billboards all over town," Ingels wrote on his blog after the incident. "It's not like I wouldn't remember who she was."

But Adams didn't return that day. Instead, a representative for Adams showed up the next day, paying the overdue tab, but neglected to give Ingels a tip. Finding it humorous, Ingels did what many in his shoes might, he Twittered about it, telling his few dozen followers: "Tues: Jane Adams, star of HBO series Hung skipped out on a $13.44 check. Her agent called and payed the following day. NO TIP!!!" he tweeted.

But that wasn't the end of it.

In the weeks that followed, Ingels Twittered about other stars, dropping bits of gossip about Tori Spelling and The Office star B.J. Novak, and then one day Jane Adams stormed into Barney Greengrass and slapped $3 on the table in front of him. Taken aback, Ingels replied, "Thank you so much," he recalled. "You didn't have to do this."

"Well, I read about it on Twitter!" Adams retorted, according to Ingels.

He tried to recant, tweeting once again about Adams, only more sublimely, penning entries, such as "I love Jane Adams" and calling her "a great actress."

Too late; the damage was done. Once restaurant management got wind of Ingels' tweeting ways, he was dismissed. Too many complaints, they said, including one from Adams herself.

Ingels, whose Twitter bio reads "Unemployed thanks to Twitter," doesn't believe he did anything wrong. After all there was nothing slanderous in his tweets, he said.

Still, he concedes had it not been for his tweets, he would still be employed. "In the end, if I didn't write anything," he said, "I would still have a job." Let this be a cautionary tale for all those would-be Walter Winchell's out there: Tweet the wrong thing and you may never have lunch in this town again!