Pregnant Waitress Takes Offense When Offer to Adopt Baby Comes With the Check

May 24, 2008— -- A pregnant waitress working outside Seattle expected to find a tip left on the table after serving drinks to a large party but instead found an offer to adopt her baby.

"We wish to adopt a baby. We are a caring, happily married, financially secure and loving couple. We want to share our joy and love with a child," read a calling card left with the bill and picked up by waitress Julie Moore Monday.

Moore and her husband, J.D. Ross, called the number for the couple's lawyer found on the card not to give him their baby but to give him a piece of their mind.

"I was just shocked, because they didn't say a word to me about being pregnant, ask me how my pregnancy is going, or ask me if I was pregnant or anything," Moore told local television station KING 5.

"I don't wear a wedding ring at work. For them to assume I'm not married or that because I'm working in a service industry that I maybe couldn't afford to have a child, I don't know, I felt there were too many assumptions there," said Moore, who is reportedly five months pregnant.

Albert Lirhus, a lawyer for the adoptive couple whose names have not been made public, said the card was not intended for Moore personally. He said leaving such cards was a common practice in Washington state among parents looking to adopt.

"People trying to pursue independent adoptions often leave cards and letters, or buy classified ads. The husband, in this case, left the card on a bill holder but did not intend it for anyone in particular," said Lirhus, an adoption lawyer in Seattle.

Lirhus said the husband was not the one who paid the bill and did not know Moore was pregnant when he left the card.

"He didn't know anyone in the restaurant was expecting a child. He just left the card in a public place."

The lawyer said his clients were "distraught over this and absolutely understand why someone would be upset about this."

Lirhus said his number was on the card with instructions to ask for "Joan." He said "Joan" was not a real person, but a code that indicated to whoever answered the phone that the call was a priority.