Many Hudson Valley restaurants have been struggling to enforce COVID-19 rules.

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On Monday, the owner of AJ Cafe in Wappingers Falls posted a photo of a tip left by a customer. Written on a $1 bill was "Loosen Up.... here's your tip!"

"And this is the stuff bartenders deal with," Angela Joy wrote on Facebook while sharing a photo of the $1 tip.

In a follow-up Facebook post, Joy stated she dealt with other customers who didn't want to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Joy's husband, John Joy, tells Hudson Valley Post it's been a struggle to enforce COVID-19 guidelines issued across New York State.

"I know that we follow the rules very strictly because our license to operate can be taken away, or I could get hit with a fine that we would never be able to pay. Which then makes us out to look like the bad guys. We are doing everything we can to keep our doors open and keep our staff working," John Joy said.

Joy says offenses range from customers not wanting to wear a mask, customers not wanting to order food with drinks, customers not practicing social distancing or leave at curfew time.

"There are anywhere from three to five customers a week that give our staff a hard time," Joy told Hudson Valley Post. "Then they take it out on my staff when they are told that they have to follow whatever rule it is they are breaking."

While the owners of AJ Cafe have recently dealt with some rude customers, John Joy says keeping the cafe open during a pandemic has brought on some positives.

"Most of our customers have been great. They’ve spread the word about our food and drinks and we’ve gotten a lot of new customers because of them," Joy said. "We’ve grown our food business substantially. When we were forced to only be takeout and delivery word of mouth spread about how great our food was. We have still retained most of those customers to this day. We also got a great sense of community between other local businesses and our customers."

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