Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

friends happy to steal from a restaurant

138 replies

shanefolan29 · 15/04/2018 23:04

A couple of nights ago, myself and an old friend along with 2 of his friends were eating in a restaurant/bar in London. We had drinks too and when we asked for the bill the restaurant mistakenly only charged us for the drinks. The three I was with felt great about it and when I tried to point it out to my friend that we should say something he said no they'd screw us over if they had the chance [as if he personally knew the restaurant which he did not.]

I felt too pressurised to go against the crowd so went along with it and secretly returned later and paid for the food as my conscience would not rest. However it sort of upset me of their morals here, I am no saint but has anybody else ever experienced this sort of thing in a restaurant when out dining?

It baffles me too how we often cite such behaviour to criminals or poverty stricken people from council estates etc when infact all of my friends that night had good jobs and came from comfortable families. I have seen similar behaviour too when at uni when 2 people [both of whom attended private school and came from 'good' families] both fleeced our landlord and ran out on paying their bills.

OP posts:
TheQueenOfWands · 15/04/2018 23:08

My colleagues did this. I wasn't there. They gleefully told me about it.

For some reason part of the bill was left off.

They now can't go to one of the best restaurants in the area for the sake of about £6 each.

Jonsey79 · 15/04/2018 23:09

Ywnbu. I'd have said something at the time though, along the lines of "haha, very funny guys! Hang on while I get the waiter..."

When I was a student I worked in a very swanky pub. Their policy was to charge waiting staff the first £100 if a table in their area left without paying.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 15/04/2018 23:11

I would have said something while I was there. I did this recently when all the drinks were left off the bill.

SilverBirchTree · 15/04/2018 23:13

They sound like bad people

frasier · 15/04/2018 23:15

TheQueenOfWands Why can't they go back? Because they may be recognised? Surely the restaurant wouldn't remember who the customers were, they must serve hundreds...?

It has never happened to me but I would definitely say something. I paid for uni by working in restaurants and bars and it's a difficult enough job without your wages being docked for mistakes.

Angie169 · 15/04/2018 23:17

I would of spoken to the waiter / bar staff to make sure the bill was correct but it is not easy to do when others around you are making a joke of what they got away with.

You are right a lot of people would not consider this stealing but it is you have taken / eaten / drank something without paying for it .

Iflyaway · 15/04/2018 23:18

Bastards.

Just make sure never to invite them to your house. You never know what they might pocket if those are their kind of morals.

Ivorbig1 · 15/04/2018 23:22

Did you really go back and back? For just yours ? Or pay the whole bill??

Ivorbig1 · 15/04/2018 23:22

Back and pay

mintkat · 15/04/2018 23:23

What arseholes.

Especially as if you point this out you sometimes get a goodwill discount.

FrangipaniBlue · 15/04/2018 23:26

Not stealing exactly but I have a group of fiends who don't tip! If their food comes to say £31.75 they will take their 25p change Confused

I hate eating out with them because I end up spending way more than my bill comes to (if the service was good) because I put the whole tip in.

I'll admit, I lose a little bit of respect for people who behave like mine and your friends.

ERipley · 15/04/2018 23:26

I felt too pressurised to go against the crowd so went along with it and secretly returned later and paid for the food as my conscience would not rest.

Really?! I wouldn’t have.

Original poster
shanefolan29 · 15/04/2018 23:27

I went back and paid the whole bill, the money part didn't bother me really, it was more their attitudes. It's like something you'd do if you were 14 to get a thrill and to show off but as adults it's just wrong.

OP posts:
SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 15/04/2018 23:28

and secretly returned later and paid for the food as my conscience would not rest

How did you do this?

You must have admitted leaving the restaurant without paying? The restaurant staff were okay with that?

spacestranger · 15/04/2018 23:30

This happened to me when out for a large group meal for a friend birthday at an independent restaurant. Over £100 worth of drinks left off the bill.

I didn't know any of them other than birthday friend.

I didn't find out until we were in the pub after as I'd paid my share to go into the poor and gone to the loo with birthday girl.

I couldn't go back and pay it as couldn't afford it and I'd had tap water to keep my bill down.

Birthday friend went back and paid it it the next day. Some present and what shitty friends she has.Confused

selavy · 15/04/2018 23:32

A similar thing happened to me once but they had forgotten to charge us for the two bottles of wine we had. We pointed this out to the waiter and a few minutes later the manager came over to our table, apologised for their mistake, thanked us for our honesty and didn’t charge us for the wine after all Wine

SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 15/04/2018 23:32

we often cite such behaviour to criminals or poverty stricken people from council estates etc

Do 'we'? Are 'we' really putting 'criminal or poverty-stricken people from council estates' into one can't-be-trusted box?

I think on that, you speak for yourself, despite the rest of your OP, OP.

Qwertytypewriter · 15/04/2018 23:34

You must have admitted leaving the restaurant without paying? The restaurant staff were okay with that?
No, they were given a smaller bill which they paid, so pretty straightforward to go back and say she realised when she got home that the amount couldn't be right.

Redglitter · 15/04/2018 23:34

Not stealing exactly but I have a group of fiends who don't tip

That's not even remotely like stealing

kungpopanda · 15/04/2018 23:35

You must have admitted leaving the restaurant without paying? The restaurant staff were okay with that?

Well as the OP was returning and paying, presumably they were, and why wouldn't they have been?

What would you have done, called the police? Doh.

Original poster
shanefolan29 · 15/04/2018 23:35

''How did you do this?

You must have admitted leaving the restaurant without paying? The restaurant staff were okay with that?''

It was an Italian restaurant and the staff did not have good English so it cut alot of the awkward questions out, they just started sifting through past orders and I saw ours and paid-again the language barrier greatly helped diffuse an awkward situation.

OP posts:
PinkCalluna · 15/04/2018 23:36

I would have paid there and then and shamed them.

The poor waiter would have been the one to suffer for the error not the restaurant.

Stealing is stealing. I wouldn’t eat with them again.

GabsAlot · 15/04/2018 23:38

sorry frangi thats not even the same thing

you dont have to tip anyhone in this country(shold have said unless you are somewhere else)

mintkat · 15/04/2018 23:39

Not stealing exactly but I have a group of fiends who don't tip

Not sure if that was a typo but if so it’s an apt one...

Jamiefraserskilt · 15/04/2018 23:40

A hotel I stayed at recently forgot to charge me for £40 worth of food and drink. When I was told the cost of my extras, I could have accepted the bill as was. However, I asked them to check, gave them a list and it was much more than they had tallied. I would not feel right knowing they had undercharged.