friends happy to steal from a restaurant

[shanefolan29]

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.

You need to frequent the same restaurant with some new friends.

I’m on the NO TIP camp.

Staff get paid to take orders, bring the food out, look after the diners.

Why should we have to tip as well? THEY GET PAID TO DO THIS.

This isn’t America where for some bizarre reason, staff are often not paid, but rely on tips.

I Get paid to scan items at a check out, help customers, ,make sure they are looked after. No fucker expects to tip a checkout operator! So why a waitress??

People like this ultimately make businesses go bust. It totally sucks esp given their own good positions and privileged background. Well done you for going back and paying, personally moving forward, I'd give them another chance....but if it happens again, just disassociate. Years ago, I knew a mum from my NCT group - she was well off, new car, new clothes....she bragged about how her DC stage school had forgotten to bill her a terms fees ....she was quids in! I've never forgotten it and it permanently clouded my view. You have to decide what company you want to keep in life.

Restaurants and catering are one of the hardest businesses out there...long hours, high running costs, worry & grind. It takes guts and determination to run that business.
People that con restaurants are such low lifes.

I ate out with my 9 year old and noticed they had left her apple juice off the bill. We were eating in an unusually expensive restaurant (as a treat, not somewhere we would usually go) and I had a fleeting thought not to say anything. But I felt too bad and mentioned it and they then gave it to us on the house anyway. If I had been at your meal, I would have said something even if it meant pissing off my friends. That is just really wrong. Once I was on a date and there was a fire alarm so we had to evacuate. We had finished eating and my date suggested doing a runner. I looked at him completely shocked and said no way. He definitely went down in my estimation.

I judge people very harshly who don't tip

I hate bloody tipping. Not because I'm tight but because it's a faff, I like the price to be the price. I would much rather restaurants put their prices up a bit to include the tip. Same with hairdressers.

On holiday we had a lovely meal out and for some reason the bottle of wine was left off of the bill. We brought this to the attention of the waiter . He went off and came back with owner who thanked us but said we would not be charged for being honest.

Four friends were coming to the end of dinner at a beach restaurant abroad when one said "These people" (presumably the restaurant staff) "are richer than me, I'm not paying!"
He stood up and rushed onto the beach, disappearing into the darkness.

The three of us were appalled, doubly so when several waiters converged on our table.

We paid his share, gave him a mouthful back at the hotel, but remained civil the rest of the holiday. He never paid us back his share and the friendship ended once we were home.

Bloody hell @Mirrivan .....what kind of company are you keeping....local WI??? 😀

In short, people suck. They don't think they suck, because they make excuses for the bad things they do

Not everyone is like your friends. And presumably yourself if that is the company you keep....

Yes, most people who suck know damn well they suck. Excluding the complete morons, of course. They just don't care.

We tip (unless the meal or service were rotten), we tip waiters, postman at Christmas, bin men at Christmas, taxi driver and window cleaner now & then. Why not? Makes them happy, makes me happy.

It baffles me too how we often cite such behaviour to criminals or poverty stricken people from council estates

OMG, what an incredibly rude thing to say.

Doubt if the restaurant would've noticed as it was the bill that was wrong, so the money at the end of the night would still tally up and the waiter wouldn't have to pay. People are so incredibly holier than thou on MN, haha.

Is it just me who's reading this thinking 'fuck I would have just paid the bill I was given and left'???

I also don't tip unless service is really good. Don't get me started on service charges!

@MozzchopsThirty 90% of the people on here would've paid the bill they were given and left. That doesn't fit in with the MN (fake) moral code though. I don't even check a bill if it looks like it's roughly right.

Ah I need a fake moral code
Can I get one in Waitrose??

I think the nanny buys it for you.

🤣🤣

I would point out a mistake on a bill and have done so before. It’s the right thing to do and most of the time the restaurant will give you a discount for being honest anyway.

People are awful. It’s mostly the bankers and the high powered that are the worst. They take what they can and break as many rules as possible. They don’t care about fairness or other people.

Poverty stricken people from council estates!!
Did you really just say that!?

😲

I was recently in a cafe and though the bill we were given was under what it should have been (I'd expected nearly £30 and it was under £20). I asked if it was right and the waitress said it was. I told her to get the owner to gimme a shout via FB or to let me know next time I was in (it's a cafe attached to our only petrol station for miles and our kids go to the local school together) and I'd settle it up. I'd hate to think i was profiting from someone's error. It feels dishonest.

Oh and for those who don't tip waiting on staff, please bear in mind that the difference between them and many other NMW workers, is that waiting on staff for some reason don't get breaks in most places. Yes they're legally entitled to them but waitresses (and bar staff while I think of it) can't just say to diners/drinkers, "Righto, that's my break time. Please entertain yourselves for 20 minutes."
Leaving for a break can mean pissing off customers when the remaining staff (if there even are any) are too busy to see to your tables plus theirs and all customers suffer. I've worked in catering and hospitality all my life and only ever had breaks in one establishment. It really is unfair.

So I tip if I can.

''If the money wasn't an issue, I'd have paid infront of them to show them it's not right - are you going to tell them you went back and paid? If not, why not - just interested''

no i won't tell them cos i'd feel it would annoy them or rub them up the wrong way.

''Poverty stricken people from council estates!!
Did you really just say that!?''

eugh-go read what i said and stop this it out of context to be offensive when i clearly wasn't-for the last time i was explaining society's inaccurate attitudes towards crimes-enough already.

what profession were you in? shocking a boss who is supposed to be a moral leader would condone stealing to their staff.