Didn't pay the bill

[ffsimstupid]

Stupidly went out with a bunch of 'friends' last night for drinks and food. They decided they weren't going to pay because they 'get away with it all the time' and essentially we're going to leave me with the bill because I was protesting. Long story short ended up follow them out ( I know so stupid). I'm the goody two shoes of the group because of my guilty conscience and as I suspect this morning I feel awful. I really want to ring the restaurant and let them know the situation and pay when they open but I'm scared this is the wrong thing to do and can land me in big trouble.

Please try not to flame me I know full well I was in the wrong and I want to fix this, please advise me what you would do.

That's shitty, I think if you say you've all just realised that no one paid and you wish to settle up.

Who does this though? It's theft.

Would I be able to pay over the phone do you think?
My friends are usually not the worst but in this case they were d**k heads

I think you will be able to pay over the phone.

Your friends are criminals. I hope they get caught.

About to call in I'm not sure quite what to say, I won't give my friends details because I'm just doing it to clear my conscience if it means paying the whole thing I will have to

Call and pay by card. If the have escalated it anyway you want a record that you were the one who stumped up money.

I would ditch the friends. What a bunch of lowlife thieving scum.

My husband used to manage a restaurant and when this happened they had to pay the bill from the staff tips to balance the till.

If you go in and pay they won’t escalate it, in fact they’ll think you’re a decent person for going back.

Were you all drunk or something? Who deliberately thinks this is something that’s ok to do once they’re over about 15?

That's disgusting behaviour! I can't believe people would knowingly do this. They are just outright stealing. I'd be cutting them off and making very clear to them why. I would tell them I'd paid and how much they each owe you. Perhaps they'll feel slightly more guilty stealing from a 'friend' (though I doubt it). Sorry op, good on you for paying, better late than not at all.

@RJnomore1 cocktails helped but not an excuse anyway I'm annoyed with myself as I was protesting. Ugh I feel terrible

Well done on having a conscience. Your friends are dicks.

I would just go back in, say you believed the bill had been paid and have since found out it wasnt. If you pay it they most likely wont report it to the police and, even if they do, the police will say its been paid now so nothing to investigate.
I wouldnt put your share in an envelope and drop it off anonymously as a PP suggested, though. If they chose to report it because the full bill hadn't been paid how would you prove that was your share?

Tell them you had a miscommunication and you thought one of the others had paid the bill. Then settle it in full and never see these friends again.

We don't allow card payments over the phone since the GDPR situation so you may have to go in. If you pay the whole bill nothing bad will happen. We probably have about 2-3 walkouts a month in my restaurant. Even when we hand details over to the police they're not overly bothered unfortunately.

Yes definitely contact the restaurant. This actually happened to us for real. With a bunch of women lots of drinks the bill was put down on the table, we were heading to a late bar and with all the excitement we genuinely forgot to pay. When I woke the next day I contacted the others as I thought there's no way the restaurant would have not copped it and said nothing but they were really busy and no one had paid. I went in with another woman and when we got there they knew us immediately, I apologised I was so embarrassed, they were totally fine with it and were delighted we came back in. One thing that stuck in my mind was the waitress who was lovely came over and told us that her till didn't balance and for large amounts like unpaid bills come out of her wages. So she was so relieved.

Contact the others see if they'll pay. You may have to pay the full bill, you can't just go in and pay some, the restaurant will have the right to contact the police for the others as it's theft. They may likely want details of who was with you.

Can you afford the whole bill ? You could then forward a copy of the receipt to the others, then tell them they are thieves, if they are doing this regularly, I certainly wouldn't be socialising with them.

Just say there was a miscommunication as you all thought another had paid it. You will have to pay the whole thing though, no way they'll allow you to only pay your share.

Pay, learn from it thst these people are neither your friends nor decent human beings, and move on. Expensive and stressful lesson but you sound like a nice person, it’s easy to get caught up in peer pressure especially after alcohol is involved. Don’t beat yourself up, just deal with it (which you are).

Just pay over the phone. Tell them there had been a mix up in communication between the group and apologise. They won't escalate if this is done promptly. Ditch your friends

Hmm if the restaurant chooses to follow up there's bound to be some cctv.

I'd pay by card over the phone so I had proof I'd paid or drop in with cash and confirm payment. I know its embarrassing but it will be better in the long run. I'd apologise and say it was a mistake I had to do this in the summer me and dh had a lovely lazy wine filled lunch in the sun and only realised we hadn't paid the next morning! Also I would contact the friends myself requesting their share and drop any who didn't pay.

I think you may be able to pay over the phone or possibly do a bank transfer. Is it a chain restaurant?
I’d leave a message on their phone ASAP. If you get in there first I’d beet the restaurant won’t do anything other than accept your payment.

I think it’s ok to go with the ‘it was a miscommunication’ line but not if you think your friends were behaving suspiciously before or afterwards. Ie did they bolt down the street once they left the restaurant?
CCTV coverage is extensive in some areas. Is it possible they could have been filmed leaving the restaurant and getting in a car? If so, is it possible that they would get caught?

If you're definitely going to pay the full bill then you're overthinking it. Pau by card, apologise that you thought your friend had paid and she thought you had. They'll just be happy you've called to pay.

I used to work in a restaurant and there were a few occasions where people left without paying because they thought someone else had. They would call straight away as soon as they realised nobody had paid and we would take card details over the phone, we didn't shout at anyone, ban them from coming back, call the police, nothing - in fact we quite often laughed about it with them. They'll be happy you called.

My restaurant did have a good internal CCTV system and when a table didn't pay we'd have a good look at the people. If nobody came forward to pay they would be remembered. You friends will get caught for this eventually, especially if they do it often in the same area. It's not funny, it's theft.

Your "friends" sound like dicks.

Simply call up and say you realised when you got home you had forgot to pay the bill. They won't think twice about it.

How much was it?

For peace of mind its the right thing to do.

I did this once accidentally. I pub was fine about it.

How much was the bill? Can you afford to settle it outright?