I was dining with a friend that presented his bank card for payment. We both knew he had the funds, but it kept declining. He had to tell the waiter he was going to the ATM and would return. I could see they doubted he would return, but for some reason, the ATM let him have the funds from the same account that was declined at the point-of-sale. It was about $60 in alcohol and food, and we were familiar faces if not known to the staff. I think if we were out of town at a new restaurant and this had happened, it would have been a bit more confrontational.
Only super-nice people refuse to steal from their employees.
It is unfortunate but it happens all over, even with major chains. I know Dardin has this policy in some of its Central Florida restaurants and so does Outback. This may be the policies of local managers not endorsed by corporate but it does happen and happen often. If you need a job and you have a choice of paying it or being unemployed. You pay. Perhaps you file a complaint after you no longer have the job but that doesn’t help the poor server who losses all his/her tips to some thieves that think they are stiffing a big company. BTW, even if they don’t make you pay, it has been my experience that the server still gets written up and held responsible.
Maybe relevant to the servers-paying discussion…
I’ve never been a waitress, but I worked as a clerk in a gas station on summer breaks from college. Even though the place had security cameras, there was some issue with them, and we had to look out the window and MANUALLY write down the license number of every car that stopped for gas, just in case they left without paying. Of course, this got difficult when it was busy. I was told that, if anyone stole gas, whose license number I didn’t get down, that amount would be docked from my paycheck.
Maybe this was meant to prevent me from telling my friends that I’d look the other way if they steal gas? It only happened once for me and I got a stern warning, so I’m not sure if the manager would have actually made me pay for it…
I paid my bill at a cashier once and the waiter didn’t see me do it. He did see me walking out the door, and he chased me out and grabbed me by the arm before I got 50 feet. I explained I paid, and I agreed to go back with him, and the cashier confirmed I paid.
How is not paying for your meal not theft?
And you’re defending the thief’s theft by blaming the management for theft…?
:dubious:
He agrees it is theft, but not theft from someone who makes $2.13 an hour.
It’s theft from the restaurant. If the manager then steals from the person who makes $2.13 an hour to cover it, that is an additional crime.
I did have one incident where I went to lunch and had accidentally left my wallet at home. Didn’t realize till I got ready to pay. I was going to go home and come back, but it was a place I ate at regularly, so they just told me to pay next time. Which I did.
To the OP’s question about doing dishes, the premise is that since you can’t pay money, you pay with service. I can imagine in a small mom and pop, when the proprietor does lots of scutwork as part of their job, having someone do a little of that is a benefit. But most restaurants now have already accounted for their normal workload by employees, so if they have you pay your debt in service, there is someone else whose job you are taking and they won’t get paid. So that kind of arrangement is less available.
If I had to guess, I would suggest it was maybe a Depression-era thing.