# Did anyone else know of people who routinely stole condiments/silverwear from restaurants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2022, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039 "2022-02-07T11:09:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/61 "2022-02-08T13:16:26Z")
Before they closed down, we’d eat at Joe’s Crab Shack, where the yellow plastic crab tools were imprinted with “Stolen from Joe’s Crab Shack”. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/62 "2022-02-08T13:28:51Z")
In high school, I once stole a fork from Fuddruckers; I was on a band trip and I had some leftover cake I wanted to eat. I felt really guilty afterwards and I ended up throwing it away. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfmaiden](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfmaiden/32/10280_2.png) [@Wolfmaiden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfmaiden)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/63 "2022-02-14T17:32:16Z")
Yes i even had a lady ask for silverware cause we caught her taking it off the table. She said she didnt have any at home and she needed some. Didnt offer to buy them. So while she is emptying out her purse she also had a bottle of ketchup, steak sauce and the salt and pepper shakers in also. Plus some creamers and jellies. Omg! ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/64 "2022-02-15T00:01:58Z")
no moral issues? How about their son wasn’t taught about stealing, which apparently you admitted to. Then your flimsy rationale that 1 stealing is ok to “make their life easier”, and 2. oh, a restaurant can’t make better use of knives (isn"t that why they put them on table?) ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/65 "2022-02-15T00:10:05Z")
At University I took a pepper flake shaker from Shakeys. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/66 "2022-02-15T00:10:37Z")
I had a friend who told me that his mother was an outright thief at restaurants and hotels: condiments, napkins, silverware. He said they were at one fairly nice place, and she hissed at him to lift up his elbows: she was rolling up the tablecloth and he was holding it down. Her excuse was “they want you to take these things”. No, they don’t. And hotels don’t want you to steal their towels and bathrobes, either. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/67 "2022-02-15T00:16:07Z")
“no thief”??? What do you call “appropriating” steak knives that you didn’t pay for? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/68 "2022-02-15T00:59:01Z")
My boyfriend takes forks from restaurants. Not to make a set and not to use to eat, but he will take a single fork and when he has enough he will make some art and give it to a friend. He was doing this when we met 10+ years ago, when he had more friends, so I never got a fork sculpture. He doesn’t do it much anymore because he isn’t feeling artistic much anymore. I’ve seen him take like 4 forks over the last 5 years. I am still waiting for my art. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/69 "2022-02-15T01:28:46Z")
As I was digging through the silverware drawer for a fork this evening, I came across 2 heavy forks that had to have come from Wynn Resort Las Vegas. Probably from a room service breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/70 "2022-02-15T04:07:09Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I have a tendency to hang on to extra fast food napkins. Having a few in my purse or my work lunch bag can be handy. I don’t deliberately grab extra for that purpose (seems greedy to me), but any survivors of what was obtained for that meal tend to get stashed until needed. We eat at some joints that bring out a few extra paper napkins after serving the food (Mexican restaurants for example). I often take them with me, as I can’t imagine the restaurant recycling them for other customers after they’ve been on our table. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/71 "2022-02-15T04:31:22Z")
I never understood why hotel or resort pools give you those cloth towels that are so thin they can’t even properly soak up excess water from your feet when you get out of the shower and then after getting out of the shower I realized it was because they didn’t want you to take them home. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/72 "2022-02-15T04:34:15Z")
I haven’t read all the replies; I’m just shocked at how many crooked moms are out there. I wish I could say my mom was one of them, but I have nothing. Honestly, I don’t know how most restaurants even stay in business. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/73 "2022-02-15T17:45:42Z")
I have two Corelle dinner plates with the Amtrak design on them. My mother gave them to me after her mom passed and told me that she (her mom, my grandmother) had been given them by Amtrak over the years – she said that, instead of waiting for my very slow grandmother to finish her meal so they could take the plate, they told her to just keep it. I kind of doubt that, but my grandmother wasn’t the kind to just pocket something that she fancied so maybe it is true. Regardless, I have two extra dinner plates for the non-existent day when I’ll need two extra place settings beyond the 20 we have in another pattern. I used to have a big plastic 2 quart water pitcher that came from the dining room of an assisted living facility I worked at eons ago. I know I didn’t deliberately take it but I don’t remember how I actually came to possess it. I _think_ I was using it to top off my radiator or something on the old jalopy I was driving then and mindlessly tossed the pitcher in the back. I had it until the last move, when it got chucked in the trash for non-use. I have a single white wash rag that mysteriously appeared in our luggage when we did a road trip to Montana in 2019. We spent 9 or 10 nights in various motels along the way and I think it unintentionally got picked up from the floor with some dirty clothes in one of the motels we stayed in. I think that’s it. Nothing deliberately stolen but a few things that inadvertently came into my possession. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/74 "2022-02-16T14:36:53Z")
I thought I posted this before, but I can’t find anything. Here goes: After my mom gave birth to Daughter #2 on a Thursday evening, she woke up ravenous on Friday morning. Specifically, she reallyreally wanted bacon. But it was a Catholic hospital, pre-Vatican II. “So I stole the cream pitcher.” Uh, okay. I was told this when I found the pitcher in the junk closet. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/75 "2022-02-16T14:47:41Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > My wife and I were out to breakfast with her parents several years ago. I had asked the waitress for some extra napkins. She came by and dropped about a one inch stack of napkins on the table. My mother-in-law’s hand shot out and grabbed _the entire stack_ and shoved them in her purse. Anyone who has dealt with toddlers knows, (especially when eating at fast-food restaurants) you can never have too many napkins. ---
**Author:** ![Happytree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happytree/32/3555_2.png) [@Happytree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happytree)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/76 "2022-02-26T13:45:19Z")
Yeah, she did not intentionally bring them home, but she didn’t bother to return them either. Guess ya got me there. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/77 "2022-02-26T15:25:34Z")
The only thing I’ve ever taken from a restaurant (that was not meant to be taken) was a shot glass from which I had my first (legal) drink on my 21st birthday. Kept it around for a number of years, but I doubt I could find it now. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > When my brother was a teen and working as asst. mgr. at Jack in the Box, he came home with an excellent, restaurant quality kitchen knife. Having worked in restaurants for about 2 decades, the words “excellent, restaurant quality kitchen knife” are an oxymoron. Restaurant house knives are terrible, and are only useable since they get sharpened regularly. The restaurant isn’t going to invest in good knives and give them to employees that are going to abuse and/or pilfer them. If he managed to score a good knife, then it was more than likely someone’s personal knife. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/78 "2022-02-26T15:35:33Z")
Yeah, when I was a cook, we all brought our own knives to and from work. They are expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/79 "2022-02-27T08:16:07Z")
I used to collect sugar packets and hung them up on my wall, like postcards. Had some dozens of them at one time. My dad wanted to buy a beer glass in a restaurant in Portugal, and the waiter said it wasn’t possible, but he could just take one. The waiter even even and got a clean one from the bar and wrapped it in paper napkins. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > If he managed to score a good knife, then it was more than likely someone’s personal knife. This was my thought as well. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039/80 "2022-02-27T10:12:23Z")
There’s a Jewish deli near here that has bowls of dill pickles on the tables. One of my aunts emptied the bowls into her purse every time she dined there. I assume she had some sort of plastic bag in her purse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-know-of-people-who-routinely-stole-condiments-silverwear-from-restaurants/959039.md?page=5)