'I felt like I was on a prank show': Waitress and manager insist customer needs to pay for meal for a random stranger

Advertisement
  • 01
    Table - '[The manager] seriously looked so sad that I had refused his ridiculous proposal'
  • 02
    Font - A waitress and her manager tried to force me to pay for a meal I did not eat. Long I'm from England - London to be exact and I can count on one hand how many times I have eaten in a restaurant that allowed the customer to pay after they had eaten. I never really understood why any place wouldn't make you pay upfront to avoid dine-and- dash. I mean I get the idea for expensive restaurants; they don't want you looking at your bill until you're finished so they can make the most money, but f
  • 03
    Font - Today, I chose just such an establishment, completely by chance. So, I ate, I drank, and then I called the waitress over for the bill. When she came, she held out a card reader that had over double the amount it should have been. I looked at the card reader in complete panic, did the math over in my head and knew I was being overcharged. So at first, I thought it was a mistake, and I said as much. The waitress turned the card reader towards herself, looked it over, looked at the receipts
  • 04
    Font - So I told her I didn't order nearly as much as they were trying to change me for. And after she insisted again that the bill was correct, I got out my phone, opened the calculator (a godsend, I swear) typed in the price of everything I had ordered and showed her the total. The waitress then gave me a strange look and said something like "Right, I know. The woman who was sitting over there ordered the other stuff." And I was just like whaaaaaaaaat?! I must have looked as baffled as I felt
  • 05
    Font - I swore out loud and told her I did not agree to pay for ANYONE'S meal, and she should have DEFINITELY asked me beforehand, instead of just blindly trusting this random woman. The waitress then huffed and was like "Well, she already left, so what now?" I just looked at her dumbly before telling her I didn't care what she did, but I sure as hell wasn't paying for this random ladies' meal. Then she glared at me, like, actually glared, before telling me she was going to get her manager and r
  • 06
    Font - So then the manager comes back with the waitress (who is still glaring like I mui lered her puppy,) and I explain the situation as best I can to him even though I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. I thought for sure he was going to be on my side, and agree that this was total BS, but the man actually stands there for a solid minute, just thinking before turning to me and saying "Well, I apologise for the inconvenience, but would you mind paying anyway. We are a small family-run rest
  • 07
    Font - And after realising that he was 100% serious, and if I wasn't assertive enough in that moment I was definitely going to be taken for a ride, I told him bluntly that I WOULD NOT BE PAYING FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S MEAL, and to remove the woman's items from my bill so I could pay and leave. I swear, this grown-a man who looked over twice my age gave me puppy dog eyes. He seriously looked so sad that I had refused his ridiculous proposal, before taking the bill from the girl and walking away withou
  • 08
    Font - But OH MY GOD! Has this ever happened to anyone else? Were they trying to scam me, or do you think that waitress was really so stupid that she let that random customer scam her? I honestly don't know what to think. The whole experience was so surreal I'm half expecting that the next time I pass the place it will be some abandoned storefront with no signs of life because it never really existed and the whole thing was just some wacky hallucination I made up in my head.
  • 09
    Font - Not YourNanny We can't afford to feed people for free. "Neither can I. And it wasn't my mistake. And if you can't survive one dash and dine, your business is doomed anyway."
  • 10
    Smile - Jariam76 Be sure to watch your account to make sure they don't charge you the extra later.
  • 11
    Human body - Barbarossa7070 Could be a scam by the waitress and manager.
  • 12
    Font - or ShelLuser42 Yes, I like writing stories... Sounds like a scam to me. Over here (I'm your "channel neighbor" from the East) it's common to eat and pay afterwards, even in cheaper places. So here's the thing which sticks out to me: if it's so common to pay before dining in your area it should also be uncommon to share the bills afterwards. And yet the waitress never checked? Just took someone's word on it without bothering? I don't buy that, and neither should you.
  • 13
    Font - whocaresanywayright. You should have pointed at the next table over and said "nevermind, they're paying for me and the other woman" and walked out.
  • 14
    Font - GoblinQueenForever OP Maybe if I had been in my right mind but the whole experience was so bizarre that it was like litteral tumbleweeds floating around in my head. I used to be this horribly timid thing, and just 5 years ago I probably would have given in and paid with two people tag teaming me, so I'm proud that I managed to get out of there by just paying my own bill. No doubt I'll think of all the cool, badal things I could have said later.
  • 15
    Font - Beetle Jude The waitress knew the other customer, I'd bet money on it. I take it you look / are quite young?
  • 16
    Font - edubkendo How utterly bizarre. Great job sticking up for yourself, I can't believe both the waitress and manager thought you would just go along with this... Maybe they suspected it was some scam you and the woman cooked up and were trying to guilt trip you?
  • 17
    Font - adudeguyman Do you even remember the woman that was at the other table? 24 Reply Share GoblinQueenForever OP Nope. Wasn't paying attention to anyone, just eating and listening to music.
  • 18
    Font - SchlomoTheJew Sorry, really confused by the first sentence of your post? The standard anywhere is to eat then pay...especially in the UK. Pls elaborate??
  • 19
    Font - O GoblinQueenForever OP I have been informed that paying after you've eaten in the UK isn't as rare as I thought it was. I swear, most places I've eaten in Britain charged beforehand. Apparently, I just had that kind of luck because quite a lot of people are saying paying afterwards is more common than I thought it was. It's kind of funny now that I think about it. I've lived here my whole life and I've just had this misconception this whole time.
  • 20
    Font - NeonArlecchino Did you blast them on Yelp? 42 Reply Share GoblinQueenForever OP Not yet. Am considering.
  • 21
    Font - rangerquiet Can OP or someone else explain the paying before you eat thing? In 50 years of living here I've never paid before eating in a restaurant.
  • 22
    Font - GoblinQueenForever OP Its the done thing in Britain. You give your order, you pay and THEN you get your food. It's normal here. In fact, when I was a kid and watched shows where people dined and dashed I was confused because why would any place not charge you beforehand. I guess it's just traditions for different places.
  • 23
    Font - whiskeyboundcowboy. I've seen this a couple of times. Usually, the waiter or waitress knows the person and pulls this stunt. Then they have the gall to ask for a tip.
  • 24
    Font - Tiny EmergencyCake. Workers aren't responsible for the risks associated with owning a business including dine and dash

Tags

Scroll Down For The Next Article