Did you ever dine and dash?

i_am_job

did you feel bad?

schemingbohemia

If I could understand what you were on about I might be able to respond properly.

Blikes

No but i worked in a hotel and i'm amazed the amount of people that do it.

B*****ds got me in so much trouble!

huskerdu

No, I am not a thief.

i_am_job

Blikes wrote: »

No but i worked in a hotel and i'm amazed the amount of people that do it.

B*****ds got me in so much trouble!

Does the waiter/ess really get blamed for that ?? :eek: thats unfair

Blikes

We sure did, memo's and notices went up about taking the value out of our wages which just meant service suffered because people wouldn't take on more than 3 or 4 tables because they couldn't watch more than that for runners!

Gbear

Blikes wrote: »

We sure did, memo's and notices went up about taking the value out of our wages

Surely that's not legal?

aidan24326

Did it once in Eddie Rockets where I genuinely tried to pay but there was no staff member around so I thought fcuk it.

Once in Barcelona aswell where I was going to get stumped with a hefty bill due to some other people p1ssing off without paying. Did I feel guilty? No.

JohnSmith17

aidan24326 wrote: »

Did it once in Eddie Rockets where I genuinely tried to pay but there was no staff member around so I thought fcuk it.

Once in Barcelona aswell where I was going to get stumped with a hefty bill due to some other people p1ssing off without paying. Did I feel guilty? No.

how long did you wait in eddie rockets?

98q76e12hrflnk

JohnSmith17 wrote: »

how long did you wait in eddie rockets?

Well there was one waiter and when he went into the kitchen i left so a few seconds give or take

Frank Black

A guy I knew in College one did a runner after a late night meal in Eddie Rockets - he ran off but left his coat behind, which was worth more than the burger and chips he'd eaten.

Karma.

The Hill Billy

In my opinion it is very poor form to 'dine & dash'. Theft. Simple as.

aidan24326

JohnSmith17 wrote: »

how long did you wait in eddie rockets?

A few minutes. Was no-one at the counter and no-one seemed too interested in taking my money so I just left. Wouldn't normally do that though.

Zombot

We accidentally did once, we were having a drink with friends after eating and then hopped in the taxi without paying for the meal. We were horrified when we remembered, went back the following day and paid for it

themandan6611

black francis wrote: »

A guy I knew in College one did a runner after a late night meal in Eddie Rockets - he ran off but left his coat behind, which was worth more than the burger and chips he'd eaten.

Karma.

same type of story, a mate did the same , got 100 yards up the road and he lost one of his shoes, kept running followed by the bouncer, got home with just the one shoe on

diddlybit

Would never do it. I had to go back and pay for a coffee that I had forgotten to pay for a week later. The waitressing staff thought it was hilarious.

It's a s***ty thing to do. Not only is it theft but the waiting staff would get a bollocking, if not have to cover it. Worked last night and there were some dashers, and two staff members got in big trouble for it. One was in the kitchen, the other had gone on a break and the couple out the side door. You'd need eyes in the back of your head to see them. :mad:

JONJO THE MISER

I would never do it, would not feel right about it.

matrim

I've done it a couple of times by accident, but I've always gone back to pay later.

I've only been tempted to do it purposefully do it once. I was after having a bad meal with really bad service and after 10 minutes of trying to get a waiters attention to get the bill I was on the edge of just leaving but decided against it.

Triangla

4 of us in Dakota in Dublin. Had dinner and a few drinks each. Left to go to another pub.

Sat down and realised we hadn't paid so I went back. Took them around 5 mins to find it on the register, came to around 150 in total.

They would have noticed when they totaled the till so glad we realised and I went back. I don't believe in karma at all but neither do I believe that stealing is ok.

Alun

diddlybit wrote: »

It's a s***ty thing to do. Not only is it theft but the waiting staff would get a bollocking, if not have to cover it.

The only time I've ever done it was after several attempts to get the bill, even more attempts to get the waiting staff to collect the money and yet more attempts standing in front of the till trying to get them to take the money off me. If the waiting staff both got a bollocking and had to cover it under those circumstances, then so be it, maybe they'll learn from the experience. And no, the place wasn't even that busy at the time before anyone asks.

Slunk

Done it once but I feel it was justified. Ordered beef,over an hour later was served Lamb. Waitress swore blind it was beef. Wouldn't knock anything off the bill. I paid that one.
Went to another branch of sane pub in a different city and service wasn't great. Seen my opportunity and took it.
Would never even dream of it if the meal and service were up to scratch but charging top dollar for **** service. No thanks

rich.d.berry

I could never do it. I have even on occasion notified the waiter that there is an error on my bill and that they have left off an item that I'd ordered. To be fair though, I argue the other way if I feel I've been overcharged.

seamus

Accidentally did it once somewhere in Dublin. We got finger food and stuff in a pub and then moved on. It was only when we got to the next place that we realised that we all thought someone else had paid for it. So one of the lads went back and sorted it.

Have had plenty of opportunity to do it though. We had breakfast in a hotel in Trieste one morning while waiting for a Ryanair flight home. When we went up to pay, the first thing they said was, "Oh, you don't have to pay", but when we explained it then took him five minutes to figure out how to ring in the breakfast on the till. We could easily have walked off without paying. But we're not scumbags so we didn't.

diddlybit

Alun wrote: »

The only time I've ever done it was after several attempts to get the bill, even more attempts to get the waiting staff to collect the money and yet more attempts standing in front of the till trying to get them to take the money off me. If the waiting staff both got a bollocking and had to cover it under those circumstances, then so be it, maybe they'll learn from the experience. And no, the place wasn't even that busy at the time before anyone asks.

There's an easy enough solution to this. Stand up. Find the manager. Complain about the service. Pay. Staff gets a boll**king anyhow. Service improves. Theft not committed.

Most dine and dashers are just cheap and dishonest. Proposing that somehow you are improving an establishment by running out the door without paying, is just attempting to mask this fact under a veil of some form of twisted ethics.

the beer revolu

The old Bodega in Cork was famous for 'free' food in the first few years of its existence - they just didn't seem to have any system and people used to regularly walk out without paying and no one seemed to care.
The only time I ever did it was similar to a post or two above - after spending about 10 minutes being ignored at the counter, I just walked out. No regrets - despite feeling cheap and dishonest with twisted ethics!:D

diddlybit

the beer revolu wrote: »

after spending about 10 minutes being ignored at the counter, I just walked out.

I can see how that would be frustrating, but in my experience most people who walk out without paying are either conciously trying to get a free meal or sometimes just forget in a moment of absent-mindedness. It's always nice though when the latter comes back to pay though.

Bubblefett

Nope, bad form and wouldn't ever do it

Xeneon

I work in a busy restaurant myself and we do get a fair few heads attempting this. The place is big and quite the tourist trap so it is bound happen considering how many come in.

I've only ever had people do a runner with small things like a pint or a coffee but a few people have tried to sneak off on larger bills in which I had to catch them on.

The largest bill would have been €121 from an English family sitting at the table closest to the front door. They had just about finished their mains before they tried to do a legger. Didn't even have the plates cleared and still some drink left. Father and 2 kids were out the door and mother was almost out before I ran up and showed her the bill.

Needless to say, I got no tip. Meh, sure beats me paying €121 euro :cool:

rich.d.berry

Xeneon wrote: »

I work in a busy restaurant myself and we do get a fair few heads attempting this. The place is big and quite the tourist trap so it is bound happen considering how many come in.

I've only ever had people do a runner with small things like a pint or a coffee but a few people have tried to sneak off on larger bills in which I had to catch them on.

The largest bill would have been €121 from an English family sitting at the table closest to the front door. They had just about finished their mains before they tried to do a legger. Didn't even have the plates cleared and still some drink left. Father and 2 kids were out the door and mother was almost out before I ran up and showed her the bill.

Needless to say, I got no tip. Meh, sure beats me paying €121 euro :cool:

Would restaurants not be able to prosecute for theft as supermarkets and clothing do for shoplifting? Surely it's the same thing. They're walking out the door with the goods in their bellies and haven't paid for it. If restaurants were to follow suite then people would think twice about attempting it. A criminal prosecution is a huge deterrent I would think.

diddlybit

rich.d.berry wrote: »

Would restaurants not be able to prosecute for theft as supermarkets and clothing do for shoplifting? Surely it's the same thing. They're walking out the door with the goods in their bellies and haven't paid for it. If restaurants were to follow suite then people would think twice about attempting it. A criminal prosecution is a huge deterrent I would think.

I think it's called theft of services. Finding them is the difficult bit, "dashing" is the appropriate term, they could be ages away before anyone spots that they're gone. I think a lot of businesses would also be reluctant to call the guards because it causes such a scene. (Happened once in a place that I worked, guy tried to pay a bill for his family meal with a fake Rolex.:))

I never understand people who dash when with kids, it's a really sh**ty lesson to teach them.

seamus

diddlybit wrote: »

I never understand people who dash when with kids, it's a really sh**ty lesson to teach them.

These people think it's OK, so they see no reason why their kids shouldn't learn how to do it.

They're just dirtbags, there's no understanding them.

BoardsMember

I did it when in college. Not "proud" of it but it does not keep me awake at night.

Xeneon

rich.d.berry wrote: »

Would restaurants not be able to prosecute for theft as supermarkets and clothing do for shoplifting? Surely it's the same thing. They're walking out the door with the goods in their bellies and haven't paid for it. If restaurants were to follow suite then people would think twice about attempting it. A criminal prosecution is a huge deterrent I would think.

When it does happen it is logged but generally no action is taken unless it is a fair few hundred quid or a few grand then the guards are called in but that's rare. If it is a small amount then the waiter pays. It not really worth the hassle to sift through camera footage to determine who done a runner and call the guards to find this person.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

I used to work at the till of a carvery in Clare when I was young and you wouldn't believe the amount of people who tried to get away with not paying.

Nearly always the same type, middle aged farmers and 'country men'. They'd just see you at the till and pretend they didn't and sit down and eat. I say on your average Sunday, 15 lads would try it. I'd go down to most of them and it'd always be the same 'oh jesus sorry i forgot' even when he'd have tried the same 2 weeks before!

Some days I just couldn't be bothered chasing them, management didn't know so it was no skin off my back.

The Lovely Muffin

I never have done it and I never would do it.

It's theft and it's wrong.

me m

I did it before. I was in holiday in Spain with a few mates and after a nice 3 course meal and plenty of wine we decided to do credit card roulette for who pays the tab. I was the unfortunate one and the tab was pretty pricey so when i said i was going up to pay, i just went for a piss and did a houdini. never told them incase some didnt fell right but i didnt want to hand over that sum. When it was suggested we return to the same place to eat again the following evening cause it was so good. i had to protest that we should try new places while we are there. The lads even paid for my meal and drinks that night cos i was the one stung last time. So you can say it worked out quite well for me . Not proud of it ! Not ashamed of it either.

Frank Black

me m wrote: »

So you can say it worked out quite well for me .

There's other things you can say, for example, you can say that you've probably ripped off a local family run establishment that served you a nice meal because you were too cheap to pay what you owed.

Hopefully you get scammed in the future, interesting to see if you'll be able to take such a relaxed attitude to it.

emeraldstar

me m wrote: »

we decided to do credit card roulette for who pays the tab.

I really don't get this... why not just split it?

It would have had the added 'bonus' of not fleecing a decent restaurant serving good-quality food.

The Hill Billy

emeraldstar wrote: »

I really don't get this... why not just split it?

Lads having 'fun'.

emeraldstar

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Lads having 'fun'.

Ah. I see.

Xeneon

If the place was doing the usual Let's-Rip-Off-The-Tourist trick then I can understand it (some places would even charge tourists for table, chairs and cutlery) but if you were happy with the meal and service then that ain't cool bro.

davetherave

Did it once over in the States, by accident.
Bill came to the table, I took the cash out of my wallet and had it in my pocket, had the tip in my hand. One lad went to the jacks, the second guy went off to get the 4th guys wheelchair. Waitress was walking by, put the tip on her tray "That was great, thanks very much".
Out the door, in the car and off home. Back in the house anyway emptying the pockets onto the counter (phone, wallet , keys ) and there is Ulysses S. Grant, his twin brother and the bill from the restaurant looking back at me.

I went back and paid.

The_fever

Did it once in a place. Requested the bill about five times waited an age, then just said to hell with it. Got up the road my friend had forgotten his umbrella so we said fair enough went back, picked up umbrella tried yet again to pay, still to no avail. Left again.

me m

Xeneon wrote: »

If the place was doing the usual Let's-Rip-Off-The-Tourist trick then I can understand it (some places would even charge tourists for table, chairs and cutlery) but if you were happy with the meal and service then that ain't cool bro.

Not my finest hour. I did say i wasnt proud of it. I tell you what if im ever back in the area again i will go into the restaurant and pay them for a meal i had 4 years ago. But im more broke now than I was then so chances are slim i will be back. You never know.

ICANN

No, I wouldn't do it. My friend used to work in a restaurant and lost a lot of wages to scumbags doing it. I did get undercharged for a meal out with my family a few months ago and said nothing about it. I had been overcharged the last time I went to the same restaurant.