Accidentally not paying a bill in a restaurant...

[jeff m]

I've done it, I went back the next night as I sat at the bar the manager appeared and ordered two beers.
I apologised, he said it wasn't a problem, although your waitress was in a panic as your bill wiped out her earnings. He added that it didn't 'cos he signed for it.
Paid the bill, the girl was off that night, but I took care of the tip portion next visit.

The system was; she earnt a small commission on all food and drink she served, but it was as if she bought it! Same system as Market Maker and Broker.
Tips were sort of important

Not in UK.

[Carrot]

I once met up with a friend in Devon at a local pub, never done it in my life before and I don't know how I forgot to do it, but we left without paying. I think it was where I was so used to paying up front that I totally forgot we had a tab!

Half an hour later, we realised and I turned around, went back and paid. The manager who was serving at the time luckily took it in great humour and thanked us for our honesty.

Apparently, and I don't know how true this is, he was telling us that even though he took a swipe of the card before we sat down, it is very hard to charge "runners" if they dispute the payment with the bank later without a PIN or signature. So he was almost grateful that we came back!

[DownUnder.]

It is, but we can forward the details on to the police, who can contact your bank and pay a visit.

[retreat]

Karma- it exists!

Many years ago my mates and I decided to go on a trip to Amsterdam and after (over)indulging in all manner of substances freely available in this lovely city we ended up in a club and drunk a fair bit making things even worse...

The end of the night came and so did the bill which just lay there while we were hassled to leave by the bouncers- the hassle continued and in the end we just agreed with the bouncers and buggered off.

Now, on waking up the next morning I felt terrible for leaving without paying, all I could think of was the poor waitress having to fork out for the drinks, a flight home stopped me going back to settle up.

Now, over the following few months many, many bad things happened and I always thought that I was getting what I deserved.

In business myself, I have bent over backwards for some people and they have refused to pay and I always thought about this incident...

The karma thing also works the other way- having built up a bit of credit in the following years loads of good things have happened - too numerous to mention but one trivial one stands out- I was standing at the machine getting a parking ticket at a "Sea life" centre when a lady asked for £1 for her parking, I initially thought "bit cheeky" but she returned with a fist full of vouchers for the centre which she gave me.

Saved about £20!

What goes round comes round- here endeth the lesson

[RegMolehusband]

Done it at a place I wasn't known. Went back two hours later and paid the bill.

[Strangely Brown]

Rawwr said:

jpringle819 said:

It turned out that this person had pocketed all the tips and used the money to buy the rounds of drinks.

I do the same. Value plus 5% or 10% (depending how good it was) on my card and scoop the cash. No big deal.

Actually, it *is* a big deal.

AIUI, any tip given on the card is paid to the restaurant and is often unlikely to reach the waiter/waitress. Any tip left in cash, is a personal gift directly to the member of staff and the restaurant cannot legally touch it.