Leaving a restaurant without paying
Discussion
2 tales of non-payment ->
My brother and his wife left a restaurant without paying once, for good reason.
Having enjoyed a reasonable meal, they asked passing waiter for the bill.
20 minutes later, having finished their wine, he asked again.
20 minutes later, he enquired as to the bill's whereabouts, again was told it was on route.
10 minutes later he exited without paying, in full view, at slow pace.
The right thing in my opinion, 3 attempts to pay and an hour wasted.
And myself, not exactly in a restaurant and very, very pissed.
I was in a 7-eleven after copious amounts of booze, we stopped to pick up food. I picked up one of those microwave burgers and shouted to the chap down the counter "Is this a cheeseburger" (probably sounded like "ish dis chzbrgggr") to which he says no...so into the microwave, and lo it's cheeseburger. Damn. I don't eat cheese so I chuck burger onto counter and with the others all sorted, we exit 7-Eleven into waiting car and off we go.
30 seconds later, 3 units of Wildwood New Jersey's finest execute a pincer move on us mid-junction.
20 minutes of confusion and commotion, 5 cops and $2 paid to 7-Eleven later we all continued about our business(!).
Wouldn't happen here!
My brother and his wife left a restaurant without paying once, for good reason.
Having enjoyed a reasonable meal, they asked passing waiter for the bill.
20 minutes later, having finished their wine, he asked again.
20 minutes later, he enquired as to the bill's whereabouts, again was told it was on route.
10 minutes later he exited without paying, in full view, at slow pace.
The right thing in my opinion, 3 attempts to pay and an hour wasted.
And myself, not exactly in a restaurant and very, very pissed.
I was in a 7-eleven after copious amounts of booze, we stopped to pick up food. I picked up one of those microwave burgers and shouted to the chap down the counter "Is this a cheeseburger" (probably sounded like "ish dis chzbrgggr") to which he says no...so into the microwave, and lo it's cheeseburger. Damn. I don't eat cheese so I chuck burger onto counter and with the others all sorted, we exit 7-Eleven into waiting car and off we go.
30 seconds later, 3 units of Wildwood New Jersey's finest execute a pincer move on us mid-junction.
20 minutes of confusion and commotion, 5 cops and $2 paid to 7-Eleven later we all continued about our business(!).
Wouldn't happen here!
Reminds me of one I heard about a rookie NFL player earlier this season. As a welcome/rite of passage/team-building exercise, he and several team members went for a meal.
Little did he realise that the team-building element was not the meal, but the running out of the restaurant (and who's going to stop a horde of NFL players?). Leaving him to pick up a tab of some $20,000.
Little did he realise that the team-building element was not the meal, but the running out of the restaurant (and who's going to stop a horde of NFL players?). Leaving him to pick up a tab of some $20,000.
Kermit power said:
The only time I've ever knowingly left a restaurant without paying (as opposed to forgetting to settle a tab and going back to do so) was in a Chinese restaurant in Ealing around 15 years or so ago.
The food had been pretty good, and the service had been perfectly adequate. Then we asked for the bill. Then we waited. Then we asked for it again. Then we waited again. Then we asked again. Then we waited again.
35 minutes after we first asked for the bill, I told the waiter I was leaving, and that I would be perfectly happy to pay the bill if they gave it to me before I left. We then walked at normal pace to the door, opened it and left. Still no bill. One of the weirdest experiences of my life!
Is it just me, or is getting the bill getting to be a more and more difficult task in the UK? I've frequently found myself waiting longer for the bill than I had to wait to be sat and served a starter.The food had been pretty good, and the service had been perfectly adequate. Then we asked for the bill. Then we waited. Then we asked for it again. Then we waited again. Then we asked again. Then we waited again.
35 minutes after we first asked for the bill, I told the waiter I was leaving, and that I would be perfectly happy to pay the bill if they gave it to me before I left. We then walked at normal pace to the door, opened it and left. Still no bill. One of the weirdest experiences of my life!
One of these days I fully expect to have a great meal and good service but end up walking out without paying. The closest I've got so far was just leaving cash to cover the amount on the table, maybe the staff picked it up before another customer, who knows. I don't normally carry cash though so there's not much I can do if they won't let me pay.
Tea of Teabaggin said:
jshell said:
Tea of Teabaggin said:
We were at the bar In other cultures i.e. China, Far East, Yorkshire where a spade is called a spade it happens quite frequently. If service is terrible and quality of product is poor people don't feel obliged to pay.
Not in China. One could complain about the quality or service and ask for a discount as a result but not walkout without paying even the meal or the service is indeed very poor. 
robodonkey2005 said:
2 tales of non-payment ->
My brother and his wife left a restaurant without paying once, for good reason.
Having enjoyed a reasonable meal, they asked passing waiter for the bill.
20 minutes later, having finished their wine, he asked again.
20 minutes later, he enquired as to the bill's whereabouts, again was told it was on route.
10 minutes later he exited without paying, in full view, at slow pace.
The right thing in my opinion, 3 attempts to pay and an hour wasted.
Why not just walk up to the bar and ask the bar staff for the bill there and then and you could of been out within 5mins and had an enjoyable dinner. My brother and his wife left a restaurant without paying once, for good reason.
Having enjoyed a reasonable meal, they asked passing waiter for the bill.
20 minutes later, having finished their wine, he asked again.
20 minutes later, he enquired as to the bill's whereabouts, again was told it was on route.
10 minutes later he exited without paying, in full view, at slow pace.
The right thing in my opinion, 3 attempts to pay and an hour wasted.
zakelwe said:
Henry Hawthorne said:
At Reading Festival this year I went to Aldi to buy some "Taurus" cider which was £3.99 for 12 cans. I took 24 cans to the till, the cashier only scanned one of the 12 can boxes and so I got 24 cans of cider for £3.99, yippee!
I once went to Pets at Home and got 2 items worth £2.49 and so paid the young girl £2.50 expecting 1p change. She then proceded to put £5.00 in the till as amount paid and gave me back change of £2.51.You'd think she would have spotted this as she used the money I gave her to pay me back ...
Andy
About a month ago me and a few friends were in the City for a night out... We left the club about 430am and it was either walk back to Waterloo or get one of those illegal minicabs back. Well a nice young African fellow offered us a lift to Waterloo for the princely sum of £12. After spending all my money on copious amounts of alcohol, I told my friend I couldn't pay. Being the nice friend he was, he said he'd pay for it all. So we arrived at Waterloo and he handed over a £20 note to the driver. The driver promptly handed £32 back. I didn't know this until the driver had upped and left, and even in my inebriated state I did feel rather bad for the folly our African friend had made.
TankRizzo said:
Halb said:
TankRizzo said:
Did it in the St George & Dragon in Wargrave a few months ago.
I used a travel page last week to find a nice place in Windermere. Was amazed at some of the feedback.Perhaps we should have a name and shame thread for PHers to post aboot their good and bad experiences in restaurants?
I see we have a good food guide...not a s
t food guide though.Edited by Halb on Monday 7th September 15:53
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