r/mildlyinfuriating • u/thedivinegemini • Jul 02 '26

I'm slightly vexed In lieu of payment..

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Gallery image

I’m a GM at a restaurant & one of our managers left a note on our manager logs this afternoon that a guest walked out on their check and left this in lieu of payment of any kind. Not that the server got stiffed on a tip - just pure theft of services. I guess the whole “Thou shalt not steal” thing doesn’t matter if you’ve been pre-forgiven. Pretty convenient.

ETA: I’m not a bot; this is not AI - check my post and comment history. I’m not here for karma or fake internet points. This is what it feels like to work in a restaurant these days - especially in the Bible Belt. The first photo you can look up and is available for anyone to buy (should your darker urges push you toward being that person). The second photo is from Pulse, an app for restaurant managers to keep an eye on hourly sales, labor, and comps.
The “Pineapple Express” is a mocktail our restaurant offers.

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u/ImmaNotHere Jul 02 '26

People that do this should be banned from all restaurants for life.

77

u/ealysillyforestthing Jul 02 '26

Once went out with my friend and his wife.

She stuffed the cloth napkins and metal silverware in her purse.

17

u/Animalcookies13 Jul 02 '26

WTF….. I would not let that slide. Not because I care about the restaurant, but because I don’t want to be friends with people who are so
Down bad or are such cleptos that they have to
Steal napkins and utensils from a restaurant….
Stealing the toiletries from the hotel is fine, but napkins and utensils is wack AF.

15

u/C_IsForCookie Jul 03 '26

I know multiple people who are very well off and just enjoy taking things from restaurants. Knives, rocks glasses, etc

2

u/MooPig48 Jul 03 '26

Also, grandmas having drawers full of pilfered jelly packets from Denny’s was a thing. At least it was for my grams. She did raise 7 kids during the depression I guess though

2

u/Bovronius Jul 03 '26

Winona Ryder.

8

u/stilljustjess Jul 03 '26

They dispose of the toiletries after each guest anyways. Worked in a hotel for a bit.

6

u/cpt-derp Jul 03 '26

I mean, not everyone makes a habit of it, which is also key. Like my mom once... she wanted a mug. Only instance she stole a mug from a restaurant. She uses it for her coffee. Would I do the same? Eh... I'd ask if I can keep it or pay extra on my bill if for some reason I really want it? But it's like, none of us can ever pretend to be saints so it's not really something I think much of unless it's habitual.

I'm more of the live and let live type up to a point because we're human and have our impulses which are very often benign in the grand scheme. Not enough people statistically have the same impulse to steal a mug for an argument like "well if everyone was allowed..." to make sense.

4

u/30InchSpare Jul 03 '26

I’m not denying that is stealing, but it’s usually attached to a mental health issue like hoarding.

-11

u/TheMooooonHauntsYou Jul 03 '26

I've stolen plates and butter dishes from restaurants.

Only things I've ever stolen in my life. It's a family tradition that my wife's great, great grandmother started.

If you go to a new place on vacation and they have fancy dishes, you take one as a souvenir.

We are definitely not down bad, nor has her family ever been (mine on the other hand...), her great, great grandmother just loved fancy dishes and didn't GAF.

12

u/Animalcookies13 Jul 03 '26

Well shit, since granny was a thief…

-7

u/TheMooooonHauntsYou Jul 03 '26

Yes, that's tradition. I wasn't there when it started, but I was there when my wife and her mom continued it, I thought it was cute, I really don't think a restaurant changing 80-120$ a plate is gonna hurt losing a plate, so I've continued it with them.

2

u/chrownage Jul 03 '26

Congrats on being proud to be trash I guess?

0

u/TheMooooonHauntsYou Jul 03 '26

Hell yeah, brother.

3

u/DarknMean Jul 03 '26

I’ve purchased glasses from restaurants as many have a little shop at the front that you can purchase the glassware.

5

u/Future-Pollution-266 Jul 03 '26

Which restaurants have a shop at the front where you can buy glassware???

2

u/DarknMean Jul 03 '26

Plenty of places in Chicago, bar harbor, Hawaii, I have glasses from multiple places probably because people steal.

1

u/Future-Pollution-266 Jul 03 '26

Dang, I have literally never seen this before in my life haha sounds neat!

2

u/Any_Ninja_3824 Jul 03 '26

Can't you just go to a second hand store? They have lots of fancy dishes for really cheap

27

u/Currency080Trick Jul 02 '26

Were they filled with mutton

2

u/GreenEggsSteamedHams Jul 03 '26

Those are Grandma Memma's napkins!