18 restaurant workers share the worst stories of customers who walked out on a huge bill.
"Restaurant employees, what actually happens when someone doesn't have enough to pay the bill? What's the most you've ever seen?"
1.
I’ve got a great story about this! I owned a small steakhouse on Nantucket about 20 years ago. The island is known for its extremely wealthy summer residents and visitors. One night, a large family of about 10 people came in for dinner. They were awful. The young kinds were running around causing trouble.
The parents were entitled and messy. And the patriarch of the family sitting at the head of the table, was a self righteous twat, that looked and acted just like Judge Elishu Smails. The bill comes to the table. And everyone very quickly shuffles out and into their cars and cabs, except the patriarch.
He’s casually waiting behind holding onto the check. After everyone else leaves, he casually saunters over to me at the bar, and nonchalantly says, “I forgot my wallet. I’ll swing by next week to take care of this.” “Excuse me, sir? Are you unable to pay your bill?”
My response made him super irritated. And he angrily quipped back, “I can obviously pay my bill! I’m on a 100foot yacht in the harbor! Of course I can pay for dinner! How dare you speak to me like that! Where is the owner?!?” “I AM the owner,” I quickly responded. “And I don’t know who you are, or where you’re from. You’re paying the bill, or we have to call the police. Do you understand?”
He started fumbling a bit with the umms and awws. Saying that the police wouldn’t be necessary, and he’s obviously good for it. And just at that moment, my quick witted bartender appeared behind me, and coolly suggested, “why don’t you leave that Rolex as collateral? I’m sure that would cover the cost of your meal.”
The sudden look of defeat on this man’s face was wild! Like he was really thinking he was gonna get away with a free $1000+ meal for 10 people! He called his wife, who came back to the restaurant in a cab about 15 minutes later. He spread the bill over two credit cards.-hessianhorse
2.
There was a 12 top, 8 were high school kids. They ate like they were dying of starvation, and then the kids left. Then, one of the adults left So there were 3 adults left who said they weren't paying all the bills, that they had one kid there for dinner but the others were their kids friends, they weren't going to pay?
Our manager said "call them back, they need to pay" and they again said "we don't know them" and our manager said "well your kid knows them, so you'd better get them all back to pay the bills or we are calling the police". The bills in total were something around 6 or 7 hundred, the three adults that were left ended up splitting it all. Absolutely wild. - Lulusgirl
3.
I worked at a diner in college, my pay was $5/hour. I often worked the mid afternoon shift, so if I was lucky, I would go home with $40, including my salary. One afternoon the diner was empty, I was replacing the ice in the pop machine, filling some salt shakers, chatting with the line cooks, typical.
A woman comes in, clearly disheveled, shaken. She orders the cheapest thing on the menu, a grilled cheese or tuna sandwich. Maybe a pop. Time comes to pay the bill and she's hunting through her purse, swears she had a $20 on her. She said, I must have left my card at home, can I leave you my license as collateral?
I said, please, it's on me. As someone who was making $5/hr, and I felt bad for her, I knew I was lucky. Worst part is, that comes out of my check, not the restaurants. So I worked 2 and a half hours for free to make sure she could eat. And I'm still proud of that, to this day. - sh%tgirlssay1
4.
I delivered pizza for a number of years and (one of) the local town drunk came in and said, "I'd like to order a pizza for delivery... and me." He said his wallet was at his house, so I asked who wanted to take him and the risk of getting stiffed. One of my friends (built like a linebacker) agreed to take him.
When they got there, the drunk said, "I'll take the pizza in and grab my wallet." My friend said no way and that he should get the wallet first. The drunk pauses for a moment, then says, "I'll fight you for it!" My friend agrees, the guy screams NO and sprints into his house, pizza-less. So in answer to your question, nothing happened and we ate his pizza that night. -bonustreats
5.
I worked back of the house when I worked restaurants, but when I delivered pizzas I had a few times I'd get to a house and the customer wasn't fully aware of the total cost of the order and would start panicking. It happened with a few stressed parents (different orders and addresses) and an elderly caretaker, and each time I told them don't worry about it and to keep their money I'll cover it.
I was by no means in a stable financial situation, but in that moment I had the funds to pay it forward. You never know what someone is going through and how much something trivial to you can mean to them. - faceless_coloradian
6.
My manager did the coolest thing last week in this situation. My table's card was expired so they tried two different cards with me and they both came back declined. They spent 30 mins after getting the check figuring out a card to use (they only had the cards on their phone) or how to get the money into their accounts.
I told my manager, "I don't think they're going to walk out because they've been spending 30 minutes trying to figure this out." And she went over and offered to cover their bill.
She just said things happen and call it good karma. AND my manager gave me what would have been 20% of the check in cash so I didn't lose out on a tip for her generosity. She's never done that before so it's not a regular thing. The check was $35 for two of them. - Cottoncandy8189
7.
One of my coworkers had a couple who literally ran out on a busy night and my coworker ran after them and tried to knock on their car window but then just drove off and almost ran her over. The table was only like 71 dollars and the owner knew it wasn’t her fault after watching the cameras and just let her void the check.
And she proceeded to blast there photos all over local facebook groups (it was a fairly small town) and someone told us they were at the airbnb next to her house. We called the cops and they got arrested and fined like 500 bucks each! So always pay your tabs cause they might come after you! - StillSecurity7058
8.
Couple years ago I was working as a waiter at a sushi restaurant. Occasionally we had company conference at the hotel across the street and we would get flooded with people at lunch and dinner. One night a group of 5-6 people attending a conference in town came over to dine. They ordered like $300 worth of food and I was the only one waiting their table.
They were nice and very professional. Then, i took my eyes off for one minute and they left without paying. I took the bill and ran over to the hotel lobby in hope I could catch one of them but it was in vain. None of the hotel staff know who I was trying to find. I didnt even have a name.
I was so afraid of having to pay the bill out of my own pocket…I was still in college and it’s worth like 3 shifts of work…I came back to the restaurant, stood by their table and just stared into space. The other customers asked me whats wrong and I told them a group left without paying and idk what to do.
The owner kept the bill open and didn't make me pay for it. Turns out the customer that asked me what's wrong found one of the guys at that table. Next day he came over to pay and apologized. He said there was some banter and the other group said they would pay for his group so they left. I got a big tip in the end. - Soulingo
9.
A lady and her 4 kids walked into our pizza/salad bar place. She had bruises all over her arms and the kids looked scared. She asked me what she could get for $10 just to feed her kids.
I paid for them to have unlimited salad bar out of my pocket, asked the kids what their fav pizza was and went in the back and made it for them. She kept apologizing for how loud her kids were and asked how long she could be there. The kids weren’t loud at all. They all just seemed scared.
When I brought the pizza out for the kids, I told her I wanted to show her something at the salad bar she might like and once out of earshot of the kids I asked if she was okay or in danger or needed to call anyone.
She just started crying and thanked me, her mom was going to pick them up, but they’re some distance away. She asked if she could hug me and I said yes, because she needed it. I’m a woman who hates being touched but I understand that some people need hugs. I never saw her again and I just hope she got away from whoever was hurting her. - Sofia-Blossom
10.
I've only had this happen, maybe 3 times in my 25 years in the industry. 2 were regulars, and they made it good later and made sure to leave extra for the servers. The other was banned because he was a busted ner-do-well, and he was no longer welcomed in one of the last bars in town that would offer him service.
I miss the days when local bar/restaurants had a good relationship with each other and we could call and ask about a certain patron and either the manager or bartender would be the first person to tell you if they were a crapstain. Or they'd call ahead and warn you that this person was on the way to your place and we just wouldn't serve them. - thePHTucker
11.
One time I was at a local Chinese restaurant with my 10 year old son. To my horror, my wallet, was not in my purse. I did not have one cent or a credit card on me. The let me go home for my money but they made me leave my son there as collateral. - weazelbreath
12.
I own a few restaurants so it depends. If someone walks out on the bill and it's small, I just write it off and go on with my day. If it's big we file a police report. Nothing's ever come of those reports as they're usually tourists from out of state anyways. And btw making staff pay for it is both illegal and unethical, so we don't do that.
A few times a customer has stated they can't pay which has caused a bit of a negotiation. Once it was a clearly unhoused man who just said he has no money and that was it. Told him no biggy he was just hungry and off he went. Didn't see him again. Another was someone who rang up a whole tab drinking and decided to not give a crap and flat out refused to pay.
He looked more interested in starting a fight then getting out of his bill. The police came and suddenly his wallet was out though. The most I've lost on a walkout was about $100. It's pretty rare in my area to have such problems. 90% of my problems are dealing with weirdos and crazies like the pretend health inspector we had come by.
Also side note my bartender got swindled on a fake $100 one time. Was annoying but I absorbed the cost and I retrained the staff on spotting them. Next day the same guy shows up and says "uhhh did you guys get some funny money yesterday? I had a joke bill in my wallet and might have accidentally used it." So that was nice of him. - Dragoeth1
13.
We once had a family who racked up a $350 bill at a steakhouse, then realized they’d “forgotten their wallet.” The manager made one adult stay behind while the rest went to “get it.” They never came back. The guy sat there for three hours before admitting they ditched him too. - Nervous-Equipment255
14.
I've seen a mean old drunk pass out after eating. Waitress took out his wallet and paid the bill with his cash. probably not legal. She later became manager. - NOT000
15.
In my experience it depends on the situation. If someone ran out on a small check we usually ended up doing nothing, but you'd be banned if you ever dared to show up again. Some customers would apologize and promise to come back and pay. We would generally just let them go, especially if they were a regular. More often than not they did come back and pay.
Even people who straight up refused to pay would generally just be banned. I remember my manager calling the police just once, on someone trying to walk out after racking up a huge check, and getting into a screaming argument with my manager when he tried to stop him. - Silly_Accident3137
16.
A table shorted me $30- left me $120 in cash on a $150 tab. Went to the manager asking what to do. He told me I could pay the difference to make the check whole or they'd mark the shortage as a "walk out" and I'd get written up. I asked "what would have happened if they left me nothing and just walked out?"
Manager's response was" same two options." Since I wasn't going to pay the difference from my tips and was going to get written up anyway, I told him "my bad. They walked out on the entire tab. I'll take the write up." Pocketed the $120 in cash and got written up. - misterpringle
17.
Used to work at a mid-range restaurant in a touristy area. Once had a guy try to pay a $150 bill with a Blockbuster gift card. When I told him we couldn't accept that, he said, "Well, it's vintage. That should count for something.”
If someone genuinely forgets their wallet or card, we usually take an ID and have them fill out a form. Most of the time, they actually come back or send money. People aren’t always awful… just sometimes.
Craziest one? A table of six ran up a $600 bill with drinks, apps, steaks, desserts. The whole works, then just dashed. One guy slipped on the way out and dropped his phone. We called his mom. - ElinaCerinee
18.
At a local spot they put your name on a big white board next to the bar, first and last as well as amount owed until you settle your bill. - medium_pace_stallion