It all started May 9th, a Tuesday. I was working a closing shift at my buddy’s bar and I had the patio, plus a few tables inside. It was pretty busy – the patio was pretty full, the bar was jam-packed. All in all, the makings of a really good night.
I had one group sit in my patio section that I just got a bad feeling about, and I’m usually pretty good about these kinds of things. So I went and told my buddy – the owner, general manager and manager on duty that night (hereafter known simply as “Chris”) – about them and he told me to just keep him posted. So I did.
They surprised me, at first. There were eight of them, five of them drinking beers, three of them drinking cocktails / mixed drinks, and all of them eating and doing shots. No problems. No complaints, we joke, we laugh, all seems fine. Until I give them the check.
Their bill was $302.45 total including three rounds of beers / drinks, plus two or three rounds of shots and food for all eight. All the liquor they were drinking was higher end (not well, so 6 to 8 a pop) and the beer was all 4.50 each. So they told me it was all on one bill and I did what they told me to and dropped off the check. Immediately they asked to see my manager.
So I told Chris and he went over there. They started complaining about anything and everything they could. Their food was wrong. (It wasn’t.) Their food didn’t taste right. (And yet they ate every bite and cleared every plate.) Their beer was old and stale. (And yet they never said a word to me and drank every drop.) They got Jack and Cokes but had ordered Tanqueray and tonic. (Bullshit. Just bullshit.) I was rude. (Not happening.) I had cussed at them. (They did NOT just sink to that level.) They went through everything and Chris just stood there nodding. When they were done, they told him they wanted it all comped.
And Chris laughed at them. He told them he’d been passing all evening and heard everything. Told them I hadn’t messed up anything and that they needed to pay me and leave, he wasn’t taking a thing off.
If that had been the end of it, I wouldn’t have been * too * pissed off, but it gets better.
All of my other tables were full, so I was running around. At that moment, there was a problem inside (someone tried to start a fight) so Chris had to go in there. And within two minutes, when I went out, the whole group of eight was gone and, you got it, the book didn’t hold any money. It held a note, scribbled on the back of something –
“You get paid hourly so we don’t owe you a tip. In fact, we don’t owe you a damn thing. Have fun working this one off!”
The nerve of some damn people.
Luckily Chris is cool and covered the bill. Cause guess what the note was written on?
The back of a paycheck stub that had one of their names, address, all that good stuff.
We called the cops and pressed charges and things just got better from there.
On May 11th, the police pick up the kid whose paycheck stub was used. I thought I was going to have to go down and confirm it was him, but he knew exactly what they were there for and apparently started coughing up names and addresses on the way to the station. The rest of the crew was tracked down and they were all booked and scheduled for arraignments the next morning.
Each one of the eight was charged with one county of Theft by Deception. (Basically, theft by obtaining "goods or services" under the full knowledge that they were not planning to pay for said goods.) All of them pleaded Not Guilty.
So then Chris gets a call on May 14th from the attorney of one of the guys – the one who had the bright idea to leave me his paycheck stub. He wants to meet with us.
Really? Meet with us. Hmmmm.
So, since I used to work for a law firm and know how things go in these cases, I told Chris we should meet with them and we talked to the Solicitor in our county to see if we could meet there. The Solicitor assigned to their case knows me, so she said sure and said she would be there.
So we met with the kid at lunchtime on May 15th. Before we start, the Solicitor asks if the attorney is there on behalf of all the defendants, or just this one. He says just this one, that the other defendant's refused to attempt to make things right.
The kid apologized to me. And agreed to pay the full bill for us agreeing to drop the charges. I said that's all I wanted, so we took his deal. He actually handed Chris cash for the amount of the check ($302.45) and then handed me $150 for tip. I actually told him he didn't have to, but he said, "After all the grief we gave you, you deserve it". The Solicitor agreed to drop the charges against him and even promised to not fight the arrest being expunged, cause I honestly think THAT kid was sorry.
The best part? Even though he paid the bill, the Solicitor can still keep the charges against the other kids, cause they still went in there with the full intention of not paying. So we were reimbursed, the one apparently genuinely decent kid among them got off the hook, and the rest are still gonna have to do something. And since we were already reimbursed, we no longer have any reason to make any kind of deal. *grin*
I thought that would be the end of it for a while (because who knows how long until they have trials / make deal / god knows what), but I was apparently mistaken!
So on May 17th, I'm working again. No big deal, it was trivia / karaoke night which is always fun. So one of the other girls comes in at one point and tells me one of her tables has requested I be their waitress. She was going to be cut soon anyway, so she said I should go ahead and take them. I told her she could have my next table if she wanted.
So I go outside and whom do I see? You guessed it! Four of the wannabe freeloaders sneering at me- they looked like they were gloating. They all apparently made bail (amazing -- they can pay $500 for bail but not $30 or $40 each to pay a bill they ran up? hmmm)
I put away my pad and walked over to them.
SC1: The only one of them that ever spoke
Me: yours truly
(This is as close to verbatim as I can get)
Me: “Can I help you? Because you aren't ordering anything, you aren't welcome here. I'm sure the Judge told you that when he set your bail.”
SC1: “You have to serve us.”
Me: “No, in fact, I don't. Mainly because you aren't allowed in here anymore but even if the Judge hadn't made that provision, I would have. Because we have the right to deny service to anyone. Now I will only ask you once. Please leave.”
SC1: “Those don't apply anymore. We're all clear.”
Me: “No, you aren't. Now please leave.”
SC1: “You got paid. We're off the hook. We demand you serve us.”
Me: “No. Your friend paid back my boss and left me with a very nice tip but not one of you did anything. You didn't even try to make it right. Your friend is off the hook. The rest of you- you're all still looking at charges and we no longer have any reason to want to work any kind of deal because we've been paid. Now I will only ask one more time. Leave, now, and never come back or I *will* call the police.”
They just blinked at me then ran out the patio exit. I told Chris and he just laughed and told me I "done good" and that if they ever came back again, to call the cops without even talking to them.
I had one group sit in my patio section that I just got a bad feeling about, and I’m usually pretty good about these kinds of things. So I went and told my buddy – the owner, general manager and manager on duty that night (hereafter known simply as “Chris”) – about them and he told me to just keep him posted. So I did.
They surprised me, at first. There were eight of them, five of them drinking beers, three of them drinking cocktails / mixed drinks, and all of them eating and doing shots. No problems. No complaints, we joke, we laugh, all seems fine. Until I give them the check.
Their bill was $302.45 total including three rounds of beers / drinks, plus two or three rounds of shots and food for all eight. All the liquor they were drinking was higher end (not well, so 6 to 8 a pop) and the beer was all 4.50 each. So they told me it was all on one bill and I did what they told me to and dropped off the check. Immediately they asked to see my manager.
So I told Chris and he went over there. They started complaining about anything and everything they could. Their food was wrong. (It wasn’t.) Their food didn’t taste right. (And yet they ate every bite and cleared every plate.) Their beer was old and stale. (And yet they never said a word to me and drank every drop.) They got Jack and Cokes but had ordered Tanqueray and tonic. (Bullshit. Just bullshit.) I was rude. (Not happening.) I had cussed at them. (They did NOT just sink to that level.) They went through everything and Chris just stood there nodding. When they were done, they told him they wanted it all comped.
And Chris laughed at them. He told them he’d been passing all evening and heard everything. Told them I hadn’t messed up anything and that they needed to pay me and leave, he wasn’t taking a thing off.
If that had been the end of it, I wouldn’t have been * too * pissed off, but it gets better.
All of my other tables were full, so I was running around. At that moment, there was a problem inside (someone tried to start a fight) so Chris had to go in there. And within two minutes, when I went out, the whole group of eight was gone and, you got it, the book didn’t hold any money. It held a note, scribbled on the back of something –
“You get paid hourly so we don’t owe you a tip. In fact, we don’t owe you a damn thing. Have fun working this one off!”
The nerve of some damn people.
Luckily Chris is cool and covered the bill. Cause guess what the note was written on?
The back of a paycheck stub that had one of their names, address, all that good stuff.
We called the cops and pressed charges and things just got better from there.
On May 11th, the police pick up the kid whose paycheck stub was used. I thought I was going to have to go down and confirm it was him, but he knew exactly what they were there for and apparently started coughing up names and addresses on the way to the station. The rest of the crew was tracked down and they were all booked and scheduled for arraignments the next morning.
Each one of the eight was charged with one county of Theft by Deception. (Basically, theft by obtaining "goods or services" under the full knowledge that they were not planning to pay for said goods.) All of them pleaded Not Guilty.
So then Chris gets a call on May 14th from the attorney of one of the guys – the one who had the bright idea to leave me his paycheck stub. He wants to meet with us.
Really? Meet with us. Hmmmm.
So, since I used to work for a law firm and know how things go in these cases, I told Chris we should meet with them and we talked to the Solicitor in our county to see if we could meet there. The Solicitor assigned to their case knows me, so she said sure and said she would be there.
So we met with the kid at lunchtime on May 15th. Before we start, the Solicitor asks if the attorney is there on behalf of all the defendants, or just this one. He says just this one, that the other defendant's refused to attempt to make things right.
The kid apologized to me. And agreed to pay the full bill for us agreeing to drop the charges. I said that's all I wanted, so we took his deal. He actually handed Chris cash for the amount of the check ($302.45) and then handed me $150 for tip. I actually told him he didn't have to, but he said, "After all the grief we gave you, you deserve it". The Solicitor agreed to drop the charges against him and even promised to not fight the arrest being expunged, cause I honestly think THAT kid was sorry.
The best part? Even though he paid the bill, the Solicitor can still keep the charges against the other kids, cause they still went in there with the full intention of not paying. So we were reimbursed, the one apparently genuinely decent kid among them got off the hook, and the rest are still gonna have to do something. And since we were already reimbursed, we no longer have any reason to make any kind of deal. *grin*
I thought that would be the end of it for a while (because who knows how long until they have trials / make deal / god knows what), but I was apparently mistaken!
So on May 17th, I'm working again. No big deal, it was trivia / karaoke night which is always fun. So one of the other girls comes in at one point and tells me one of her tables has requested I be their waitress. She was going to be cut soon anyway, so she said I should go ahead and take them. I told her she could have my next table if she wanted.
So I go outside and whom do I see? You guessed it! Four of the wannabe freeloaders sneering at me- they looked like they were gloating. They all apparently made bail (amazing -- they can pay $500 for bail but not $30 or $40 each to pay a bill they ran up? hmmm)
I put away my pad and walked over to them.
SC1: The only one of them that ever spoke
Me: yours truly
(This is as close to verbatim as I can get)
Me: “Can I help you? Because you aren't ordering anything, you aren't welcome here. I'm sure the Judge told you that when he set your bail.”
SC1: “You have to serve us.”
Me: “No, in fact, I don't. Mainly because you aren't allowed in here anymore but even if the Judge hadn't made that provision, I would have. Because we have the right to deny service to anyone. Now I will only ask you once. Please leave.”
SC1: “Those don't apply anymore. We're all clear.”
Me: “No, you aren't. Now please leave.”
SC1: “You got paid. We're off the hook. We demand you serve us.”
Me: “No. Your friend paid back my boss and left me with a very nice tip but not one of you did anything. You didn't even try to make it right. Your friend is off the hook. The rest of you- you're all still looking at charges and we no longer have any reason to want to work any kind of deal because we've been paid. Now I will only ask one more time. Leave, now, and never come back or I *will* call the police.”
They just blinked at me then ran out the patio exit. I told Chris and he just laughed and told me I "done good" and that if they ever came back again, to call the cops without even talking to them.
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