returning to the mouth of hell (i.e., the restaurants) -- WARNING: LONG

[Andara Bledin]

Is this technicallya dine and dash? They were presented with a bill, and they paid that bill, though it was incorrect. They knew it was wrong, and shame on them, but I am curious what the law says on that.

The fact that it was obvious to anyone that the amount was not correct and they paid the partial fee and left would make them guilty of the classic dine & dash with a twist.

It doesn't matter that they were presented with an incorrect bill. It was obvious to anyone that there was a notable error, so they would not be able to claim that they thought they were ok to just pay it and go.

^-.-^

[Sliceanddice]

If the bill didnt mention anything about food, and they obviously ordered for food and needed to pay for it, Yeah its a dine and dash. That was obviously a dine and dash.

[Auto]

Is this technicallya dine and dash? They were presented with a bill, and they paid that bill, though it was incorrect. They knew it was wrong, and shame on them, but I am curious what the law says on that.

it's dine and dash because they knew that they hadn't been billed for the food and were taking advantage of the server's error.

generally, contract law says transactions containing a material error where one party is taking advantage of the other can't be enforced and get undone. so their claiming they paid the amount as bill doesn't mean they aren't liable for the unbilled portion. whether their behavior is illegal i don;'t know.

a case that made national news had an inexperienced clerk misreading the price of a valuable baseball card. instead of charging the buyer $1000, she charged him $10.00. Store sued the buyer saying pay is the $990 you owe or return the item. Talk radio was full of guys screaming that a deal's a deal, and the store should just suck it up.

Had the mistake gone the other way -- store charges someone $1000 for an item really costing $10 (this could happen in big companies because accounts payable made a clerical error) -- does anyone think the guy who got overpaid just gets to keep the money?

so the dine and dashers clearly still owe for the food they ordered and ate. server's mistake doesn't entitle them to a free meal.

[Tutorgal]

It is illegal in the US for an employee to be required to or even asked to pay for losses that are incurred during normal business practice. That includes mistakes like the one you made. You should not have had to pay for it and you shouldn't feel obligated to pay them back either.

Forgot to add: when your manager took your money to "pay" for the bill, even if you offered to pay for it somehow, he was violating labor laws. Even if you had begged and pleaded to be allowed to cover the cheque, he still has to say no or be in violation of labor laws.

[MadMike]

It is illegal in the US for an employee to be required to or even asked to pay for losses that are incurred during normal business practice. That includes mistakes like the one you made. You should not have had to pay for it and you shouldn't feel obligated to pay them back either.

I wonder how many employees even know that. Hell, I didn't know that until finding this site.

The manager at the supermarket where I worked put up a sign in the back room warning cashiers that they'd have to pay back any register shortages, including ones from coupons being rung up incorrectly (I guess that was the biggest cause.) I had no idea that that was actually illegal. Although, thinking back now, the sign didn't stay up for very long. Maybe one of the more knowledgeable cashiers blew the whistle on him.

[Thrifty]

I wonder how many employees even know that. Hell, I didn't know that until finding this site


I am one of those employee's that didn't know that. I was 10 dollars short once, and I think 12 another time off the top of my head that I had to pay back. We've also had other cashier's that had huge shortage problems that they had to pay back from their paychecks.

As assistant manager I stupidly left a deposit envelope with 600 dollars in it on the desk and an employee walked in and grabbed it (at least I'm pretty sure that is what happened) Had to pay that all back, 50 bucks every paycheck.

I wonder if that was illegal as well?

[Andara Bledin]

I'm considering telling that to the T-Mobile lady that did my upgrade for me last weekend. She got hit with a huge "dock" for an error she made her first week on the job. It basically cost her her entire first paycheck.

I may also call up T-Mobile corporate and inform them that they need to stop doing that, and if it isn't corporate policy, then they might want to check over their stores and affiliates, since the bad rep will come back onto them.

^-.-^

[almigi]

On the subject of wierd restaurant customers, a good friend of mine got a job at a waiter a couple years ago and he told me that one lady asked to have her water taken back. The reason, they put a black straw in her water. She wanted a white straw. He was going to just take the straw and get her a white straw, but she said she wanted him to take the water back and get her a new glass of water completely, because she didn't like the idea that the black straw was even touching her water.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I am slightly ashamed that I am a New Jersey native But I would never in a million years even think of doing such a thing. If they missed one or two items on a large bill, like someone else said, I might not notice, but I sure as hell wouldn't pay a bill that was missing half the order and run!

omfg, i hate those things. unless you know exactly whats on the card, its pretty much useless. our system will decline them 9 outta 10 times. and then we have to call and find out whats up with them.

Here's a trick (at least for B&N): If it gets declined (which will happen unless the card has never been used) try running it for the exact amount of the transaction. If that doesn't work (because there's less than that on the card), see if the customer knows what's on it and try it for that amount. If that doesn't work, well, then you gotta call for the balance.

and we were NEVER those kids that people just want to throw out of the airplane b/c their parents expected them to just sit through a 4 hour flight with nothing to do

Hell, I don't expect myself to sit through a 4 hour flight with nothing to do!