I walked out of restaurant tonight without paying - does it count as a "dine and dash?"

gHost Spartan wrote:My wife was giving a presentation over at ASU tonight so I had to pick up my daughter from day care. Because it takes a while for me to get to daycare, I decided that I'd take my little girl out to dinner, then head home and put her to bed. So we went to our favorite local restaurant. As soon as the waiter came I said "I'm gonna order now, I gotta get my little one home to bed..." and I ordered. Waited 40 minutes, no food. It's almost 7 PM so I walked out. Didn't say anything, didn't pay for my beer, just left. The waiter never bothered to even come back and check in on us. Just walked the fuck out.

Does this count as a dine and dash?

Should have chugged another beer or two, and then just got the food to go.

I'll bite. I don't think this really happened. I've worked a few places. Waitstaff know their regular's and if the hostess knows you, they give a heads up to the server. A regular who tips well, is usually fought over by who will get that table, if the regular doesn't have someone that they normally request. Sometimes, but very rarely there are regular's who don't tip well, they usually don't stay regulars because they get shitty service, worse than the type you described. The managers will typically get to know the regular's as well since they see them in there all the time, even once a week.

Your food wasn't served, so it isn't a D&D, the beer can be comped, no one will come after you for that. Sitting around for 10 minutes waiting for food, with nothing else to do can seem like an eternity or 40 minutes to a patron, but it goes quick for a server. 

I'm going to go get coffee.

gHost Spartan wrote:

It was very, very strange. This is, literally, our favorite restaurant. My wife and I "know" the manager, i.e. when he sees us he's always super nice and talks to us for a bit, the owner of the restaurant has a few other places in Phoenix. My wife thinks I should send an email, but I haven't decided yet. Last night it wasn't even that busy, which makes the whole scenario even more odd.

Just go talk to the manager you know. I worked, on and off, in restaurants for 15 years or so. 40 minutes is a very long time to ignore a table, especially if it is slow. The other weird part is that no one else came up to make sure you had everything you needed, even a hostess. Maybe they were all getting high out back? Kids meals usually come first. 

Different but related. I won't go out on the weekends anymore. I don't have the patience to go wait an hour and a half to get a table, to wait another 20 minutes to get a drink to wait another 30 or 40 minutes to get food. Maybe I'm just impatient, or feel that there are other things I could be doing with 3 hours of time on a weekend, but I hate busy places. Then again, I'm learning more and more, that I live in the burbs and there are only mostly corporate shit holes to eat in (I'm looking at you Chili's). I'd rather go out on a weekday, get in, eat my meal and go on with my life.

gHost Spartan wrote:


Is it illegal to have a beer when you're with your child?

I remember the first time I asked my daughter (sorry Forbin) to grab me a beer from the fridge.. she was probably about 6-7.

It felt a little funny but I didn't feel like walking in from the deck. Now she pretty much anticipates when I need one and delivers it accordingly. She's a good kid.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I remember the first time I asked my daughter (sorry Forbin) to grab me a beer from the fridge.. she was probably about 6-7.

It felt a little funny but I didn't feel like walking in from the deck. Now she pretty much anticipates when I need one and delivers it accordingly. She's a good kid.

Life skills. She will be an excellent actress or artist someday.

Snake Plissken wrote:Can she mix you a Manhattan?

probably.. I don't know. She's much smarter than I am (not that this is much of an achievement) - but I'm not sure of her mixology skills.

AvgMSUJoe wrote:

Life skills. She will be an excellent actress or artist someday.

you can bet her MFA she will be.