Waiter’s billing is restaurant fraud

Tue, 05/29/2007 - 4:27pm
By: Letters to the ...

I am not sure how to go about telling this story or whether or not the public cares but here goes.

My family and I recently had dinner at a restaurant in Peachtree City. It was our daughter’s fifth birthday and she wanted to eat there because they give the kids dough to play with while you wait for your dinner.

Although this story is NOT about the service or the food per se, let’s just say that the server had the adult meals brought out but forgot the kids’ meals.

When the owner came by to see what was wrong, he and the server had to scramble to get their meals on the table.

The story starts here: At the conclusion of the meal, the server brought us the bill. As it is my standard practice when we all eat out and pay with our debit card, I will 95 percent of the time leave a cash tip on the table and fill zeros on the signed copy of the bill.

Which is what we did this time, leaving 20 percent even though the service was okay. Two weeks later as I was balancing our checkbook, lo and behold, the amount I had written down and the amount on our statement was $ 8 more. Since I did not have the original receipt to refer back to, my wife went over to the restaurant to get a copy.

What a surprise — “someone,” so they say, had without a doubt changed not only the tip to $ 8 but then the total amount as well — two counts of forgery.

Now don’t worry, I know this is not the first time it has happened, but it is the first time it has happened to us.

The owner response was to try and buy us off, refund our money and give us a gift card to return. Are you that stupid? Do you really think that it is about the money? And why on God’s earth would you think for half a second that I would ever eat there again?

An employee stole money, without a doubt, from one of your customers, a repeat customer I might add. I know what you will say: You got your money back and more. The employee, according to the police officer that went to arrest this server, had been confronted by the owner and resigned because he was ashamed that they caught him [but] his brother works there, so let it go, right?

The bigger question still remains: How many others did he do that to as well that did not catch it on their bank statement or credit card?

The owner even stated that they were aware of it going on and were looking into this matter on a ongoing basis.

Are you kidding me? You know your employees are stealing and you do nothing? The last time I checked, taking money from someone is a crime and you can go to jail for it, even for eight bucks.

I think the worst part was when the police officer spoke to the server, he made the comment, ”Give him $20 and be done with it.” He thinks he was above the law but he’s not.

I will never eat there again and will continue to tell anyone who will listen about what happened. I wonder if the owner is worried about that cost?

Andy Yocom

Forest Park, Ga.

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Submitted by AYocom on Wed, 05/30/2007 - 2:02pm.

The name of the restaurant was Carrabba's

Submitted by McDonoughDawg on Wed, 05/30/2007 - 4:09pm.

And have never had a problem.

Maybe the one in Morrow will treat you better.

mapleleaf's picture
Submitted by mapleleaf on Wed, 05/30/2007 - 9:24am.

I too had that experience a few years ago at a Kedron restaurant. The lesson I learned from this is never to leave a cash tip when I pay by credit card. I now always put the tip on the credit card. Of course I do make a duplicate entry on my copy of the credit card slip and check all the credit card charges on my account (which I can do promptly on the web, so I don't need to wait for the credit card company statement to come in later in the month).

One advantage from this practice is that nobody can ever claim that I stiffed the waiter. It also helps the waiter be more honest with his income taxes, and I view that as another good way to promote honesty.


hutch866's picture
Submitted by hutch866 on Wed, 05/30/2007 - 4:14pm.

I just pay cash, and count my change.

I yam what I yam...Popeye


Submitted by thebeaver on Tue, 05/29/2007 - 10:07pm.

Andy,

Please name the restaurant so we can all avoid it like the plague.

Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Tue, 05/29/2007 - 5:29pm.

When you have a party, 20% just won't cut it. 20% gets them all the way up to $10-15,000 a year in salary, considering the hours they are allowed to work.
It would be much better if $20 meals were $25, and the restaurant had to "pay" the wait staff $12 minimum per hour---no tips allowed, and to work them long enough to supply health insurance.
Then if you wanted to "slip" a good waiter a tip, it would be your business.
I'm also tired of paying over $2.00 for non-alcoholic drinks that are worth approximately 25 cents each. Raise the meal to $27.00!
Not paying wait staff anything significant reduces them to beggers and taking home a pocketful of nasty dollar bills all crushed up and sad.

Submitted by skyspy on Tue, 05/29/2007 - 5:16pm.

Which low-life restaurant was this? We all deserve to be warned, so we can abandon them forever.

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