Here Are 31 Stories When Customers Couldn't Pay A Restaurant Bill And What Happened Next

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.

When I was a waiter, if you ran off without paying, it came out of the waiters pay.

Only happened a couple of times, and both times the owners did the right thing and paid me out for it.

At Waffle House, you can earn your meal in the parking lot fight club. Or you can just fight your server. But be careful, they don't mess around.

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 didnt make me pay for it. Turns out the customer that asked me whats 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..

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.

The manager comes out and tries to work something out. They will try and get you to call someone who can give payment over the phone. If you can’t do that they’ll try and hold something collateral like your ID to get you to come in tomorrow and pay.

I’ve never seen them call the cops and having you wash dishes is all Hollywood. Besides it taking too long to train you, it’s in violation of a million labor laws and osha laws.

If they truly cannot get a payment they comp the meal and ban you from returning.

My expertise is a low/mid casual dining. No idea what happens at high end establishments.

I have had to have a friend pay for my meal occasionally and I get them next time. Once I ordered at Subway and when it came time to pay I realized I had forgotten my wallet. I lived in a small town so I just ran home and got it and was able to pay, nbd. They knew me and where I lived, lol.

I had the opposite happen: the waiter walked out on me. We were at a cheap Italian restaurant, eating on the patio. We got there early so one waiter was covering the entire patio, but after he served us our food and wine, a second waiter came on and covered our part of the patio. We finished and asked for the check. The waiter now covering us said that it wasn't his table. We said that the other waiter served us and could *that* waiter give us the bill. The original waiter *also* claimed that he wasn't our server. Finally, we got tired of waiting for people to figure it out, so we tried to recall the prices of what we ordered, added 25% to cover tip and tax and left the cash on the table.

When i was a teenager, I worked at a sandwich shop that was cash only. We were across the street from a bank, so the few times customers were short, they'd usually run to the bank and come back with cash. I only had one customer that told me they'd come back with cash and didn't. This person happened to be an instructor at a film camp that I was a part of. I thought i knew her pretty well and was shocked that she didn't return with cash. At the end of my shift, i had to explain why the till was short. Not a great moment for me!

Not an employee but ate at a small local sub shop outside Bostin once. Didn't realize it was cash or check only and no card and didn't have any cash on me. I offered to walk back to my place and grab a check but they said to not worry about it and pay later. Went back there a few weeks to eat again and paid for the other sandwich. The guy had forgotten about it but I didn't want to not pay for the other meal.

Believe it or not, straight to jail.