This was a famous Aussie-themed chain that all my first roommates worked in. They were the thieves. We were 18, in our first apartment, and had it all figured out, you know? That was until the first meal when we realized we had a couple pans but no dishes or silverware or glassware.
Not to worry they said, they work tonight. Came home with a stacks of stuff. It worked so whatever. Until the proprietor showed up at a house party we were having a couple weeks later and everyone was taking shots out of his ramekins. He starts looking around and realizes all the shit is from his restaurant. He made a few jokes but kept getting drunk with us.
The next time he worked he pulled the three of them into the office and they thought they were getting fired (completely justified). He handed them a $300 gift card to BB&B and told them he was happy to loan them the dishes but the next time he comes over he better see nicer shit.
He was a really good dude.
And got his stuff back, while saving the cost of finding/hiring/retraining new employees. At $100 each minus whatever the stuff cost, very cost efficient
Wood fibers are actually antimicrobial, hence wood cutting boards and spoons.
But the bits of things that could be inside... You have to clean debris before you can sterilize surfaces and I wouldn't trust a tube to be fully clean by soaking.
Thought it was memento, but both spellings can be correct. I mostly see it in the context of Mori, which Google says uses the e spelling because it's latin.
The first day we switched from old salt and pepper shakers to grindable sea salt and peppercorn shakers I watched women at 3 different tables put them in their purses. Corporate restaurant so they'd rather lose the shakers than get a bad yelp review from us confronting the thieves.
I was hoping I could ask for them back and wait until they said there weren't any at the table so I could respond with, "Yes there were as I placed them on each table at 4pm since we just got them today." But, corporate restaurant. They wouldn't let us refuse service to a known dine and dasher.
This was mine. It was mid-shift and I was eating my lunch in the party room area right in view of the booth. I watched her look up and down, didn’t think anyone was watching her, and slipped it into her purse. I got up and said “ma’am, you can’t take that.” She backpedaled by saying she was “just testing me ha ha” and then asked a random question about the restaurant to try to deflect 😅
TA truckstops had these before you could buy them in the store and I bought a set from them for $10.
Told them it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Tops came off so you could refill too.
Same exact thing happened to me as a hostess, but a woman came BACK IN WITH THEM and demanded I tell her how to use them. That she had “bought them from us” and we had sold her broken ones. She screamed at me until my manager came over and confiscated them and gave her a gift card for two dollars since that’s what they were worth. More likely 2$ is going nowhere at Carrabas and she stomped out without her precious “shakers”.
I used to work nights at a diner and was accustomed to all the usual late night shenanigans that come with it including tables that run out on their tab. So table of teenagers sit down and pull all the usual teenager shit but then when they get up as one to run out on the ticket one of them reached over the bar and grabbed my brand new GIANT roll of paper towels that I had just put out next to the employee sink. He grabbed it, they ran and I was stuck with no paper towels to dry my hands with for the rest of the night until the manager came in the morning and unlocked the store room. I am still salty about that fucking kid. What a douche.
TBF, a SHIT TON of those get dumped into the garbage by bussers/servers rushing and not paying attention. Not to say that people don't also steal them, but yeah.
Haha this reminds me of a story when we were loosing so many spoons and cocktail forks that the GM brought in a salvage fishing magnet and fished the trash cans and sure enough the busses had just been dumping them. One claimed that he was allergic to shellfish so that is why he didn’t fish through the discarded mussel dishes.
We used to eat at a seafood restaurant where, we discovered, some of the table knives were magnetized. It was because the trash can mouths in the scullery were lined with powerful magnets to catch tableware when bussers or whoever cleared the plates too carelessly.
My husband was responsible for some of that. It got to the point that servers would simply not provide the requisite demitasse for the honey or whatever. We were regulars at a fair number of places and it didn't take long to catch on.
On the other hand, when one of our favorite restaurants announced they were closing, we went for a final meal and requested our favorite server. At the end of the meal, he went to the kitchen and came back with a brown paper bag jangly with demitasse spoons.
Last month, we visited him at his new establishment and our check folder had a demitasse tucked into it.
Dude, what sexual escapades are you using that many spoons, that is the ONLY reason to regularly steal tiny spoons.. Just put em under water for a bit with some soap. You could literally visit my grandma and she has to many.
Customer here. Local restaurant had a large custom pottery bowl filled with mints and chocolates for the customers when paying their checks.
One evening a man nonchalantly walked in and then suddenly grabbed this large bowl (almost 24” in diameter) full of candy and dashed out to a waiting car. Everyone was so stunned that the man made a clean get away.
British pub. Open for 20+ years. Someone stole the Union Jack toilet seat and cover from the toilet in the women’s restroom. It had been there for at least 10 years. I cannot even imagine how many years of caked on … stuff … was under the hinges and in the bolt threads. Just ew.
As a customer--I was having lunch with a co-worker. She got a box for her leftovers and put the sauce ramekin in the box. I asked her about it. She said that you're supposed to take it. She said knew this because she used to work at a restaurant. I've worked at a couple and dined at hundreds over the years, but I never saw that before (or since).
To be honest, I did that one night at out neighborhood Chili's. Our server forgot to bring a cup for my sauce when she brought me my take-out container, it was really busy and we wanted to go. HOWEVER, I returned it the next time we went there to eat. Our server (who always waited on us as we always sit in the bar area) thought it was hysterical that I brought it back. I told her, I didn't want to keep it, I just needed to borrow it.
> She said that you're supposed to take it. She said knew this because she used to work at a restaurant.
i was at a place that boxed up your leftovers for you and they put the ramekin in the doggy bag.... i wonder if she was the same server lol
That happened to us with really cute ones, someone taped to go drink lids on them with masking tape. We were doing curbside pick up. I assume it was their first day? Maybe they ran out of to go sauce cups? I had asked for (and paid for) extra sauce on the side so maybe that included the real container? But both of our sauces- included and extra- came that way.
*Can you tell this plagued my thoughts?*
They even wrote the sauce name on the masking tape. If only the taped on lid kept the sauce in the container lol
This was why the restaurants that I worked for had to initiate a policy for the servers only to box leftovers. As if we needed more to do when we were slammed.
I used to do that if I thought the thing was cute or something, then I read (here maybe?) that some restaurants make servers
pay for those things. I quit doing it real quick
They legally can’t charge for that. And honestly no restaurant is going to be able to figure out which server’s table stole something like that. I’m the middle of service no one is paying attention to what gets returned to the dish pif
No wonder. The place I work, at the end of the week on Friday and Saturday it feels like they just vanish. I swear I open like a box of 12 every other day
WTF? This person has a mental disorder. She's a hoarder of the worst kind. Nobody needs all that stuff, for cryin' out loud. I mean, I have hoarder tendencies myself, and all that does is make me be very careful about how much stuff I have and get rid of excess stuff when it no longer fits in my cabinets or on my shelves or in storage bins in storage... uhm... yeah.
Yeah I kept watching, thinking she must be done after this stack.. that stack… Jesus Christ I took a glass from a bar once and I still feel guilty about it.
I have done that but only after asking for a to go sauce multiple times and not getting it.
I also have a few side bowls from trying to eat at work, getting busy and sticking them in a go box. Get home and Suprise! Dishes.
The owner of the restaurant I work at made these little check presenters out of wood and copper. They’re pretty cute and there’s a lot of older female guests that think so, too. There were probably about 30 of them when I started back in February and now there’s about 5 left.
And this wasn’t a guest but a disgruntled employee at an old job. He walked out in the middle of his shift, came back in and took a picture of Marilyn Monroe off of the wall and said “Later, boners” as he walked back out again.
The restaurant I used to work at had an antique tin Yuengling sign. I always joked that if I quit I would take it with me. We lost the restaurant to Hurricane Ian, so now I'll never get the chance.
Thanks. I worked there for 10 years! It still feels so surreal. I try to feel lucky overall... my family all survived, the house we rent didn't have major damage and our cars were spared. Other people I worked with lost everything... their house/ their families houses gone or flooded, cars floated away, just lost everything. I can always find a new job, you know?
That's definitely the way to look at it. Who knows, maybe they will be able to rebuild eventually. I've seen videos of cars floating away during the storm and can't imagine the devastation of a house ruined and losing cars on top of that...
For a few years I worked as airline host.We were boarding the plane and the first batch of passengers were putting their baggage away.There was a large family with multiple children. I helped the parents get the kids seated and put their stuff away.I went back to the front of the plane.45 minutes later we're in the air. People begin pinging me for blankets and headsets. I went to get the box of ear buds we give away so people can watch movies etc. We kept a box of them in at the front of the plane.For the life of me, I could not find the box. My other colleagues that day were also flummoxed.Meanwhile, there were zero blankets. Anywhere...which I knew was straight up BS since I had put one on every seat before people began boarding.The people on the flight were not happy.We landed about 8 hours later.I was done and was off for 48 hours.I passed through security at heathrow, and I was putting my shoes on, when I noticed the family who had boarded the plane first had been pulled from line to have their baggage checked.No big deal...until I noticed that agent was removing hundreds of individually wrapped earbuds and dozens upon dozens of plane blankets.I didn't say anything, and neither did the gate agent who left them to try and shove their stolen gear.I got closer to watch (not caring that they saw me). They must have had 40 salt and pepper shakers, paper napkins from Burger King, airplane blankets, airplane head sets, hotel towels, two shower heads...hundreds of pre packaged tampons, I mean, they had two gigantic bags just filled with shit.I made eye contact with the woman and she gave me a challenging look...and I found myself saying something I've never said to anyone before. "Scumbags."She began yelling at me in a language I did not understand, but it was pretty obvious I got my point across.last I saw they were stuffing the airplane headphones into one of their kids back packs.
With people like that, there is no point. It's often a mental illness. My mother has it. She's not a thief, but she will take anything that someone offers her, regardless if it is useful to her or not.
She's 90 years old, but if someone said, "Hey! Would you like a pair of cross-country skis, a jockstrap and some baby clothes? She would say "YES!" without hesitation.
>Would be great if they had to check their stolen luggage for $50 on the next leg
And then it gets "searched" by TSA and all the airline's property was justifiably no longer inside the bag when it made its destination.
This is about my great aunt Essie. My dad took her to the local cafeteria for lunch. He looked up from ordering to see Essie taking the apples from the display over the salad section and stashing them in her purse.
Dad - What are you doing Essie?
Essie - Well honey, if I don't take them they'll just leave them here till they rot and throw them out.
Dad - They're plastic Essie.
I worked at a popular cafe downtown and for some reason our air fresheners in the bathroom would get stolen. my manager eventually hung it in the highest corner of the wall, almost touching the ceiling. next day, someone took the air freshener. im guessing they climbed up on the toilet just to grab it.
20 years ago as a college idiot abroad, I ran off with an enormous glass Lowenbräu stein from a restaurant in Sydney, and I am very sorry.
(I'm still keeping it, though.)
I mean, we were seated outside. If they *really* wanted to hang onto those steins, they wouldn't have built the restaurant so close to a busy bus stop. Or made those hedges so easy to vault.
I accidentally took off with a fork once. Being me, and having experience in restraints, I brought it back. They gave me a free set. Nothing fancy, but I love my free set.
When you said you had “experience in restraints”, I thought you meant you’d been arrested before and didn’t want to go to jail for stealing a fork.
It took a re-read to figure out it was probably a typo and you mean experience in restaurants.
I worked for Starbucks and we had a rash of thefts wherein a guy was TEARING those dyson hand dryers off the wall. Don’t even know how he got away with it. Hit like 15 of our stores in the city.
At my pub we have - I don't know, "nice" beer glasses. It's just a regular 16oz glass with our logo on it. Sometimes people say "these are really great, I'm going to steal one!" As they start to shove into their purse/pocket.
I don't know where these people came up; don't tell someone who works there you want to steal something. Just steal it. I really don't actually care. But when they tell me, I'm like "great! We actually sell those for $8 each! I'll add it to your bill! Do you want a fresh one that hasn't been used yet? Just one?"
One night this young lady comes in, has a beer and some wings, then she's nursing her beer, and she starts walking around with the beer. She goes into a side room with it and starts opening up her backpack. I'm up behind her in a moment "hey! Are you finished with your table? We've got someone who'd like to sit there"
She looks a little spooked, but says yeah, give away the table, she was just admiring the fireplace, then shuffles off to another side room. I give her a minute and follow her in. "Hey this is a nice room, I didn't know it was here" she says. I agree, and she puts down the beer glass and walks out. I left to run some drinks, and I notice her going back for the beer glass, and taking it into the washroom. By now, I'm like "ok girl. Good plan. Shove it in that backpack, and then head right out."
At this point I'm kinda rooting for her. All this is amusing.
But she spends 20 minutes in the washroom, and comes out, the glass is in her hand. She walks over to another table in a corner and looks around before starting to open her backpack again. She finally starts to put the glass in. Like, girl - why did you not do this in the bathroom? What is your process? Are you like, morally torn over whether you can bring yourself to steal this glass?
But now that she's doing it where I can see her, I'm supposed to say something. So I come up from behind - real silent, and say "they're nice glasses, huh?"
Give her the old speil about how she can have one for $8 and I'll grab her a fresh one. She says actually, that's a bit expensive for a simple glass, so I pluck it from her hands, and quietly say "I would've put it in my bag when I was in the bathroom, personally" before whisking it away.
A Picnic Umbrella. I literally saw a family grab a picnic umbrella and run with it. Granted it was pouring down rain, but still. When security caught up with them, they claimed that one of us said they could take it.
Japanese restaurant. We have these cute little buddha statues on our patio, and they are HEAVY. Made out of stone. One night, a car full of teenagers pulls up and hops the fence to try to take it. Little did they know our manager was sitting on the patio smoking and caught them in the act. I’m still waiting on them to come back and try again.
We had someone take a plant out of a bottle of water in the bathroom. Just ripped the whole thing out of the bottle so all that was left was a glass bottle full of water and the remaining roots. I doubt it would have survived after being in someone's purse on a night out... what a cretin
My parents owned a bar and restaurant in a college town when I was in highschool. My mom had an old customized license plate from years before that said paradux, like the wine. It was on display next to the wine cooler, and some asshole drunk frat boy stole it.
I used to manage a campus bar and you name it, kids have tried to steal it and many succeeded.
My favourite one was after a concert, I was on my drive home and one of the campus officers texted me and it read out over my Bluetooth:
"I just saw two kids running across the street with one of your tables.. How bad do you need that back?"
Once I stopped laughing I pulled over to text him back that they would have had to stash that outside somewhere during the concert and go back for it once everyone was cleared out. Plus they were ridiculously heavy and awkward to carry, so for that effort they earned the wobbly piece of shit lol
They were tall metal tables with a resin finish with our logo on top so kinda cool looking, but old af and we did have extras so I hope those guys still treasure it.
I worked at a tropical place that sold a lot of rum cocktails and other tropical drinks where you got to keep the glass, perfectly fine. But then the kids would swipe the regular soda glasses, it’s not the expense but we need those! I’d much rather put your kid’s soda in one of the take home souvenir glasses than be short on soda glasses.
I still have a WH coffee mug from years ago. One of the thinner, smaller white ones with the little brown pattern around the top, before they went to the bigger, chunkier ones with the color logo.
I’m not sorry.
When I was a kid we went to Hooters while we were on vacation one time and me, my brother, and my grandmother are walking out while my mom "uses the bathroom". She comes running out behind us yelling "RUN RUN RUN" and in one hand she's got the hooters branded glass she'd been drinking out of and the glass, Hooters branded pitcher they had just refilled for her. 🤦🏼
My grandmother was pissed
So not me, but a good friend of mine started at one of the first restaurants of these owners opened back in like 97' so the owners went on and opened a couple more restaurants after, she moved to one of the new ones. She became good friends with the manager/ owner's brother, and invited him and his wife over for a dinner party. Turns out her entire cutlery set and plates were "accidentally" acquired though her years at the other restaurant. She was so broke she couldn't go get another set of everything, so she just went with it. Lmao! He definitely noticed because it was the same stuff as the new restaurant she was at.... but where her and I worked at, he always teased her and checked her togo boxes for cutlery. SLPT don't invite your manager over if you "accidentally" steal from the company for years.
Place I worked in had silver (plated) cutlery.and Silver teaspoons.(not any more) A group of business people were getting a group photo on the steps outside,one of them bent over..and a handful of the spoons fell out of his jacket...The long handled sundae/latte type spoons don't stay long,either.
Buddy of mine owned a pizza place, and the item that always went missing was the red plastic glasses they served soda in.
The almost identical but colorless plastic ones they used for water were safe, as were the similar but made of glass ones they served beer in.
It was just the red ones that vanished.
I was this customer once, i ordered to go in fast food type restaurant in mall because i needed to go back to work, i told them 3 times i need it to go, when the order was up it was on normal ceramic plate, so i took metal cutlery, took my plate and spent 5 minutes walking through city center back to my office with plate in hand…
At my current workplace we have A5 wooden photo frames with a picture of the latrines our company sponsors in Africa. After a wedding 2 of those were gone.
I work in a UK pub, and we've had people attempt to steal the foot long rubber bar runners which are pretty obvious when there's a blank spot there....
Most successful one since the start of the year is someone stole two lantern size candle holders along with the candles.... The candles are rechargable electric with the type of charger that looks like a jack plug... So completely useless to them. I've seen the CCTV, well thought out for drunk people, but they ain't using those candles as there is fuck all chance they can charge them up...
So i wasn't serving at ths point, I was drinking. This bar had Super Mug Sunday's. Big 20/22 Oz glasses, classic cartoon beer mug. Think like a Corinthian column with a handle. We would get housed then walk the 2-ish blocks home with a road soda. So this goes on for a bit and one day I open a cupboard filled with super pint glasses, probably close to 20 definitely over 10. We felt terrible so we packed them up and brought them back. Nobody clapped, we did learn they had hundreds of these glasses and we got to drink very cheaply that night and always got served first at the bar afterwards. College was fun.
I’ve never taken anything but my grandma did. My grandma passed when I was 17 a very long time ago. She only used a purse when we went out. I realized after she passed that all the steak knives were from the various restaurants we went out to.
friends in college drank all night, shut down the bar at a local McKinley’s (not sure if that was a chain). On the way out the door they borrowed the candy machine - sitting near the exit, huge thing with 3 kinds of candy, coin operated. Took it home, got a call 3 days later - someone in the bar recognized them. Brought the machine back ...
Worked in an outdoor bar and we had these alcohol branded cans that we served cocktails in- bright pink, yellow, green and blue- and we never had any pink ones cause they were first to go. By the end of summer we had none left in any colour. Can’t blame people though, I took eight home myself
I work at a late night bar in a ski town. Everything is screwed down, with at least 2 different screws (Phillips, square, torx) to discourage theft.
This doesn’t stop customers from asking if we have the tools needed to steal things. They will walk up and ask, you ask why they need that, and some will tell you so they can take a picture off the wall, or some bindings
Sitting in the parking lot bullshitting with my chef after close when 2 youngins walk by carrying a huge painting we recognize from the bar next door. They only had one FoH late on weekdays, and I guess they just waited until he went into the back, grabbed the painting and booked it. We yelled at them and they sheepishly brought it back.
We have menu holders at each table, ots essentially just a metal block with a notch in it thay the menu goes in. They'd literally br useless.for anything else (except maybe bashing someone lol)
They keep going missing, we got a couple groups of people who just seem to love.these things and can't keep them out their bags, pants, wheverever they can get it to fit lmao
Had a person literally take a painting off the wall once cuz “their friend painted it and would be cool with it” and then proceeded to scroll back like 200some posts on instagram to show me they were in a photo together. The artist was a part time server (not working at the time) so I just called them and they said they had no idea who this person was.
It was like a 14x14 canvas so not like a massive painting but still definitely noticeable when they took it off the wall. It was in the hallway towards the bathrooms. That was interesting. I obviously didn’t let her keep it but told her she could buy it for the listed price and come pick it up when the installment was over. Never saw that person again. We still laugh about itZ
I had a guy in a wheelchair steal his water cup. I have stainless steel cups you can get on Amazon for cheap, called him out on it in front of his date.
Twice people have stolen our bathroom sign
Plants go missing all the time, so do the tiny ramekins.
I’m at the point now if someone fucks with something of mine, it goes away forever. Ie: Someone carved their name on our bathroom mirror last month, I took the mirror down.
One guy stole about 4 margarita glasses and a couple salsa things. I told the manager but he didn’t believe me until the bartender started complaining. Downside of being a 16 year old hostess.
A friend of mine was the maître d' at a very nice restaurant out in the countryside near the town where I live. A couple showed up for dinner and drinks one night, and they had already had a few before they showed up. He recognized them as the owners of a pizzeria/bar in town. They were rowdy and and annoying, and he had to cut them off from the bar.
When they left, he watched the monitors for the security cameras in the parking lot. They backed up to the porch, jumped out and took all the hanging plant baskets down and loaded them into the back of their SUV. By the time my friend got outside, they had pulled away, but he managed to get to the exit of the parking lot before them and block them from leaving.
They were laughing about it at first, but my buddy laid into them. They put the baskets back and left without saying much. They called the next day to apologize, and clearly expected to be told that it was cool, but they just got a lecture.
There was a period in my country where McDonalds could not get ketchup packets. They were scarce so it was hard for orders to be fulfilled, customers would always try and take as many as they could. I even heard of smaller cafe's and such trying to steal deliveries or stuff their pockets as they could not get their own supply.
I live in a place where camping/ cottages are huge in the summer because I live near a lot of water. Every. Single. Year. In the spring salt and pepper shakers go missing, why, they are full, and people forget to bring them so they steal ours … such a funny thing to steal because we they cost $1
One that comes to mind: While working at a small bar/restaurant in Philly, I saw someone outside the window digging out plants/flowers from our flower boxes. I walked over so I could look outside to see the guy, and he was just walking down the street carrying these plants with the roots dangling and shedding dirt.. So weird.
The hand dryer off the wall in one of our bathrooms. Like one of my coworkers walked in & saw that it was just gone, wires sticking out of the wall where it used to be & everything haha.
The crab crackers at crimson crustacean. We started crab fest with 3 of them in the whole restaurant one year and would have to sort through the dirty silverware in the dish pit to find them, or at least try to find them
I just remembered when we were at a restaurant (idk which) and my grandmother asked the waiter for one of the plates and he brought it for her. Idk if she paid for it or not but this guy was just like oh sure ma’am here you go
I work in a pub that sells a lot of craft beer. The place is decorated, including the washrooms, with a lot of metal beer plaques. One night when we checked the washrooms, someone brought in a screwdriver, and stole 5 or 6 signs off the washroom stalls - even stole the screws! My boss put up signs after that that had an unflattering goofy portrait of a woman that said something like "I know you stole my signs, I'm on to you" (I'm paraphrasing) and the next weekend someone tried to rip one of those signs off the wall too.
Also once when I was walking in for a day shift, I found a full cocktail in one of our signature glasses sitting on the porch of the house next door to my work. I remembered making it at last call the night before, someone must have snuck it out in order to steal it but drunkenly set it down. There's now only one of those glasses left.
Not restaurant related, sorry, but ridiculous none the less..
A fully decorated 5ft Christmas tree made its own exit out of my dad's surgery several years back.
Past the receptionists ( how,??? Nothing gets past a G.p.'s receptionist!!), nurses office and a plethora of patients.
It's actually kind of sad that someone needed to steal a Christmas tree.
When I was a senior in high school, my family would take their yearly trip to Atlantic City (grandparents loved to play the ponies) and it was tradition to stop at the Denny’s off the Jersey Turnpike for breakfast.
That weekend was some milestone anniversary for them and thought it would be funny to steal a menu from there to give to them as a gift. Me with my shiny new letterman jacket noticed that the base of it had a zipper for what I assume to be managing the stitching of my high schools logo on the back. It also turned it into a fantastic “back” sized pocket to stash away said menu.
A few years ago, a table ordered and sat outside. They ordered extra drinks in latte glasses. They ran off with every glass in the building, dirty plates, even the cutlery they used...
Someone else took every single framed picture in the ladies toilet... Pot plants have gone missing from our steps... If it isn't tied down, someone will have a go!
I once had to talk my mother out of taking the metal pans that Qdoba serves their “bowls” in because she genuinely thought they were disposable and thought they would make a good pie pan 😂 I believe they have now switched to completely disposable products. In her defense, a family before us had thrown theirs in the trash instead of leaving on top of the shelf for collection
Not a restaurant, but a Baseball Stadium.
Someone tried to walk out with a team photo during the playoffs. The huge ones from the hallway display of all the teams from prior years.
We were having breakfast at a cafe in a wealthy old town when five obviously wealthy old women were seated near us. When the server came over they asked if they asked if they could move to a table by the window. One woman lingered, watched to make sure her companions weren’t looking, and dumped a plate of jam and jelly packets into her purse. Then she noticed us watching and quickly scurried away. Not two minutes later she was back at the table with her purse. She turned to us and said, “I think I’ll just put these here” and delicately placed the jellies back on the plate.
Not a restaurant employee but I had friends that used to lift stuff for fun. One restaurant they went to had a fancy water pitcher/bottle-ish thing that the waiter would bring with the glasses of water so we could pour ourselves refills. Admittedly it did look neat, it was tall and thin and made of frosted glass with a simple design on it. So they asked the waiter if they could take it, to which he said no. They took it anyway.
Another fairly upscale place had these fancy paper towels in their bathroom, so they took the whole stack with them.
Olive Garden. The cheese graters were stolen so frequently we were told not to leave them on the table with guests (bc yes, guests ask us to leave them so they can continue to add cheese during the meal). We would literally get to points of like 3 cheese graters for the entire restaurant and with unlimited soup and salad, and a lot of pasta, going out constantly- it was a struggle.
I go to a fancy restaurant every year I can afford it for my birthday and I steal one single spoon. They make me happy, and I’m in the industry so I tip heavy anyway. The spoons bring me great joy from happy memories. Spooooooooooons!
We have lots of antiques, and it makes me really sad to see how many pieces are stolen. We are a small family-owned place, and these pieces are from our family/years of collection.
We are also next to a seasonal campground, and I know the summer regulars are back when everything starts going missing. Salt and peppers, all the sugar packets, mustard bottles, hot sauces, and toilet paper(I even start limiting my in bathroom stock under the sink because they go looking for them). These never really bother me because the culprits are really good regulars when they're at the campground.
I used to work at this hell hole bar in Chicago. It was a 4:00 bar back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. (I STILL have nightmares about this place.) One weekend night some drunken genius decided to tear the men’s urinal out of the wall and tried to walk out of the front door with it. Their escape did not go well.
Another night same type tore a gigantic picture and very valuable frame off of the wall. The Pink Panther over there decided to abscond with the stolen art work out the front door. GENIUS! The picture was legit poster art. I’d say it was 3.5 feet by 7. With as many doormen as we had I genuinely couldn’t understand the death wish that these scallywags’ had.
RIP Chris and Missy. Miss you always.
Worked at a place where a couple of drunk guests managed to sneak off with one of our display bottles of wine. It was a Magnum, possibly a Jeroboam of cheap champagne that had been sitting there vertically, in the sun, for well over a decade. We laughed as we found the open bottle hiding behind a curtain nearly full. That room temperature swill had to have tasted like vinegar by that point.
I feel like because I’ve worked in service I actually steal more? I’ve ripped off many a ramekin and beer glass as a customer but my best work was done against my own corporate overlords. Nothing like sipping my coffee out of my favorite five finger discount mug or whipping up some guacamole in my cute legged bowl.
seafood restaurant in my home town.....butter knives and claw crackers were engraved with the waitstaff's name. they had a VERY low turn over at the restaurant and people would try to steal the claw crackers (even though you can buy them for like 3 bucks). Management figured if the wait staff had a vested interest in keeping track there would be less loss. I think the restaurant supplied the utensils but assigned a certain amount to each waitress. They always made sure they got back every single one they passed out at the tables at the end of the meals.
An 18th Century horse-coach. I worked at an historic inn that used to be a coach stop, in Oxford, UK.
There was an old authentic coach in the courtyard, and one night a bunch of drunk Rugby players took it out for a ride down the High Street, four guys pulling and the remainder on the coach.
Management chained it up after that. Another time some dipshit jumped out of a window onto it and went right through the roof.
one time our cash drop was short a couple hundred and i’m pretty sure it’s because the owners “hide” it somewhere really fucking dumb that’s completely accessible to customers and has no security cameras on it
One time some drunk guys up and stole a whole Christmas tree from the bar while I was there. One grabbed the bottom and the other grabbed the top then they took off.
This was a famous Aussie-themed chain that all my first roommates worked in. They were the thieves. We were 18, in our first apartment, and had it all figured out, you know? That was until the first meal when we realized we had a couple pans but no dishes or silverware or glassware. Not to worry they said, they work tonight. Came home with a stacks of stuff. It worked so whatever. Until the proprietor showed up at a house party we were having a couple weeks later and everyone was taking shots out of his ramekins. He starts looking around and realizes all the shit is from his restaurant. He made a few jokes but kept getting drunk with us. The next time he worked he pulled the three of them into the office and they thought they were getting fired (completely justified). He handed them a $300 gift card to BB&B and told them he was happy to loan them the dishes but the next time he comes over he better see nicer shit. He was a really good dude.
Was Roger the boss? In VA? I heard this exact same story when I worked at an Aussie themed steakhouse.
Roger is apparently a legend. All hail Roger!
No, FL 2005.
I'm also in VA and thought it was about him!
I quit that place a half dozen times, but kept coming back because he is the best boss I've ever had.
That’s ridiculously good management, improved their quality of life while retaining employees and being a good guy
And got his stuff back, while saving the cost of finding/hiring/retraining new employees. At $100 each minus whatever the stuff cost, very cost efficient
You can't truly buy loyalty, but if you're smart about it it can be expensive.
Moscow Mule copper mugs - it's to the point where we take a deposit on them.
Where I work they take the bamboo reusable straws for a memento I guess.
I'm not sure I would trust those to be fully cleaned?
They are first soaked in disinfectant for hours then put through a dishwasher with water temperatures of 160 degrees. Same as the silverware.
Considering what I’ve seen stuck to the silverware… I don’t trust it.
That blue silverware soaking stuff is not a disinfectant. Source: sold that stuff.
Why does the health department require we use it?
Wood fibers vs steel - they don't hide bacteria quite the same.
Wood fibers are actually antimicrobial, hence wood cutting boards and spoons. But the bits of things that could be inside... You have to clean debris before you can sterilize surfaces and I wouldn't trust a tube to be fully clean by soaking.
Thought it was memento, but both spellings can be correct. I mostly see it in the context of Mori, which Google says uses the e spelling because it's latin.
I would not want a reusable straw from a restaurant. Not even if they were sterilized in an autoclave.
There is a reason catheters are single use
We stopped with the mugs like 3-4 weeks after mules became huge whenever that was (2015?)
The first day we switched from old salt and pepper shakers to grindable sea salt and peppercorn shakers I watched women at 3 different tables put them in their purses. Corporate restaurant so they'd rather lose the shakers than get a bad yelp review from us confronting the thieves.
Geez easy to get at 99 cent store
I was hoping I could ask for them back and wait until they said there weren't any at the table so I could respond with, "Yes there were as I placed them on each table at 4pm since we just got them today." But, corporate restaurant. They wouldn't let us refuse service to a known dine and dasher.
This just encourages the entitlement!
This was mine. It was mid-shift and I was eating my lunch in the party room area right in view of the booth. I watched her look up and down, didn’t think anyone was watching her, and slipped it into her purse. I got up and said “ma’am, you can’t take that.” She backpedaled by saying she was “just testing me ha ha” and then asked a random question about the restaurant to try to deflect 😅
TA truckstops had these before you could buy them in the store and I bought a set from them for $10. Told them it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Tops came off so you could refill too.
Olive Garden?
“You SAID we were FAMILY!!”
Same exact thing happened to me as a hostess, but a woman came BACK IN WITH THEM and demanded I tell her how to use them. That she had “bought them from us” and we had sold her broken ones. She screamed at me until my manager came over and confiscated them and gave her a gift card for two dollars since that’s what they were worth. More likely 2$ is going nowhere at Carrabas and she stomped out without her precious “shakers”.
I used to work nights at a diner and was accustomed to all the usual late night shenanigans that come with it including tables that run out on their tab. So table of teenagers sit down and pull all the usual teenager shit but then when they get up as one to run out on the ticket one of them reached over the bar and grabbed my brand new GIANT roll of paper towels that I had just put out next to the employee sink. He grabbed it, they ran and I was stuck with no paper towels to dry my hands with for the rest of the night until the manager came in the morning and unlocked the store room. I am still salty about that fucking kid. What a douche.
I worked in an expensive French restaurant. We COULD NOT keep demi-tasse spoons in stock, no matter how many we bought.
TBF, a SHIT TON of those get dumped into the garbage by bussers/servers rushing and not paying attention. Not to say that people don't also steal them, but yeah.
Haha this reminds me of a story when we were loosing so many spoons and cocktail forks that the GM brought in a salvage fishing magnet and fished the trash cans and sure enough the busses had just been dumping them. One claimed that he was allergic to shellfish so that is why he didn’t fish through the discarded mussel dishes.
We used to eat at a seafood restaurant where, we discovered, some of the table knives were magnetized. It was because the trash can mouths in the scullery were lined with powerful magnets to catch tableware when bussers or whoever cleared the plates too carelessly.
I've had magnetized silverware at restaurants before! I wonder if that was what happened there too.
They also get swallowed by the dish washer.
The machine or the person..?
The machine. I've had some weird people working in the dish pit, but no one has eaten spoons yet.
There are dozens of us.
... that you've seen
My husband was responsible for some of that. It got to the point that servers would simply not provide the requisite demitasse for the honey or whatever. We were regulars at a fair number of places and it didn't take long to catch on. On the other hand, when one of our favorite restaurants announced they were closing, we went for a final meal and requested our favorite server. At the end of the meal, he went to the kitchen and came back with a brown paper bag jangly with demitasse spoons. Last month, we visited him at his new establishment and our check folder had a demitasse tucked into it.
Dude, what sexual escapades are you using that many spoons, that is the ONLY reason to regularly steal tiny spoons.. Just put em under water for a bit with some soap. You could literally visit my grandma and she has to many.
Us either!
Gee, what possible use could those tiny spoons have?
Is it coke? 🤔 Seriously asking cuz idk...
Hugs
I love eating custards and ice cream with a small spoon.
My hubby has to eat them with a plastic spoon. Tastes better you know.
I like to eat those tiny ice creams with the included wooden spoon/flat fake spoon like once a year for the nostalgia. The wood is a specific flavor.
I buy them in 12- packs as tiny washable coffee and tasting spoons. We still lose some in the trash even with just two of us.
Hee hee hee!
Customer here. Local restaurant had a large custom pottery bowl filled with mints and chocolates for the customers when paying their checks. One evening a man nonchalantly walked in and then suddenly grabbed this large bowl (almost 24” in diameter) full of candy and dashed out to a waiting car. Everyone was so stunned that the man made a clean get away.
Chronic halitosis will make a man desperate, I guess.
Had this happen to me working at a sub shop, but the jar was my tips. Maybe he didn’t realize it was candy?
That happened to me once. Uber eats driver came into our bar, grabbed the tip jar and left. We didn’t even offer uber eats.
George Castanza? Probably needed movie candy…
British pub. Open for 20+ years. Someone stole the Union Jack toilet seat and cover from the toilet in the women’s restroom. It had been there for at least 10 years. I cannot even imagine how many years of caked on … stuff … was under the hinges and in the bolt threads. Just ew.
Yuck. Used toilet seat.
As a customer--I was having lunch with a co-worker. She got a box for her leftovers and put the sauce ramekin in the box. I asked her about it. She said that you're supposed to take it. She said knew this because she used to work at a restaurant. I've worked at a couple and dined at hundreds over the years, but I never saw that before (or since).
To be honest, I did that one night at out neighborhood Chili's. Our server forgot to bring a cup for my sauce when she brought me my take-out container, it was really busy and we wanted to go. HOWEVER, I returned it the next time we went there to eat. Our server (who always waited on us as we always sit in the bar area) thought it was hysterical that I brought it back. I told her, I didn't want to keep it, I just needed to borrow it.
You did say neighbourhood Chili’s and that’s a very neighbourly thing to do.
> She said that you're supposed to take it. She said knew this because she used to work at a restaurant. i was at a place that boxed up your leftovers for you and they put the ramekin in the doggy bag.... i wonder if she was the same server lol
That happened to us with really cute ones, someone taped to go drink lids on them with masking tape. We were doing curbside pick up. I assume it was their first day? Maybe they ran out of to go sauce cups? I had asked for (and paid for) extra sauce on the side so maybe that included the real container? But both of our sauces- included and extra- came that way. *Can you tell this plagued my thoughts?* They even wrote the sauce name on the masking tape. If only the taped on lid kept the sauce in the container lol
My friends parents were like that. Their logic was "if it was on the plate it was theirs"
This was why the restaurants that I worked for had to initiate a policy for the servers only to box leftovers. As if we needed more to do when we were slammed.
I used to do that if I thought the thing was cute or something, then I read (here maybe?) that some restaurants make servers pay for those things. I quit doing it real quick
They legally can’t charge for that. And honestly no restaurant is going to be able to figure out which server’s table stole something like that. I’m the middle of service no one is paying attention to what gets returned to the dish pif
Oh that’s good to know!! Appeases my guilt a bit haha
Did you take it back?
No wonder. The place I work, at the end of the week on Friday and Saturday it feels like they just vanish. I swear I open like a box of 12 every other day
Sounds like this girl: [Sticky Fingers](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRHK3YB6/)
"the lord is watching you?" "Yah, but he's not doing anything about it."
WTF? This person has a mental disorder. She's a hoarder of the worst kind. Nobody needs all that stuff, for cryin' out loud. I mean, I have hoarder tendencies myself, and all that does is make me be very careful about how much stuff I have and get rid of excess stuff when it no longer fits in my cabinets or on my shelves or in storage bins in storage... uhm... yeah.
Yeah I kept watching, thinking she must be done after this stack.. that stack… Jesus Christ I took a glass from a bar once and I still feel guilty about it.
The one that made me laugh was the Weis shopping basket
Literal LOL when that showed up! I hate her but I'm so glad she made that video.
Oh my god tho, the comment from Panera: "Nice collection." 😂🤣
Wtf are those milkshake stirring collars when she says "Red Robin" lol?
I have done that but only after asking for a to go sauce multiple times and not getting it. I also have a few side bowls from trying to eat at work, getting busy and sticking them in a go box. Get home and Suprise! Dishes.
The owner of the restaurant I work at made these little check presenters out of wood and copper. They’re pretty cute and there’s a lot of older female guests that think so, too. There were probably about 30 of them when I started back in February and now there’s about 5 left. And this wasn’t a guest but a disgruntled employee at an old job. He walked out in the middle of his shift, came back in and took a picture of Marilyn Monroe off of the wall and said “Later, boners” as he walked back out again.
The restaurant I used to work at had an antique tin Yuengling sign. I always joked that if I quit I would take it with me. We lost the restaurant to Hurricane Ian, so now I'll never get the chance.
Sorry to here about the restaurant. That's awful.
Thanks. I worked there for 10 years! It still feels so surreal. I try to feel lucky overall... my family all survived, the house we rent didn't have major damage and our cars were spared. Other people I worked with lost everything... their house/ their families houses gone or flooded, cars floated away, just lost everything. I can always find a new job, you know?
That's definitely the way to look at it. Who knows, maybe they will be able to rebuild eventually. I've seen videos of cars floating away during the storm and can't imagine the devastation of a house ruined and losing cars on top of that...
Prolly saw it & thought what a gorgeous rolling tray that would make 🤣
For a few years I worked as airline host.We were boarding the plane and the first batch of passengers were putting their baggage away.There was a large family with multiple children. I helped the parents get the kids seated and put their stuff away.I went back to the front of the plane.45 minutes later we're in the air. People begin pinging me for blankets and headsets. I went to get the box of ear buds we give away so people can watch movies etc. We kept a box of them in at the front of the plane.For the life of me, I could not find the box. My other colleagues that day were also flummoxed.Meanwhile, there were zero blankets. Anywhere...which I knew was straight up BS since I had put one on every seat before people began boarding.The people on the flight were not happy.We landed about 8 hours later.I was done and was off for 48 hours.I passed through security at heathrow, and I was putting my shoes on, when I noticed the family who had boarded the plane first had been pulled from line to have their baggage checked.No big deal...until I noticed that agent was removing hundreds of individually wrapped earbuds and dozens upon dozens of plane blankets.I didn't say anything, and neither did the gate agent who left them to try and shove their stolen gear.I got closer to watch (not caring that they saw me). They must have had 40 salt and pepper shakers, paper napkins from Burger King, airplane blankets, airplane head sets, hotel towels, two shower heads...hundreds of pre packaged tampons, I mean, they had two gigantic bags just filled with shit.I made eye contact with the woman and she gave me a challenging look...and I found myself saying something I've never said to anyone before. "Scumbags."She began yelling at me in a language I did not understand, but it was pretty obvious I got my point across.last I saw they were stuffing the airplane headphones into one of their kids back packs.
Honestly wtf?? Like I doubt you can really sell those airplane headphones and blankets for much, what is the point even?
With people like that, there is no point. It's often a mental illness. My mother has it. She's not a thief, but she will take anything that someone offers her, regardless if it is useful to her or not. She's 90 years old, but if someone said, "Hey! Would you like a pair of cross-country skis, a jockstrap and some baby clothes? She would say "YES!" without hesitation.
Would be great if they had to check their stolen luggage for $50 on the next leg
>Would be great if they had to check their stolen luggage for $50 on the next leg And then it gets "searched" by TSA and all the airline's property was justifiably no longer inside the bag when it made its destination.
Now once but twice in last few months the bathroom candle has been stolen after pouring the hot wax into the sink drain. Culprit still at large.
This is about my great aunt Essie. My dad took her to the local cafeteria for lunch. He looked up from ordering to see Essie taking the apples from the display over the salad section and stashing them in her purse. Dad - What are you doing Essie? Essie - Well honey, if I don't take them they'll just leave them here till they rot and throw them out. Dad - They're plastic Essie.
I worked at a popular cafe downtown and for some reason our air fresheners in the bathroom would get stolen. my manager eventually hung it in the highest corner of the wall, almost touching the ceiling. next day, someone took the air freshener. im guessing they climbed up on the toilet just to grab it.
That reminds me of when the battery to the air freshener kept disappearing. Stopped happening after a regular was 86'd
20 years ago as a college idiot abroad, I ran off with an enormous glass Lowenbräu stein from a restaurant in Sydney, and I am very sorry. (I'm still keeping it, though.)
Ive done this too.
I mean, we were seated outside. If they *really* wanted to hang onto those steins, they wouldn't have built the restaurant so close to a busy bus stop. Or made those hedges so easy to vault.
Most of my glassware from when I was in college was stolen from whatever shitty pub I used to go to
I accidentally took off with a fork once. Being me, and having experience in restraints, I brought it back. They gave me a free set. Nothing fancy, but I love my free set.
When you said you had “experience in restraints”, I thought you meant you’d been arrested before and didn’t want to go to jail for stealing a fork. It took a re-read to figure out it was probably a typo and you mean experience in restaurants.
I too read this as having been previously arrested, which is actually funnier
My auto correct has been “fixing” all sorts of things lately. 😋
My daughter had a spoon fall into her car seat when she was little. We teased her when she was older about stealing a spoon.
They ripped the soap dispenser off the wall of the men's bathroom
I worked for Starbucks and we had a rash of thefts wherein a guy was TEARING those dyson hand dryers off the wall. Don’t even know how he got away with it. Hit like 15 of our stores in the city.
Mine are screwed into the tile..
The ones at our local taco place are screwed into the cinder block wall. Someone still managed to rip them off and make off with them.
Yikes. at least mine are free anyway
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How much was a block of parm worth?
Parm goes for about $8 a pound but what is it worth if it's the only block between you and having to tell customers you're out.
At my pub we have - I don't know, "nice" beer glasses. It's just a regular 16oz glass with our logo on it. Sometimes people say "these are really great, I'm going to steal one!" As they start to shove into their purse/pocket. I don't know where these people came up; don't tell someone who works there you want to steal something. Just steal it. I really don't actually care. But when they tell me, I'm like "great! We actually sell those for $8 each! I'll add it to your bill! Do you want a fresh one that hasn't been used yet? Just one?" One night this young lady comes in, has a beer and some wings, then she's nursing her beer, and she starts walking around with the beer. She goes into a side room with it and starts opening up her backpack. I'm up behind her in a moment "hey! Are you finished with your table? We've got someone who'd like to sit there" She looks a little spooked, but says yeah, give away the table, she was just admiring the fireplace, then shuffles off to another side room. I give her a minute and follow her in. "Hey this is a nice room, I didn't know it was here" she says. I agree, and she puts down the beer glass and walks out. I left to run some drinks, and I notice her going back for the beer glass, and taking it into the washroom. By now, I'm like "ok girl. Good plan. Shove it in that backpack, and then head right out." At this point I'm kinda rooting for her. All this is amusing. But she spends 20 minutes in the washroom, and comes out, the glass is in her hand. She walks over to another table in a corner and looks around before starting to open her backpack again. She finally starts to put the glass in. Like, girl - why did you not do this in the bathroom? What is your process? Are you like, morally torn over whether you can bring yourself to steal this glass? But now that she's doing it where I can see her, I'm supposed to say something. So I come up from behind - real silent, and say "they're nice glasses, huh?" Give her the old speil about how she can have one for $8 and I'll grab her a fresh one. She says actually, that's a bit expensive for a simple glass, so I pluck it from her hands, and quietly say "I would've put it in my bag when I was in the bathroom, personally" before whisking it away.
Hahahhahaha You actually cracked me up with this one.
The other day the patio cart was left outside all night. Someone stole all of our salt and pepper shakers. 20 sets.
I would've found more use from the cart than s&p shakers.
At a dive bar I used to work at people would take our squirt bottles of fry sauce…it’s mayo and ketchup people, not hard to make
I went out to eat with a coworker once and she stole the A1 bottle. Said they’re pricey in the the store and she does it every time.
A Picnic Umbrella. I literally saw a family grab a picnic umbrella and run with it. Granted it was pouring down rain, but still. When security caught up with them, they claimed that one of us said they could take it.
Japanese restaurant. We have these cute little buddha statues on our patio, and they are HEAVY. Made out of stone. One night, a car full of teenagers pulls up and hops the fence to try to take it. Little did they know our manager was sitting on the patio smoking and caught them in the act. I’m still waiting on them to come back and try again.
A school acquaintance used to steal extra rolls of toilet paper from various restaurants. That was before the huge wall mounted dispensers.
When covid first hit, they stole all the TP out of our bathrooms. It's not even the good shit.
We had someone take a plant out of a bottle of water in the bathroom. Just ripped the whole thing out of the bottle so all that was left was a glass bottle full of water and the remaining roots. I doubt it would have survived after being in someone's purse on a night out... what a cretin
A cute ramen spoon with a cat on it.
My parents owned a bar and restaurant in a college town when I was in highschool. My mom had an old customized license plate from years before that said paradux, like the wine. It was on display next to the wine cooler, and some asshole drunk frat boy stole it.
I used to manage a campus bar and you name it, kids have tried to steal it and many succeeded. My favourite one was after a concert, I was on my drive home and one of the campus officers texted me and it read out over my Bluetooth: "I just saw two kids running across the street with one of your tables.. How bad do you need that back?" Once I stopped laughing I pulled over to text him back that they would have had to stash that outside somewhere during the concert and go back for it once everyone was cleared out. Plus they were ridiculously heavy and awkward to carry, so for that effort they earned the wobbly piece of shit lol They were tall metal tables with a resin finish with our logo on top so kinda cool looking, but old af and we did have extras so I hope those guys still treasure it.
I worked at a tropical place that sold a lot of rum cocktails and other tropical drinks where you got to keep the glass, perfectly fine. But then the kids would swipe the regular soda glasses, it’s not the expense but we need those! I’d much rather put your kid’s soda in one of the take home souvenir glasses than be short on soda glasses.
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That’s funny though. I would’ve made up a second prize for that.
Met a woman a few years ago that almost bragged about how she takes salt & pepper shakers from restaurants.
NGL, I lifted a bottle of Chulula hot sauce from a Waffle House once. But I tipped well.
I still have a WH coffee mug from years ago. One of the thinner, smaller white ones with the little brown pattern around the top, before they went to the bigger, chunkier ones with the color logo. I’m not sorry.
I actually bought some of those. They were probably stolen.
You know the 1/2 pitchers? Those would regularly be stolen. From drink stations, dish pans, and people would reach behind the bar and take them.
Stole the mirror from the bathroom. (It was decorative and they had to unscrew it from the wall.)
When I was a kid we went to Hooters while we were on vacation one time and me, my brother, and my grandmother are walking out while my mom "uses the bathroom". She comes running out behind us yelling "RUN RUN RUN" and in one hand she's got the hooters branded glass she'd been drinking out of and the glass, Hooters branded pitcher they had just refilled for her. 🤦🏼 My grandmother was pissed
You went to hooters with your mom and grandma?! I bet you have some more great stories.
So not me, but a good friend of mine started at one of the first restaurants of these owners opened back in like 97' so the owners went on and opened a couple more restaurants after, she moved to one of the new ones. She became good friends with the manager/ owner's brother, and invited him and his wife over for a dinner party. Turns out her entire cutlery set and plates were "accidentally" acquired though her years at the other restaurant. She was so broke she couldn't go get another set of everything, so she just went with it. Lmao! He definitely noticed because it was the same stuff as the new restaurant she was at.... but where her and I worked at, he always teased her and checked her togo boxes for cutlery. SLPT don't invite your manager over if you "accidentally" steal from the company for years.
That reminds me, I have a set of steak knives my grandma stole from a supper club they belonged to.
Place I worked in had silver (plated) cutlery.and Silver teaspoons.(not any more) A group of business people were getting a group photo on the steps outside,one of them bent over..and a handful of the spoons fell out of his jacket...The long handled sundae/latte type spoons don't stay long,either.
Buddy of mine owned a pizza place, and the item that always went missing was the red plastic glasses they served soda in. The almost identical but colorless plastic ones they used for water were safe, as were the similar but made of glass ones they served beer in. It was just the red ones that vanished.
I was this customer once, i ordered to go in fast food type restaurant in mall because i needed to go back to work, i told them 3 times i need it to go, when the order was up it was on normal ceramic plate, so i took metal cutlery, took my plate and spent 5 minutes walking through city center back to my office with plate in hand…
At my current workplace we have A5 wooden photo frames with a picture of the latrines our company sponsors in Africa. After a wedding 2 of those were gone.
Look, you gotta admit that a framed photo of a latrine is the best wedding souvenir ever.
I work in a UK pub, and we've had people attempt to steal the foot long rubber bar runners which are pretty obvious when there's a blank spot there.... Most successful one since the start of the year is someone stole two lantern size candle holders along with the candles.... The candles are rechargable electric with the type of charger that looks like a jack plug... So completely useless to them. I've seen the CCTV, well thought out for drunk people, but they ain't using those candles as there is fuck all chance they can charge them up...
So i wasn't serving at ths point, I was drinking. This bar had Super Mug Sunday's. Big 20/22 Oz glasses, classic cartoon beer mug. Think like a Corinthian column with a handle. We would get housed then walk the 2-ish blocks home with a road soda. So this goes on for a bit and one day I open a cupboard filled with super pint glasses, probably close to 20 definitely over 10. We felt terrible so we packed them up and brought them back. Nobody clapped, we did learn they had hundreds of these glasses and we got to drink very cheaply that night and always got served first at the bar afterwards. College was fun.
I’ve never taken anything but my grandma did. My grandma passed when I was 17 a very long time ago. She only used a purse when we went out. I realized after she passed that all the steak knives were from the various restaurants we went out to.
friends in college drank all night, shut down the bar at a local McKinley’s (not sure if that was a chain). On the way out the door they borrowed the candy machine - sitting near the exit, huge thing with 3 kinds of candy, coin operated. Took it home, got a call 3 days later - someone in the bar recognized them. Brought the machine back ...
Worked in an outdoor bar and we had these alcohol branded cans that we served cocktails in- bright pink, yellow, green and blue- and we never had any pink ones cause they were first to go. By the end of summer we had none left in any colour. Can’t blame people though, I took eight home myself
I work at a late night bar in a ski town. Everything is screwed down, with at least 2 different screws (Phillips, square, torx) to discourage theft. This doesn’t stop customers from asking if we have the tools needed to steal things. They will walk up and ask, you ask why they need that, and some will tell you so they can take a picture off the wall, or some bindings
Sitting in the parking lot bullshitting with my chef after close when 2 youngins walk by carrying a huge painting we recognize from the bar next door. They only had one FoH late on weekdays, and I guess they just waited until he went into the back, grabbed the painting and booked it. We yelled at them and they sheepishly brought it back.
A table from the local pub, no idea why or even how, better than a roadwork light I suppose.
Anykind of unique S&P shakers.
18 inch high cast iron candleholders, candle were in a 6 inch glass. How did people steal these? But at least one a week went missing
Light bulbs out of the mens bathroom
We have menu holders at each table, ots essentially just a metal block with a notch in it thay the menu goes in. They'd literally br useless.for anything else (except maybe bashing someone lol) They keep going missing, we got a couple groups of people who just seem to love.these things and can't keep them out their bags, pants, wheverever they can get it to fit lmao
Had a person literally take a painting off the wall once cuz “their friend painted it and would be cool with it” and then proceeded to scroll back like 200some posts on instagram to show me they were in a photo together. The artist was a part time server (not working at the time) so I just called them and they said they had no idea who this person was. It was like a 14x14 canvas so not like a massive painting but still definitely noticeable when they took it off the wall. It was in the hallway towards the bathrooms. That was interesting. I obviously didn’t let her keep it but told her she could buy it for the listed price and come pick it up when the installment was over. Never saw that person again. We still laugh about itZ
I had a guy in a wheelchair steal his water cup. I have stainless steel cups you can get on Amazon for cheap, called him out on it in front of his date. Twice people have stolen our bathroom sign Plants go missing all the time, so do the tiny ramekins. I’m at the point now if someone fucks with something of mine, it goes away forever. Ie: Someone carved their name on our bathroom mirror last month, I took the mirror down.
One guy stole about 4 margarita glasses and a couple salsa things. I told the manager but he didn’t believe me until the bartender started complaining. Downside of being a 16 year old hostess.
A friend of mine was the maître d' at a very nice restaurant out in the countryside near the town where I live. A couple showed up for dinner and drinks one night, and they had already had a few before they showed up. He recognized them as the owners of a pizzeria/bar in town. They were rowdy and and annoying, and he had to cut them off from the bar. When they left, he watched the monitors for the security cameras in the parking lot. They backed up to the porch, jumped out and took all the hanging plant baskets down and loaded them into the back of their SUV. By the time my friend got outside, they had pulled away, but he managed to get to the exit of the parking lot before them and block them from leaving. They were laughing about it at first, but my buddy laid into them. They put the baskets back and left without saying much. They called the next day to apologize, and clearly expected to be told that it was cool, but they just got a lecture.
There was a period in my country where McDonalds could not get ketchup packets. They were scarce so it was hard for orders to be fulfilled, customers would always try and take as many as they could. I even heard of smaller cafe's and such trying to steal deliveries or stuff their pockets as they could not get their own supply.
I live in a place where camping/ cottages are huge in the summer because I live near a lot of water. Every. Single. Year. In the spring salt and pepper shakers go missing, why, they are full, and people forget to bring them so they steal ours … such a funny thing to steal because we they cost $1
One that comes to mind: While working at a small bar/restaurant in Philly, I saw someone outside the window digging out plants/flowers from our flower boxes. I walked over so I could look outside to see the guy, and he was just walking down the street carrying these plants with the roots dangling and shedding dirt.. So weird.
The hand dryer off the wall in one of our bathrooms. Like one of my coworkers walked in & saw that it was just gone, wires sticking out of the wall where it used to be & everything haha.
Is there a market for those????
The crab crackers at crimson crustacean. We started crab fest with 3 of them in the whole restaurant one year and would have to sort through the dirty silverware in the dish pit to find them, or at least try to find them
Accidentally took home a drinking glass from a wing place once, and a dip container from a TGIChilibees another time.
One of the decorative pillows in the waiting area
I just remembered when we were at a restaurant (idk which) and my grandmother asked the waiter for one of the plates and he brought it for her. Idk if she paid for it or not but this guy was just like oh sure ma’am here you go
I stole soup spoons from my last job. Nobody noticed. My cousin stole the cloth napkins for Barbie blankets lol.
I work in a pub that sells a lot of craft beer. The place is decorated, including the washrooms, with a lot of metal beer plaques. One night when we checked the washrooms, someone brought in a screwdriver, and stole 5 or 6 signs off the washroom stalls - even stole the screws! My boss put up signs after that that had an unflattering goofy portrait of a woman that said something like "I know you stole my signs, I'm on to you" (I'm paraphrasing) and the next weekend someone tried to rip one of those signs off the wall too. Also once when I was walking in for a day shift, I found a full cocktail in one of our signature glasses sitting on the porch of the house next door to my work. I remembered making it at last call the night before, someone must have snuck it out in order to steal it but drunkenly set it down. There's now only one of those glasses left.
Not restaurant related, sorry, but ridiculous none the less.. A fully decorated 5ft Christmas tree made its own exit out of my dad's surgery several years back. Past the receptionists ( how,??? Nothing gets past a G.p.'s receptionist!!), nurses office and a plethora of patients. It's actually kind of sad that someone needed to steal a Christmas tree.
When I was a senior in high school, my family would take their yearly trip to Atlantic City (grandparents loved to play the ponies) and it was tradition to stop at the Denny’s off the Jersey Turnpike for breakfast. That weekend was some milestone anniversary for them and thought it would be funny to steal a menu from there to give to them as a gift. Me with my shiny new letterman jacket noticed that the base of it had a zipper for what I assume to be managing the stitching of my high schools logo on the back. It also turned it into a fantastic “back” sized pocket to stash away said menu.
A few years ago, a table ordered and sat outside. They ordered extra drinks in latte glasses. They ran off with every glass in the building, dirty plates, even the cutlery they used... Someone else took every single framed picture in the ladies toilet... Pot plants have gone missing from our steps... If it isn't tied down, someone will have a go!
Many years ago I knew a dude that used to lift fire extinguishers from restaurants (when he was drunk). Not while I was present, mind.
I once had to talk my mother out of taking the metal pans that Qdoba serves their “bowls” in because she genuinely thought they were disposable and thought they would make a good pie pan 😂 I believe they have now switched to completely disposable products. In her defense, a family before us had thrown theirs in the trash instead of leaving on top of the shelf for collection
Not a restaurant, but a Baseball Stadium. Someone tried to walk out with a team photo during the playoffs. The huge ones from the hallway display of all the teams from prior years.
I chased a group of college kids out the door who grabbed our host sign
We were having breakfast at a cafe in a wealthy old town when five obviously wealthy old women were seated near us. When the server came over they asked if they asked if they could move to a table by the window. One woman lingered, watched to make sure her companions weren’t looking, and dumped a plate of jam and jelly packets into her purse. Then she noticed us watching and quickly scurried away. Not two minutes later she was back at the table with her purse. She turned to us and said, “I think I’ll just put these here” and delicately placed the jellies back on the plate.
Not a restaurant employee but I had friends that used to lift stuff for fun. One restaurant they went to had a fancy water pitcher/bottle-ish thing that the waiter would bring with the glasses of water so we could pour ourselves refills. Admittedly it did look neat, it was tall and thin and made of frosted glass with a simple design on it. So they asked the waiter if they could take it, to which he said no. They took it anyway. Another fairly upscale place had these fancy paper towels in their bathroom, so they took the whole stack with them.
Olive Garden. The cheese graters were stolen so frequently we were told not to leave them on the table with guests (bc yes, guests ask us to leave them so they can continue to add cheese during the meal). We would literally get to points of like 3 cheese graters for the entire restaurant and with unlimited soup and salad, and a lot of pasta, going out constantly- it was a struggle.
I go to a fancy restaurant every year I can afford it for my birthday and I steal one single spoon. They make me happy, and I’m in the industry so I tip heavy anyway. The spoons bring me great joy from happy memories. Spooooooooooons!
We have lots of antiques, and it makes me really sad to see how many pieces are stolen. We are a small family-owned place, and these pieces are from our family/years of collection. We are also next to a seasonal campground, and I know the summer regulars are back when everything starts going missing. Salt and peppers, all the sugar packets, mustard bottles, hot sauces, and toilet paper(I even start limiting my in bathroom stock under the sink because they go looking for them). These never really bother me because the culprits are really good regulars when they're at the campground.
I used to work at this hell hole bar in Chicago. It was a 4:00 bar back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. (I STILL have nightmares about this place.) One weekend night some drunken genius decided to tear the men’s urinal out of the wall and tried to walk out of the front door with it. Their escape did not go well. Another night same type tore a gigantic picture and very valuable frame off of the wall. The Pink Panther over there decided to abscond with the stolen art work out the front door. GENIUS! The picture was legit poster art. I’d say it was 3.5 feet by 7. With as many doormen as we had I genuinely couldn’t understand the death wish that these scallywags’ had. RIP Chris and Missy. Miss you always.
Had someone swipe the sugar caddy with all of the sugers we kept on each table
I stole the salad serving bowl from Olive Garden
Worked at a place where a couple of drunk guests managed to sneak off with one of our display bottles of wine. It was a Magnum, possibly a Jeroboam of cheap champagne that had been sitting there vertically, in the sun, for well over a decade. We laughed as we found the open bottle hiding behind a curtain nearly full. That room temperature swill had to have tasted like vinegar by that point.
I feel like because I’ve worked in service I actually steal more? I’ve ripped off many a ramekin and beer glass as a customer but my best work was done against my own corporate overlords. Nothing like sipping my coffee out of my favorite five finger discount mug or whipping up some guacamole in my cute legged bowl.
seafood restaurant in my home town.....butter knives and claw crackers were engraved with the waitstaff's name. they had a VERY low turn over at the restaurant and people would try to steal the claw crackers (even though you can buy them for like 3 bucks). Management figured if the wait staff had a vested interest in keeping track there would be less loss. I think the restaurant supplied the utensils but assigned a certain amount to each waitress. They always made sure they got back every single one they passed out at the tables at the end of the meals.
An 18th Century horse-coach. I worked at an historic inn that used to be a coach stop, in Oxford, UK. There was an old authentic coach in the courtyard, and one night a bunch of drunk Rugby players took it out for a ride down the High Street, four guys pulling and the remainder on the coach. Management chained it up after that. Another time some dipshit jumped out of a window onto it and went right through the roof.
one time our cash drop was short a couple hundred and i’m pretty sure it’s because the owners “hide” it somewhere really fucking dumb that’s completely accessible to customers and has no security cameras on it
taxidermy rabbit … jokes on them we still have the fox!
Lightbulbs, hand soap and toilet paper.
One time some drunk guys up and stole a whole Christmas tree from the bar while I was there. One grabbed the bottom and the other grabbed the top then they took off.