Posted on 11/14/2024 5:30:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
Most people (hopefully) wouldn't steal from a store or a home, so why do diners think it's fine to come home with a pilfered fork, glass, toilet paper, or shaker?
Restaurant customers are a notoriously thieving bunch. If it’s not nailed down, someone will try to take it and I’m not just talking about the patience they sometimes snatch from those who serve them. Their fingers are stickier than a laminated breakfast menu at a Waffle House.
A recent viral TikTok video of a woman proudly displaying all of the things she had lifted from restaurants amassed over four million views before it was wisely deleted. She had stolen enough plates and silverware to host a state dinner at the White House and I believe she is the sole reason I can never find a soup spoon when I’m at work. Maybe some customers see it as a challenge to walk out with a molcajete after ordering chips and guacamole, but it’s nothing more than brazen robbery.
Woman Who Threw a Burrito Bowl at Chipotle Staffer Was Just Sentenced to Working at a Fast Food Restaurant From ramekins to salt and pepper shakers to steak knives to chopstick rests, customers feel like it’s their right to take what they want from a restaurant. The price of an appetizer and entree does not include anything other than the food on the plate. The food goes home with the customer either in their belly or in their to-go box and everything else stays at the restaurant.
It's a condiment, not a keepsake
When I worked at a well-known hotel chain, we had individual servings of 100% pure maple syrup. They came in adorable little jars emblazoned with the hotel’s logo and an image of the Brooklyn Bridge. The jars rested at the end of the buffet line so guests could help themselves to one after having a waffle made for them. Those jars sold out like hotcakes, except they weren’t actually for sale. Throughout the shift, they had to be continuously restocked to make up for all of the jars that ended up in purses and bags as souvenirs from Brooklyn. Eventually, the syrup bottles became something we gave out as needed. Once, a woman asked me for another jar of syrup. I looked at the unopened jar sitting in front of her and said, “When you finish that one, I’d be happy to bring you another.” Hey, I owned stock in that hotel chain and food costs really mattered to me.
Want Bread? Extra Lemon Wedges? Drink Refills? You Should Pay for Them
People often justify their theft saying it’s free advertising for the restaurant. Is it though? Taking a cactus-shaped Margarita glass that doesn’t even have the restaurant’s name on it and then storing that glass inside a cabinet at one’s home where no one except the person who stole it will ever see it, isn’t really a great advertising strategy. It’s just shoplifting. Unless the menu says “comes in a keepsake glass,” it’s pretty assured that the glass should not go inside a bag when the server isn’t looking.
If a diner feels they simply must have the ceramic creamer that came with their coffee or the wooden mallet that came with the crab, they might consider buying those at the same place the restaurant did. It’s called a restaurant supply store and they sell all the things customers want to steal from restaurants. They’re usually much more affordable than buying them at Williams-Sonoma, but admittedly not as cheap as stealing them.
Tea and TP aren't free
Customers take plenty of other things from restaurants too. Toilet paper is a hot commodity. If there are a few extra rolls of it on a shelf over the sink in the bathroom, those aren’t the same thing as the complimentary mints at the host stand. They aren’t there for the taking. Splenda and Sugar in the Raw packets are not on the table to restock a pocketbook. “All-you-can-eat” doesn’t mean it’s okay to cram a baggie full of rolls for the road.
Ordering one glass of iced tea that has unlimited refills and then sharing that glass of tea is also stealing. The same goes for couples who ask for one cup of coffee after dinner and leave the cup in front of one of them even though they both take turns drinking out of it. The server knows what’s happening and they don’t like it. It’s pure thievery and customers like that may as well throw the sugar caddy into their backpack while they’re at it.
Don't steal the server's pen
The one thing that’s okay to take from a restaurant is a pen, but only if it has the name of the restaurant on it. That’s an indication that it was provided by the establishment for the server to use. Any other pen was probably paid for by the server and anyone who tries to take it deserves to be chased down until it’s retrieved.
It costs a lot to go out to eat in a restaurant these days and it’s getting more expensive all the time. Inflation is a big part of it, but any time a customer steals something from the restaurant, it means prices can go up even higher. Stop stealing from restaurants. I’m not an economist or anything, but I feel like our country could avoid a possible recession if customers would only stop taking every copper mug their Moscow Mule came in.
“It could get to where they’ll have to require payment up front.”
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I noticed whilst watching various Foodie shows the overseas restaurants doing this quite a bit.
It’s quite smart.
I admit I sometimes take a sip of my husbads soda...
Stealing a Molcajete and Tejolote (that don't normally come out to the table) are not easily tucked into a purse (unless it's one of those big enough to hold a Baby or a Poodle) or a bag of leftovers. Well, maybe if it's one of those little itty-bitty ones that holds 2 Tablespoons of Salza or Pico. If you want one then just buy one they're pretty cheap. But then you have to spend months working on breaking it in.
To answer Your question, some places will bring one out to the table but I've been to hundreds of Mexican Restaurants and maybe 10 or so bring them out to the table.
Worse is tip stealing. I’ve seen this, mostly in buffet restaurants.
Sharing a cup of coffee - that is stealing? I beg to differ.
A real molcajete is *heavy*, and a good one is quite expensive.
I'm guessing it's democrats who steal... they feel 'entitled' in general and that would include stealing from anyone they can get away with stealing from. Check out prison populations: democrats are always in the high 90% of prisoners.
After all, it is the hospitality business.
I know I've owned several of them. The best was the one I bought in Nuevo Laredo back in the mid 1980's, back when it was still fairly safe to drive across the border and make a Beer and Tequila run. A case of Modello was around $4.00 + $1.00 Tax. A Liter of José Cuervo Gold was $4.00 + the Border Tax was $0.80 per bottle. Each person was allowed to get 2 cases of beer and 2 liters of José. There was 5 of Us on this trip. The Molcajete was already partially broken in and I paid about $20.00 or so. The big mistake I made was that I bought it early in the day and had to carry it around (it weighed about 10-12 pounds and was about 16" across.) for several hours before We went back to the Truck parked in the parking garage at the Cadillac Bar for lunch. We parked there because it was a secure place to park and know that we would not get ripped off. (My in-laws were old friends of the owners since way back in the late 50's.)
The most recent one I got was from the local Mexican Market here in Mooresville, NC. It's about 6" in diameter and only weighs about 4 pounds. And I've been trying to get it broken-in and it's taking a while. IIRC it was $16.00.
Gosh.
I like watching this lady’s cooking videos; but when I’ve tried to find a molcajete like she uses, it cost close to a hundred bucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiX7dCkeI7k
Yikes !!! $100 American Money !?!?!?
Try these places:
https://www.heb.com/search?q=molcaheteI
https://www.walmart.com/search?q=molcajete
Wow, Thanks very much!
No problem, I would suggest that You should root around on the .net for Mexican Grocery Stores in the larger cities and towns in Texas and see what else You can find. The ones I sent to You were just in the Denton, TX Area the last place I lived before moving to NC. Do a search by Zip Codes should weed out a lot of knickknack stores.
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