Italian tourist busted at posh East Side steakhouse for forgetting wallet (Arrested in NYC)

NY Daily News ^ | 1/25/13 | KERRY BURKE AND JOE KEMP

[jimbo123]

Welcome to New York, pal — now go to jail.

An Italian tourist spent his second night in the city behind bars after staff at an upscale East Side steakhouse called cops when he claimed he left his wallet at a friend’s place.

Graziano Graziussi, a 43-year-old lawyer from Naples, is a regular at Smith & Wollensky — but this time, barely 24 hours into his latest two-week stay in New York, he realized he didn’t have his wallet on him when a waiter presented him with the $208 bill Monday night.

“I forgot my wallet,” the clean-cut Graziussi told the waiter — but the staff at the Third Ave. eatery wasn’t buying it, even after Graziussi offered some pricey collateral while he went to get the cash about 30 blocks uptown.

“I was going to leave my iPhone,” he said. “I suggested they bring a bus boy with me. . . . It would have been an easy trip.”

But the general manager called police instead.

[GOPJ]

A lot of people use this as a tactic to skip out on their bill.

Same reason we can't have easy return policies in stores anymore. The more lowlifes in a society - the more people who lack a moral center or self discipline - the more rules, laws, and lack of tolerance are necessary to not be a chump.

When I was a kid the restaurant would have been safe letting the man go back to the hotel to get his wallet. In today crappy United States - filled with 'liberal values' few city people can allow someone to go back to the hotel...

It was a better country before liberals 'values' were pushed on us...

[Responsibility2nd]

....and whether they are good tippers or not.

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I think you’re the first to hit on what I’ve been thinking. Perhaps he is a regular. And perhaps he’s a crappy tipper.

Being from Europe and all... maybe he didn’t know beter. Who knows?

[pgkdan]

No steak dinner is worth $200. The owners are the ones who are making out like bandits.

There were two of them eating and if they had drinks before and wine with dinner I can see a $208.00 bill very easily.

[pgkdan]

No, you come on. The manager proved to be a bad judge of character, playing the New York hard ass and grossly insulting a guest over a paltry $208 check (at a restaurant that must gross $75,000 every day). He should be fired.

I agree...

[Former Fetus]

Florida? It’s a far cry from NYC!

[BykrBayb]

LaPancreas? LOL. I guess that’s better than Placenta LaRue.

[radiohead]

That’s probably one of the differences between NYC and the midwest.

I’m in flyover country. I once left my wallet, not realizing it until I got to the checkout. The grocery store kept my cart w/the bags and said it was fine for me to go home and get my wallet.

I came back, got my stuff, and was very thankful (and impressed) that they didn’t make a big deal of it and didn’t try to embarrass me in public at the checkout.