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Waitress Notices Her Tip Is Gone, Looks At Surveillance Tape
The restaurant owner decided to post the video on Facebook, so everyone could see it. He hopes someone would recognize them and let them know that they had been caught.
Cedric Jackson
07.20.18

When it comes to teaching children what’s acceptable and what isn’t, it’s best to lead by example. Unfortunately, some parents don’t do that. In fact, they teach their children all the wrong things, and the examples they offer aren’t that great.

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One family recently got caught allowing their child to take a tip off a table at a restaurant.

The waitress had seated the family and did not pick up her tip from the customers who had been seated there before. She wasn’t too worried about it. She planned to get it later.

When she returned to take the order of the family she had just seated, she noticed the tip was gone. She assumed it had just fallen behind a menu or was underneath one of the condiments.

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When the family was finished and left, she noticed that the money was nowhere to be found.

She and her manager decided to go back over the security footage and see what really happened.

What they saw shocked them. In the video, one of the children can be seen putting her coloring sheet over the money. At one point she holds it up. Her mother pretends like she doesn’t see it, but it’s clear she does. The child hides the money and eventually pockets it. When the family leaves, the tip is nowhere to be found. It’s clear that the child took it and the mother allowed it.

Our Place Restaurant owner Benji Arslanovski was angry about the situation. He said:

“When the little girl took the money, she showed her parents. If my son did that and it’s not my money, I’d give him a look and he’d put it down, so I was waiting for that look. And, it didn’t happen.”

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He explained that the waitress didn’t want to cause a scene or ask the family about the tip, and she didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

She figured it was still somewhere on the table and she would find it when the table was cleaned. Arslanovski added:

“She thought maybe it got under a sugar caddy, jelly caddy. Of course, when they left, there was no tip there.”

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He wasn’t about the let the family get away with it.

If they were going to steal, he was going to call them out on it. He decided to post the video on Facebook, so everyone could see it. He knew someone would recognize the family and eventually let them know that they had been caught. He also assumed they would come forward and bring back the money they stole from the waitress.

He said:

“Our rule is if you make it right, we delete our post off Facebook.”

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This isn’t the first time someone has done something like this.

Other people have stolen money from the table or simply skipped out without paying their bills. He has caught them, as well, and shared their photos or videos on social media, too. He said:

“If it’s obvious their intention is to walk out, we post a video of them walking out. We’ve had eight so far, and I think all but two have come back and paid their bill.”

He feels that public shaming is much better and effective than calling the police. He gives the customers a chance to bring the money back or come back in and pay their bills without them having to worry about getting arrested. He also feels that the police have more important things to handle, so taking care of thing himself is the better option.

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While most people are embarrassed about their photos or videos being shared, some are actually happy that the owner doesn’t press charges.

He explained:

“We’ve had people tell me that. ‘Thank you for not calling the police, for letting me make things right’.”

Hopefully, people will stop taking things that don’t belong to them out of fear if they don’t already feel compelled to leave it alone out of human decency.

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