“I recently went to dinner with some friends and their friends, it was a really nice Japanese place and we all had a fantastic meal. When it came to paying, we all kinda threw in roughly what we owed with enough spare for a tip. Except for one guy who was being tighter than a gnat’s butt, making sure he was only going to pay exactly what his meal was to the cent and nothing more. So the receipt comes back, and there’s a good bit of change left over for a tip. But since the staff went above and beyond for us because some of us had special dietary requirements, needed to make sure things were gluten-free and all kinds of picky or awkward things, we wanted to throw in a bit more on as well. Well, this guy was shocked, he couldn’t fathom us leaving a tip! According to him, we were throwing away our money, and the food was already overpriced. We didn’t really think much of it, because this is Ireland, and tipping is generally not the done thing here.
Well, you know what this guy does? When we’re all leaving and getting our coats, he goes back to the table, and grabs the big tip we had left for the staff! I guess we all thought he had forgotten something, or just didn’t notice, but we didn’t find out until later what he had done when we were having drinks in the pub.
He said something along the lines of, ‘I should go out for dinner with you lot more often, I came out with more money than I went in with!’
What really made us mad was that the way he said it, he was so proud of himself.
We were all absolutely livid, but he said, ‘Sure, but you didn’t want it anyway,’ and was acting as we had just tossed our money in the bin. I haven’t spoken to him since then, and I’m glad to see that he has never been invited out with this particular group again.
I saw him again in a different restaurant maybe a year ago. It looked like he was out with a work event or something, all guys wearing suits. I nearly wanted to walk up to their table and announce to them that he’s a thieving idiot who steals tips and they should all keep a close eye on him, and tell the staff the same thing. I really wish I had done it.
But what a nightmare.”
