Server Uses A Customer's Phone To Send Herself Money For Her $103 Tab Plus Tip After She Tried To Walk Out Without Paying
She made sure she didn’t get away with dining and dashing.
CandyBox Images / Shutterstock There's nothing worse for a server than customers who try to get out of paying their tab.
After two women refused to pay for their order and attempted to walk out of the restaurant unnoticed, their observant server made sure they didn’t leave until she received payment.
The server took to TikTok to detail her stressful encounter as two women continued to play dumb to avoid paying their bill.
The woman, Grace Ray, didn’t suspect anything when the two blonde women entered the restaurant. Ray noticed one of the women appeared to have lip filler, exclaiming that if she could afford to pay for lip filler, she could afford to pay for her tab.
The women ordered two appetizers, two drinks, and two shots.
“Keep in mind, our prices are pretty pricey, and they were getting good [stuff], so that alone was already $100,” Ray said.
When they were finished, the women asked to split the bill. Ray handed them their tabs, around $50 each, and gave them some time to put their cards in the billfold. After a few minutes, Ray returned and asked if they were ready for her to take their bills, and they told her yes.
Ray took their tabs and walked away, only to find there were no cards or any form of payment in them. She walked back and informed them that their bills were empty and gave them some more time to pay.
After she came back again and asked if they were ready, the women asked for “just a few more minutes.” At that moment, Ray knew what was coming. She walked away and made sure to keep an eye on them.
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But when Ray walked outside to greet another table, she returned inside to find one of the women already gone and the other one “awkwardly” talking on the phone and looking around as she slowly inched her way out of the booth.
At first, Ray gave them the benefit of the doubt and hoped they closed out with a different server, but when she checked their bill, she found that it was still empty.
Ray chased after the woman, exclaiming she needed to pay for her bill.
“She’s on the phone, starting to walk a little bit faster trying to get out, and I said, ‘Ma’am!’” Ray detailed. “I’m literally chasing her out of the building. I walk outside, and I say, ‘You need to pay your tab.”
Ray said the woman looked dazed and confused and appeared to be playing dumb, as though she had no idea she had walked out without paying. Ray said she spoke in a slow tone.
“I literally start talking to her like a dog. I was like, ‘You can come back inside! I can’t let you leave without you paying!” Ray demonstrated in a bubbly, high-pitched voice.
Ray gestured and waved toward security to get their attention and hint at the woman attempting to walk out on her tab. He walked over to monitor the situation.
Ray reiterated to the woman how much her bill was. The woman claimed she needed to go grab her friend to sign off on it. Ray said she needed to leave a card or some form of payment, to which the woman said she didn't have any. She continued trying to get out of paying, claiming she’d “be right back.”
“I literally looked at her and said, ‘You’re not going to walk out on me.’” Ray explained. “I said, ‘You cannot leave with a tab open, so we’re going to have security walk you out.’”
The woman was now out of excuses, but Ray was determined to make sure she paid, or else she would be responsible for covering their tab.
The security walked her back into the restaurant to pay.
The woman then claimed she would close out with Apple Pay, but the restaurant didn't accept Apple Pay.
"And then she's trying to give me attitude, and I'm like, nope, this is the day I'm going to get fired," Ray expressed. "When I get pissed off, I get pissed off. It's the Aries in me."
Ray thought she was completely out of options, but when management informed one of the other servers, named Jo, who Ray said is her best friend, about the situation, Jo quickly stepped in to resolve the matter.
"She sees me fuming because I couldn't even talk," Ray said. "The next words out of my mouth, I would've gotten fired for."
Jo instantly came up with a solution, informing the woman that they couldn't do Apple Pay but could let her Cashapp her payment to Ray, who would pay the tab for her that way. The woman tried to reject this option, but Jo intervened and grabbed her phone as she detailed the process, dialing Ray's phone number so she could send her the money.
"She's like, 'Okay, the total is $103, but we're actually going to still tip her 20%, so you're going to send her $123,'" Ray said Jo told the woman.
The woman was speechless by Jo's intervention and submitted to her authoritativeness. At first, the payments wouldn't go through, but Jo realized the woman's phone was in airplane mode, so she disabled it herself. Finally, the payment went through, and Jo curtly told the woman she was good to go and walked away.
"You could tell she was so ... pissed off that she didn't get away with it," Ray said.
The woman was dumbfounded by the turn of events, but Ray told her she was free to leave. Later on, after the woman left, Ray began getting numerous Facetime calls from the customer's number. She quickly transferred the payment to her account and blocked the number, having had enough of the woman's drama.
Ray and Jo's unwavering determination to hold the woman accountable for her actions proved the power of taking control and finding solutions.
Despite the anxiety and stress from the experience, Jo had Ray's back and went above and beyond to make sure the woman didn't get away with dashing on her tab or not leaving a tip. While Jo's actions may have seemed invasive, her response was necessary to combat the woman's refusal to pay for her meal.
In the end, one of Ray's other nearby tables that witnessed the event ended up tipping her $100. Despite the chaos, the two women helped Ray make more money, so maybe the stress was worth it.
Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, adventure, and spirituality topics.