Arizona woman goes to 10-person dinner for her birthday. Then she gets angry no one offers to pay for her—and comes up with a twisted solution
Dine-and-dashers are one of restaurant servers’ biggest nightmares. While they don’t happen all the time, workers are often expected to cover the cost if a customer walks out.
With the average mid-range meal for two costing between $50 and $100, that can turn into a major loss.
In a video that has gotten over 10,600 views, Arizona server and TikTok creator Elizabeth Thorne (@elizabeththorne_) shared a work story showing how something like this can happen, even when you’re actively watching a table.
What Happened At The Restaurant?
“OK, so here’s a story about a lady who dine and dashed,” she begins.
She says the dine-and-dasher was celebrating her birthday with a group of around 10 people.
“When it came time to pay, everybody asked for separate checks, and nobody offered to pick up her tab,” Thorne says.
According to her, the woman was visibly upset and refused to pay.
“She was obviously angry and was, like, sitting there and refusing to pay her tab,” she recalls.
That’s when Thorne says she started keeping a close eye on her.
“I’m watching this lady like a hawk,” she says. “I was getting horrible vibes from her.”
According to the server, she brought the check over three times, but the woman kept making excuses.
“She kept saying, like, ‘Oh, I lost it… You never brought it to me,’” Thorne recalls.
Things got more fishy when the woman began going back and forth to the bathroom.
“She then goes to the bathroom every five minutes, and the rest of her party is gradually leaving,” she remembers.
According to Thorne, the woman eventually figured out there was another exit through the bathroom.
“And so after like 10 times of going to the bathroom, she finally works up the courage to dine and dash… and leaves,” she says.
Thorne says she realized what happened after coming back from the kitchen. “I’m like, where the heck is this lady?”
At that point, only two people from the group were still there.
“I was like, awesome. I was like, here’s her $150 tab. I’m gonna need you to pick that up.”
Commenters Are Shocked, Others Offer Tips
In the comments, viewers were shocked by the diner’s behavior.
“Let’s circle back to the exit in the bathroom ??” one person wrote.
Thorne clarified how it worked. “It had a door into the restaurant and a door to the outside area lol,” she responded.
Others shared how their workplaces handle situations like this.
“I worked at a restaurant that allowed us to put a persons tab on the card of whoever they were with. If it’s a party and one person decided not to pay, someone at that table will,” another wrote.
Some questioned how the situation got that far in the first place.
“I’m surprised that someone like her had 10 people to come to her bday dinner cause actually what is wrong with you???” a third wondered.
Who Is Responsible For the Bill of A Dine-And-Dasher?
According to Food & Wine, restaurants handle dine-and-dash situations in different ways, and there isn’t one standard rule across the industry.
In some cases, servers say they’ve been asked to cover the cost themselves, which is widely considered the worst-case scenario. Other restaurants may take disciplinary approaches instead, like writing employees up.
For example, one server on Reddit’s r/serverlife said their restaurant deals with frequent dine-and-dash incidents due to its location near a busy mall. Despite staff not being allowed to constantly monitor tables, they still get written up when customers leave without paying.
Another server shared a more extreme experience, saying their manager made them chase down a customer in the parking lot after a walkout.
“I awkwardly knocked on the window and said they didn’t pay… Dude threw a wad of money at me and drove off quickly… it was so awkward and way above my pay grade,” they wrote.
@elizabeththorne_ Dine and dashers are the worst #arizona #fyp #bartender #server #bar ♬ original sound – elizabeththorne_
The Mary Sue has reached out to Thorne via Instagram messages for comment.
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