Marriage and FIRE

[Milton]

"Who pays" begins to be rather meaningless after a while.

Right on.

 

[Chuckanut]

Many years ago my cousin dated a guy who took her out for a fine dinner and a fine restaurant. Towards the very end of the meal she noticed he was constantly glancing about the restaurant. Suddenly, he stood up and announced that all the servers were far away and needed to head for the door quickly. When she asked who was going to pay for the meal he responded "You, if you don't come with me now." Having insufficent funds of her own, she joined him.

Needless to say, it was her last date with the guy.

 

[W2R]

Many years ago my cousin dated a guy who took her out for a fine dinner and a fine restaurant. Towards the very end of the meal she noticed he was constantly glancing about the restaurant. Suddenly, he stood up and announced that all the servers were far away and needed to head for the door quickly. When she asked who was going to pay for the meal he responded "You, if you don't come with me now." Having insufficent funds of her own, she joined him.

Needless to say, it was her last date with the guy.

You know, I am 65 years old and have seen a lot in my life, but I have never had a guy pull THAT one on me. If he did, I would feel obliged to speak to the manager and make arrangements to return with the money owed.

I think your cousin was smart to never see the guy again. Eating a fine dinner and then leaving without paying a cent for it is a crime, to my way of thinking. It goes beyond the question of "Should he pay or should she pay?".

 

[Sarah in SC]

I've never participated in a "Dine and Dash" myself, but I've heard of them for years. But at at a fancy restaurant? Never--the ones I heard about were at Waffle House and the like.

 

[haha]

I think your cousin was smart to never see the guy again. Eating a fine dinner and then leaving without paying a cent for it is a crime, to my way of thinking. It goes beyond the question of "Should he pay or should she pay?".

If she were thinking well, she would have stayed and described what had happened. If she didn't have a credit card, she should leave her contact information and pay up asap. This isn't just a crime in your opinion, it is a crime period, and could give someone a record if they got caught, or someone recognized them.

A woman can always get a date with a man who is at least minimally law abiding, and that should probably be a hurdle that she never relaxes.


Ha

 

[youbet]

A woman can always get a date with a man who is at least minimally law abiding, and that should probably be a hurdle that she never relaxes.

Yeah, she could if she wanted....... But some of the ladies crave relationships with "bad boys."

 

[Meadbh]

I have a friend whose brother runs a prison. He says you wouldn't believe how many low life felons have attractive, intelligent, well educated GFs/wives.

 

[youbet]

I have a friend whose brother runs a prison. He says you wouldn't believe how many low life felons have attractive, intelligent, well educated GFs/wives.

I shared your post with DW. She says we have most of the bases covered. She's certainly attractive, intelligent and well educated. I'm definitely a low life. We're just missing the felon part.

 

[omni550]

A woman can always get a date with a man who is at least minimally law abiding, and that should probably be a hurdle that she never relaxes.
Ha

That reminds me of a date I had a couple of years ago.

On a first date with a guy (let's call him John), among the half-dozen things we did that day (coffee shop, farmer's market, hike, lunch, etc.), John wanted to show me a nearby privately-owned swimming lake/campground nearby that a corn farmer runs on part of his unfarmed land.

As we were leaving (and waiting for the farmer to come out and open the gate for us), John proceeds to tell me that on a previous visit, he had stopped his car near the corn field and helped himself to several ears of corn. As John was exiting, the farmer (who must have some sort of surveillance system) angrily demanded the purloined corn and reprimanded John.

I found it quite interesting that John 1) told me the story and 2) expressed indignation with the farmer's actions.

Needless to say, based on this and some of John's other behaviors, I never went out with him again.

omni

 

[Keim]

I shared your post with DW. She says we have most of the bases covered. She's certainly attractive, intelligent and well educated. I'm definitely a low life. We're just missing the felon part.

A problem that is easily solved...

 

[youbet]

That reminds me of a date I had a couple of years ago.

On a first date with a guy (let's call him John), among the half-dozen things we did that day (coffee shop, farmer's market, hike, lunch, etc.), John wanted to show me a nearby privately-owned swimming lake/campground nearby that a corn farmer runs on part of his unfarmed land.

As we were leaving (and waiting for the farmer to come out and open the gate for us), John proceeds to tell me that on a previous visit, he had stopped his car near the corn field and helped himself to several ears of corn. As John was exiting, the farmer (who must have some sort of surveillance system) angrily demanded the purloined corn and reprimanded John.

I found it quite interesting that John 1) told me the story and 2) expressed indignation with the farmer's actions.

Needless to say, based on this and some of John's other behaviors, I never went out with him again.

omni

Somehow I thought this story was leading up to a suggestion by John of "skinny dipping" at the swimming hole........ Of course the farmer's surveillance system would have made that a candidate for a great You Tube posting.

(Sorry, kind of a boring afternoon here today. )

 

[rodi]

I will admit to participating in a dine-n-dash... But only after attempting to pay for more than 30 minutes. We asked for the check. We waiting 10 minutes and asked again. We flagged another server and asked at the 20 minute mark. then we left at the 30 minute mark - because we would miss our movie.

It was a group of about 5 of us.

I still don't feel guilt about that - if you can't even get the check - how do you pay.

 

[omni550]

I will admit to participating in a dine-n-dash... But only after attempting to pay for more than 30 minutes. We asked for the check. We waiting 10 minutes and asked again. We flagged another server and asked at the 20 minute mark. then we left at the 30 minute mark - because we would miss our movie.

It was a group of about 5 of us.

I still don't feel guilt about that - if you can't even get the check - how do you pay.

1) You could guesstimate (incl tax)and leave that in cash on the table or hand it to the waitstaff.
2) You could go back after the movie, explain the situation, and pay.
3) You could call the restaurant, fess up and pay via credit card.

omni

 

[REWahoo]

I will admit to participating in a dine-n-dash... But only after attempting to pay for more than 30 minutes. We asked for the check. We waiting 10 minutes and asked again. We flagged another server and asked at the 20 minute mark. then we left at the 30 minute mark

DW and I had a similar experience - but we couldn't find anyone to ask for the check. We waited for several minutes after finishing our meal for the check but she never returned. We didn't see her or any other restaurant employee after our server brought our order. The entire staff vanished.

This was during lunch in downtown Victoria, BC and there were a dozen or so other customers also looking for their server or their food. I even went back into the kitchen looking for someone - no one in sight.

Creepy. We left, caught the ferry back to the US and consider ourselves persona non grata in Greater Canukistan.

 

[rodi]

1) You could guesstimate (incl tax)and leave that in cash on the table or hand it to the waitstaff.
2) You could go back after the movie, explain the situation, and pay.
3) You could call the restaurant, fess up and pay via credit card.

omni

It was 30 years ago. The restaurant went out of business about 15 years ago.

I guess I should have done what you said - but it didn't occur to me. Actually we considered #1, but it was a very crowded bar section of a restaurant - and we were worried it would be swiped by other patrons.

We'd made a very good effort to pay (asking for the check 3 times, over 30 minutes.) We didn't sneak out. It was poor service on their part that caused the problem.

I feel no guilt over this one. If I had snuck out, or tried to dodge paying, I would feel guilty... but we couldn't get a check no matter how hard we tried.

 

[travelover]

........ The restaurant went out of business about 15 years ago............

Well, I'm not surprised with everyone ripping them off.

 

[LoneAspen]

DW and I had a similar experience - but we couldn't find anyone to ask for the check. We waited for several minutes after finishing our meal for the check but she never returned. We didn't see her or any other restaurant employee after our server brought our order. The entire staff vanished.

This was during lunch in downtown Victoria, BC and there were a dozen or so other customers also looking for their server or their food. I even went back into the kitchen looking for someone - no one in sight.

Creepy. We left, caught the ferry back to the US and consider ourselves persona non grata in Greater Canukistan.

Maybe the restaurant staff was Raptured!

 

[Milton]

I guess I should have done what you said - but it didn't occur to me. Actually we considered #1, but it was a very crowded bar section of a restaurant - and we were worried it would be swiped by other patrons.

We'd made a very good effort to pay (asking for the check 3 times, over 30 minutes.) We didn't sneak out. It was poor service on their part that caused the problem.

I feel no guilt over this one. If I had snuck out, or tried to dodge paying, I would feel guilty... but we couldn't get a check no matter how hard we tried.

It's not your responsibility to make extraordinary efforts to overcome their inefficiency. Waiting more than 30 minutes for the bill is ridiculous.

Well, I'm not surprised with everyone ripping them off.

I would change to "Well, I'm not surprised when they couldn't be bothered to receive payment when repeatedly offered".