A Tip Tip-Off
About thirty years ago, I had a favorite restaurant/bar I frequented (one with dancers). I developed friendships with many of the staff. Near the entrance were two pool tables and a pinball machine, separated by a half-wall from the restaurant tables and dancing stages. At the far end was a bar with seats. Beyond that was a hallway to the restrooms and the staff break room.
One night, just before I became engaged, I just felt like playing pool. A new waitress was assigned to take orders from those of us in the pool room. This was so that those of us playing pool wouldn’t have to go back and forth to the bar for drinks. I ordered my usual premium ale, which was $4 a glass. The waitress broke a $20 bill I had, and I tipped her the dollar bill. For the next couple of hours, she served me three more ales, which again I tipped her the $1, which ate up the rest of my cash. I went home after that.
After I became engaged, I didn’t visit the restaurant for a while. About a year later, I decided to have lunch there.
One of my friends, the barmaid, saw me and called me over to the bar. She said the last time I was there, I had started a check and never settled it. I asked her when this was, because I couldn’t exactly remember the last time I’d patronized the restaurant. She mentioned that I had been playing pool and ordered four beers from their new-at-the-time waitress and hadn’t settled with her.
Feeling sorry for her, my friend had covered the check. She then said I owed her $20. I reminded my friend that I always used cash there, for the pool tables and the dancers. I also remembered paying her with cash out of the $20 I’d had.
Not wanting my friend to have hard feelings, I paid her $20 I “owed” her. But I asked her if the waitress still worked there, and she did. So I advised my friend to watch her carefully.
A couple of weeks later, I went back to the restaurant. My friend was bartending again, and she called me over. It turns out two of their waitresses – the one who’d served me and another – were running a scam. They’d notice if patrons were using just cash, and if they were imbibing a little much. They’d then create a ticket in their POS system, but then not settle it with the cash the patrons were giving them. They’d then cry to whoever was manager and/or bartender that they’d been stiffed, and the soft-hearted boss would cover their “loss”.
They’d done this to several bartenders, hoping they wouldn’t compare notes. Also, the nature of the bar didn’t really have many regulars (usually bachelor parties and/or businessmen from out of town). But with me coming back and warning them, they were caught and fired.
