Ever been to a dinner that went from delightful to downright bizarre when the bill arrived? We’ve all heard of penny-pinchers, but these stories take it to a whole new level! From sneaky maneuvers to awkward confrontations, these diners share how their cheap friends and family members skimped on a bill. All content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Table of contents
1. The Lying Father
“My father left my mother when I was 18 months old. Afterward, I only saw him every other weekend until I was five. I didn’t see him again until I was an adult. Then, when I turned 24, my father came back into my life. I had a 2-year-old son and wanted very much for him to know his grandfather. Against my better judgment, I allowed my father a chance to right a wrong.
So, one night, I invited my dad out to dinner. When it came time to pay the check, I offered to pay and asked for my father to leave a tip. He agreed, pulled out a few bucks, and left them on the table.
I told him, ‘I’ve worked as a waitress before. The waitress counts on our tips to live. She deserves more than just $2.’
He shook his head, put down a few more dollars, and replied, ‘I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll meet you out at the car.’
I knew exactly what he was going to do.
I turned to my son’s father and said, ‘Take the baby. If my dad comes out to the car, just tell him I went to the bathroom, too.’
I watched my father take the tip back off the table and put it in his pocket when he thought we weren’t looking.
I didn’t say anything. I went to the bathroom and stood at the sink for a moment. The waitress who had served us came into the bathroom while I was standing there.
She said, ‘The man you were with took my tip back.’
‘I’m sorry, take this,’ I told the waitress as I handed her $10.
I thanked the waitress for doing an excellent job and walked out. When I got back to the car, my dad was already standing there. I gave him the same amount as the tip he left before taking it back.
I said, ‘Here’s the tip you left on the table. I left a tip on my card, and the waitress said you could have the cash back.’
He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He hesitated taking back the money but quickly shoved it into his pocket. My dad never admitted to taking the tip off the table, but I never asked him. At this moment, I knew I couldn’t trust him, and probably never would be able to.
Some people will never change no matter how much you want them to.”
2. Dual Family Drama
“A few months ago, my husband, family, and I went to a restaurant to celebrate my stepchildren’s high school graduation. My husband’s family was seated at one long table. There were maybe 12 of us there. My husband’s ex-wife and her family were seated at another long table on the other side of the restaurant. There was some visiting back and forth between our tables, especially with all of the kids and cousins.
We all ordered our food and the meals started to come. I noticed my husband’s ex-wife’s mother and one of her grandchildren remained at our table. The servers kept bringing the meals, and I noticed they brought meals for the ex-wife’s two family members.
‘How odd,’ I thought to myself. I assumed they would return to their table and eat, but they never did. Nobody asked for separate checks, so we were all splitting the bill. Assuming everyone would chip in, I ate my food and tried to ignore it. Still, it struck me as odd the ex-wife’s family members ate at our table instead. Why would they eat with us, when it seemed like they would have been more comfortable eating at their family’s table?
My father-in-law was sitting next to me, so I glanced over at him. He was lasered in on my husband’s ex-wife. He knew her personality, and I didn’t. From this moment, I knew the restaurant bill was going to be an issue. When the ex-wife’s family members were done eating, they got up from our table and walked away. Everyone at our table was still talking, so nobody noticed except for my FIL and me.
There was some bad blood between the adults in the two families at the time. We agreed to come together to celebrate the children’s accomplishments, but hatefulness prevailed. I didn’t even want to go to the dinner at all because I was so uncomfortable. So, it definitely would have been awkward to walk over to their table to ask about the unpaid meals.
The server finally brought out the bill, and everyone added their share of the money. When the bill came to my FIL, he finally addressed the elephant in the room.
‘I’m not paying for them. Their table should have paid for their food,’ he explained.
I nodded and agreed. The server walked over and collected our money, then announced the shortage for the two unpaid meals. Everyone got defensive about how they paid their share, and nobody mentioned my husband’s ex-MIL and grandchild. Nobody had any solution, and nobody offered to pay. The server huffed and walked away.
After reviewing the bill again, I noticed the tip we left was low. A couple of people in the party didn’t ‘really’ pay their fair share, either. Only pitched in a couple of bucks. When the server came back, I picked up the pile of cash everyone left, dug out my credit card, and handed it to the server. Plus, I left her a decent tip.
I didn’t cover the bill to be some hero, I was just angry. I was embarrassed because my husband’s ex-wife’s family behaved terribly, and livid about my family putting me in such a cheap, low-class predicament. I just wanted to get out of there, and nobody else was offering to pay.
Afterward, I vowed to never split checks anymore. It wasn’t worth the drama.”
3. “I Always Spoke Up When Someone Didn’t Pay Their Fair Share”
“I always hated when people didn’t offer to chip in on a restaurant bill.
One time, my brother, family, and I went out to dinner. Every time we went out to eat and it came time to pay the bill, he would ‘go to the bathroom.’ He wouldn’t come out until he was sure we were all ready to go out the door. On this particular occasion, we told the waitress my brother was paying the bill, and we all walked out. When he came out of the bathroom, he was livid we didn’t already pay the bill.
I laughed and replied, ‘Well, it makes up for all of the times you didn’t pay.’
My friend also had a situation where someone didn’t offer to chip in on a bill. She went out to lunch with a group of people, and she thought everyone agreed to split the check.
When the check came, one member of the group said, ‘I’ll be right back,’ but she never returned.
When everyone confronted her, she claimed she had an emergency phone call.
‘No problem,’ my friend told her, ‘But since you aren’t on the phone anymore, you can pay us now.’
Eventually, she finally confessed she didn’t have the money to pay, there was no phone call, and she shouldn’t have gone out to dinner in the first place. She said she was tired of never going anywhere because of lack of money and was hoping nobody would have noticed she left.
I felt bad for the girl, but you couldn’t do that to your friends. I always spoke up when someone didn’t pay their fair share.”
4. “She Only Left The Waitress $2”
“One time, my department at work went out to lunch. About 20 people went, and we all knew we were supposed to be responsible for paying for our food.
When it came time to pay, one coworker, ‘Jessica,’ told the waitress she would handle the bill. Jessica went down the bill and asked who ordered what food item, then told them how much they owed. Afterward, we all passed our money down to Jessica.
I was only sitting one chair away from her, so I saw how she handled the bill. I caught Jessica running scams before, so I didn’t particularly trust her.
Once she collected all of the money, Jessica asked for a bit more money from each person to cover the waitress’s tip. She eventually collected enough money to pay the bill, PLUS stuff some cash in her purse. When everyone left, I stayed behind to check out the bill. Jessica only left the waitress $2 and pocketed a little over $20 for herself.
She was always doing something to make money off of other coworkers like selling counterfeit products or running fake raffle scams. In the past, Jessica did baseball and football raffles where the prize money was only 75% of the money she collected. It was ridiculous!
Needless to say, I knew I wouldn’t be going out to eat with her again. After her scamming behavior at the restaurant, who knows if she even paid her bill? She probably ended up using someone else’s money.”
