These cheapstake diners thought they could skip out on their bills, only to be met with karma. And the people they were willing to screw over get front row seats to witness it all unfold. Haha. Content has been edited for clarity.
Medium Or Rare Steak?
“A few friends of mine were out for a meal. We were all enjoying our meals and the conversation. At the table next to us, there was a woman in her mid-thirties, who was loud and bossy. She had already complained to the waiter that the steak he had served her was medium and she had asked for rare.
I’m sure that she had in fact ordered a medium steak but it was none of my business so said nothing. Later that evening when the waiter had brought their bill, she refused to pay for her steak since they had got it wrong in the first place.
A friend of mine said Excuse me to the waiter and showed him her phone as it played a short video at full volume. You could clearly hear the woman order a medium steak, apparently, she had videoed everyone’s meal to post on Facebook, Snapchat, or some other social media and had picked up this woman ordering her meal.
You would have thought that was the end of it but to our surprise, one of her guests turned on her, ‘Lauren, you pull the same shit every time and finally you’ve been caught out, if I was the restaurant I would charge you for both steaks.’
Nearly every person in the restaurant was now looking at the drama that was happening at this table. The woman said sheepishly that she would pay for both steaks then left the restaurant embarrassed.”
Karaoke Gone Wrong
“This wasn’t a restaurant but at a ‘luxury’ karaoke.
When I first came to Cambodia I befriended many locals. Every day they would come to my guest house and drink 50 cents beer at a mom-and-pop store located at the front; I footed the bills most of the time even though some of them aren’t poor.
Most evenings we would hit beer garden (a Khmer version of a bar) drinking pitchers and flirting with hostesses or whatnot. It’s not uncommon for Asian men to hit 2nd place or 3rd place and usually ends at a karaoke place with a hostess (es) of your choice who would clap and cheer while you are singing as though you are a famous pop star. Though it isn’t my thing when in Rome….
On most occasions I usually footed most of the bills but this time due to excessive drinking I passed out in a karaoke. The guys ditched me and when I woke up I was presented with a $300 bill. I was shocked and in disbelief that those punks pulled such a stunt. The karaoke manager/security held me captive until the bill was paid; he drove me to an ATM so I could withdraw the cash.
Seethe with rage I vowed to never hang out with them again but after a day of rest, my temper cooled down, and decided to play their game. The next time we met they acted like nothing ever happened and I acted cool like no big deal (in this part of the world, if you are a foreigner some see you as a walking ATM).
Not long after they wanted to hang out again, and this time brought a few of their buddies along and hit a luxury karaoke before calling it a night. We ordered a load of booze like high-end whiskeys, Heineken, and overpriced side dishes with around 11 hostesses to accommodate 7 dudes. While they were happily singing local romantic songs, holding hands, and flirting with the hostesses I slipped away and rode my motorbike back home. 2 hours or so later my phone rang like crazy, I turned it off, sipped my 50 cents beer while laying flat on my bed and watched the ceiling fan calling it a night.
I learned the next morning that they had to pawn their bikes for the $1,300 something bills. They aggressively tried to get me to pay some part of the bill but I flat-out refused, and they knew there was nothing they could do about it as their parents, wives, and GFs would not be happy to hear they went to such an establishment and even worse got their bikes pawned as a result.”
“Charming” Local Man
“A friend of mine told me this interesting story of a situation that happened to her when she was in her 20’s and on a trip to Italy (it was either Italy or France) by herself.
She was out sightseeing and she met this very charming man (local) who spent some time pointing out the sights to her and then invited her out for dinner that night. My friend, enchanted by his charm and good looks agreed. So she went back to her hotel room and met him at the restaurant they agreed upon. When the server took their order she noticed that he was ordering a huge amount of food and alcohol to the point of ridiculous and she started to get a big suspicious. Sure enough when the bill came he suddenly exclaimed that he had forgotten his wallet at home and he would need to borrow money from her. My friend smiled sweetly and said she didn’t have any money. At this the man was no longer charming and started to threaten her and was saying all kind of obscenities.
The server overheard and guessing the man’s game came back over and asked the man for his passport (apparently one has to travel with ID) and then come back later that night or the next day to take care of the bill and once he did so his passport would be returned. This made the man even more furious and he then started shouting at my friend of how he was going to hurt her…. and other nasty things.
The server asked my friend to go to use the rest room and take her time. When she returned back to the table the man was gone (apparently being ‘escorted’ out of the restaurant) and server confirmed that the man didn’t know which hotel she was staying at and then made arrangements to get her back to her room safely just in case the man was outside waiting for her.
A scary situation and I’m sure this man made a career out of swindling females traveling alone and had always gotten away with it but in this case he was caught out and not happy about it!”
“The Most Expensive Item Was $7.50”
“A large group of about 12–16 people used to go to a BYOB Mexican place. The most expensive item on the menu was $7.50, and you could get a plate full of food for $5. So it was by no means a pricey place. And as you could bring your own beer, it was very affordable. Great food, though.
We would sit in a back room, drink a bunch of beers and have a great time. It was pretty standard to tip $5 pp, so the total cost was under $25 per couple. We’d pass the check around, toss in money and a tip. One woman didn’t have any small bills, so she got the check last and used our money for change. Then it happened again, and I noticed she took two 20s and a 10. I knew everyone else left $5 each for a tip, so i asked the server how much of a tip she got, and realized the woman was paying for her and her husband’s food with our tips.
So the next time we all went, she pulled the ‘I don’t have any small bills’ schtick again, but I was ready for her.
I said, ‘I’ve got plenty of cash, how much change do you need?’
Before she could recover, she shot me a look of pure death. Her husband rocked back in his chair and just about choked trying to hold in his laughter. He knew what she’d been doing, but was too much of a milquetoast to say anything. It was grand.”
Work Colleagues
“Years ago I had a steady girlfriend who worked for Motorola in a very high administrative position. Her immediate supervisor was actually one of the executive vice presidents of the company. She took me on a lot of company functions including lunches and dinners. Most of the associates were actually very nice people. There was one associate though a woman who was a bit of a pill and always had to one-up anybody who told any kind of anecdotal story about a life experience or family happening.
A lot of times after these company dinners the group would go to a bar and have drinks. Everyone paid for their own drinks except for this particular lady. She always seemed to be broke. These people including my girlfriend made bank, most of them were 180,000 to 250,000 a year. I knew this because my girlfriend was way up there also and told me about these people. I’ve always been a blue-collar kind of guy and even today I bring home right around 60,000 or maybe a little better.
Anyway, one night we were in Flagstaff and we all went to this little bar where the only parking was pay to park. Well, this particular lady insisted that the one parking lot we were in was a free parking lot. Even though there was a pay station where you pay get a ticket and you put the ticket in your windshield. She insisted that was just for daytime parking. Well, I told my girlfriend I would pay just to be safe, I mean it was only 5 bucks.
Well, we all closed the place down when they came with the drink bill we all split it between us, but low and behold this lady didn’t have any money. So we all just covered her share. I didn’t say anything and nobody else said anything we just did it. We were all enjoying the evening and nobody wanted to put a negative spin on the end of the evening. Well we walked to the parking lot my car was there and my girlfriend and I were about to get in it when this lady started screaming her car was gone.
Well, little miss know it all, who insisted we were wasting our money to pay for parking had her car towed.
I held my tongue but when my girlfriend and I got in my car, I broke out laughing. I said “I think the tow bill and impound charges are going to cost her a lot more than her drink bill and she deserves it”
Well, that’s karma for you, sooner or later it will catch up with you.”
