Another day, another dine and dash with a waitress trying to get her money. According to NBC Los Angeles, an Anaheim, California waitress/Wonder Woman named Maria Uriostegui had four losers in her section who decided they didn’t feel like paying their $45 bill so they up and left. Well, Maria wasn’t having that so she followed them to the car and tapped on the window asking if they were going to pay or not. The 24 year-old driver, Rowshaid Pellum, decided that rather than pull out a credit card and apologize for trying to skip out on his bill, it would be easier for him to just run her ass over so that’s what he did. Somehow, Maria was not seriously injured even though the tires rolled right over legs. She has some scratches and a bruised lung. There was some serious miracle shit going on in that parking lot that day and Martha, the Patron Saint of Servers was working overtime. Either that or Maria is some kind of superhero, because she got up and hobbled back into the restaurant where the police were called. The suspects’ car was spotted at a motel three blocks away and and they were all booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and defrauding an innkeeper. I guess they will think twice about not paying their check next time.
Hopefully Maria will think twice next time about chasing down dine and dashers. In hindsight, she said “I don’t think it was worth it. I have a 2-year old and a 12-year old.”
People: STOP CHASING AFTER DINE AND DASHERS. Get out there and write down the license plate number and then let the police finish their donuts and do their job. Just last week another restaurant employee jumped on the hood of a car in an effort to get their money. I can guarantee you will never see me jumping on a car unless it’s the Margarita-Mobile and they are giving out free samples. A lot of servers worry that if they have a walkout that the restaurant is going to make them pay for it, but that is against the law. If a restaurant makes you pay for someone else’s theft, call the labor board and complain about it.
Maria risked her life for a $45 bill and it wasn’t even her money. Maybe she wanted that 15% tip, but anyone who walks out on a bill wasn’t planning on tipping anyway. Even if you catch up to these losers and they decide to pay their check, you think they are going to cough up another seven or eight bucks for a tip? Doubtful.
If you have a walkout, do your best to get the license plate number but do not, under any circumstances, put yourself in harm’s way. The car they are in turns into a deadly weapon as soon as they put their foot on the gas pedal and see you in front of the grill. Unless you are like Maria and have super powers that allow cars to run right over you, you could be seriously hurt or maimed.
sally
Thieves are everywhere, in every walk of life, because trying to get something for nothing is just part of the human condition. The real lowlifes in this situation are the restaurant owners and managers who make servers pay for dine & dashers.
Theft is a cost of doing business of any kind, & when it’s YOUR business YOU should be the one to suffer that loss.
Mangler
For you all to smirk at:
Had a dasher once that was spotted easily as soon as they left because their illegally parked car had been booted.
Bix Nood
Rowshaid huh? Sounds Canadian.
#ONTHEFLY
Yeah, where i work on the busy, crowded, pier 39 in san francisco, there is patio seating with a fire pit; or a ditch pit as i call it. People come sit and eat, and send you in for to go containers or a refill and disappear into the throngs of people while you’re fulfilling their requests. We get one walk out, and then we get a write up, and then termination. So in essence, unless we want to be fired, we have to pay for their check. We’re supposed to alert a manager if we feel like people are sketchy, but we can’t profile people. I’ve paid for multiple walk outs, and wouldn’t sign my write up as i had alerted the manager, and im not an inattentive server. We have a strict “don’t chase them” rule because of another wonder server who chased the perps all the way to their car where the guy grabbed a bat out of it and started swinging while the chick maced her…the sickest part about this is that they had their 8 year old daughter with them who was laughing at the spectacle…who also decorated a napkin that said, “ha ha. You no get no tip!” With hearts and smiley faces….ugh.
Christine
My husband was with retail clerks union for many years. When they had a shoplifter, they were not supposed to chase the thief down – but they always did and had a great time doing it. Luckily no one was ever hurt.
Jessica Edwards
Unfortunately, this will continue to happen because restaurants either charge you a the server for the walk out or fire you. Say if you are a poor college student or a single parent, you are more likely to give chase versus paying quite possibly a tab that equals more than your wages for that day.
Terri Thomas
Unfortunately, here in southeast Texas, the labor board will not help in the food industry. And yes, MANY places force their staff to pay out of their pockets for walk outs. A few get away with charging the servers a .50 cents and higher fee for each and every credit card transaction. A chain of hibachi style places charge the servers a whopping 60% of their tips and another place I found was taking 12% out to pad the pockets of the owners. Places out here even get away with NOT PAYING SERVERS at all! They feel that if the server is good, then there is no reason why they should have to pay an hourly wage since they make tips.