A restaurant in Missouri took action against a dine-and-dasher who attempted to leave without paying by using a counterfeit bill, by sharing the customer’s photo on social media.
Michael’s Bar and Grill, located in Manchester, roughly 20 miles from St. Louis, posted an image of the individual who left without settling his bill after realizing a mistake made by their staff on Sunday.
The customer ordered a burger along with several sides and seemed to pay the $40 tab with what the server thought was a genuine $100 bill, according to First Alert 4.
When the busy server went to provide the change, she discovered that the currency was phony—a novelty $1,000 bill.
Unfortunately, by the time she returned to confront him, the man had taken his food and left in his Lexus.
The bill turned out to be “ancestor money,” which is a symbolic currency used in Chinese tradition, intended to be burned during rituals so that ancestors can enjoy material wealth in the afterlife, as reported by the news outlet.
After they shared the man’s picture online, the restaurant’s staff noted that the public exposure seemed to have an impact.
The next day, the culprit returned, paid for his meal, expressed remorse for his actions, and even provided a tip to the servers, evidently embarrassed by the whole incident.
Staff at the restaurant, which has been in operation for 46 years, indicated that there has been an increase in dine-and-dash episodes in recent months, and they’ve had enough of it.
“Unfortunately, we’ve encountered this problem multiple times lately,” said server Kristina Moriarty.
“We’ve installed cameras everywhere, along with license plate readers and facial recognition systems, all necessary measures since these incidents keep targeting local businesses.”
However, recognizing that more preventive measures were required, the restaurant began displaying photos of those who skip out on their tabs on a digital “wall of shame.”
“The reality is, if you do this, we’re going to publicly identify you and make it known. This is part of our effort to prevent further occurrences,” stated bartender Dawn Lamb.
