 Not only is Chicago's Alinea restaurant plagued with pricey no-shows - diners are also swiping the joint's custom-crafted serving ware. Chef Grant Achatz took to Twitter to muse, "This happens every once in a while, everytime it surprises me. A woman slipped glass tube that we serve the bubblegum parfait in her purse." Many of us have known at least one person who tended to take souvenirs of significant restaurant visits - or even just a jaunt to the corner coffee shop. Ever been tempted? And it goes without saying that we in no way endorse this behavior. Really - you like an item, ask if they'd sell it to you. We've asked a few times and almost always, they've just given it to us. |
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If I don't eat all the meal and ask for a container to bring the rest home, if the server doesn't return with a little plastic cup for sides such as dressing, dipping sauce, etc, I will take the regular container (almost always plastic) home along with the rest of the food. If the server does the packing of leftovers, they may or may not put the sauce in a different container, they often put the serving ramekin in with the food. But I never take anything as a "souvenier" that is really tacky, but I have offered to buy some unique glass or cup (sometimes they will sell, usually not, sometimes given as gift to me as "advertising")
I had friends that used to steal everything they could think of. They'd walk out of restaurants and pull a menu out from under their shirts, one of my girlfriends used to steal the glass if she wasn't finished with her soda, etc. We were all in high school and pretty dumb. Once I got home and found a fork in my purse.
Usually when I take a souvenir from some place it's something that would have been thrown out anyway, like if it's a sushi place I really liked I might take the wrapper from my chop sticks that has the name of the restaurant on it. I have a couple mint wrappers from the funeral home from my grandmother's viewing. I know it's strange but I usually use wrappers, ticket stubs and other small paper items to "remember" things. I'd like to make it into a collage of sorts.
Although, I'm a journalist and I love a good pen. If a place has promotional pens I'm likely to take two instead of just one.
if we find something we would really like as a souvanear we offer to buy one or two from the resturaunt. typically they ether just give it to us or we pay a small fee for it (between 5 and 20$).
if we find something we would really like as a souvanear we offer to buy one or two from the resturaunt.
My grandmother (may she RIP) was forever taking sugar packets, then the pink packets. "Oh just a few for coffee tomorrow", she would say as she stuffed her pocket.
I have seen people check out of a hotel and try to take the silver coffee service with them. After all, they paid for the coffee but didn't finish it.
I and my boyfriend took a glass with us on our very first big dinner out together (more of a binging kind, but we had steak, baked potatoe, velo tonnato, shrimp cocktail, a very very tasty creme brulee with basil-ice, and were kind of celebrating our first month together), and we even asked the waiter if we would be allowed to take it. kind of boring...
Let's see...a ramekin or two, Corona salt and pepper shaker, a really good knife from a steak house and once I took one of those soy sauce bottles w/ the orange top from a hole-in-the-wall chinese restaurant. That one was difficult...had to make sure it didn't spill soy all in my purse.
possession is 9/10ths of the law!
Why is this called stealing?
I don't see anything wrong with it!
I LOVE LAMP
I'm no thief, so in my drunken stupor I just "accidentally" knock my glass on the floor, smashing it to bits. That way I can make prices higher for everybody while pretending I've done nothing wrong.
(Not really, I'm just mocking those who try to justify their theft by saying "I was drunk.")
I am also part of this conversation
I have taken items, not as a souvenir, but when I wasn't quite finished with a dish, yet the rest of my party was ready to leave. If the server didn't return quickly enough to ask them for an alternative take-home dish, I have ended up with the occasional ramekin or glass. Depending on the restaurant, though, the silverware can be very expensive. That would be beyond the pale. If I'm THAT interested in their flatware, I turn it over to see what company made it and then I try to find it on the internet.
Yes, I'm a restro-terrorist. While dining with a group of colleagues at Spago in the Glory Days (80's), I casually took one of the ashtrays (remember those?) and placed it in my purse. I didn't think much of it as it was a cheap dish silk-screened with the lavender Spago logo. Our effete waiter approached the table and exclaimed "We saw you coming, so we hid the silverware!" What a dick. Why else would it have a logo on it if it wasn't a promotional item? I think he was already pissed because the wine enthusiast at our table had mentioned that the Sauv. Blanc was over-chilled. Also, I once took the ceramic tiki S&P shakers from a Trader Vic's on its last night of business. Score!
I selected "I haven't, but I've been with someone who has once or twice.". Well, once, perhaps; I didn't dine out with those people a second time. I find it horrifying behavior. When it happened, I was simply just too stunned to react. (I was also years younger than I am now, or my current self would have made them put the items back.)
I never even thought of it. Thanks, CNN, for giving me an idea for my next restaurant visit.
I never stole anything from a restaurant, but I did steal the road sign in Texas that said "Fate 1 Mile Ahead" about 15 years ago. It's sitting on my garage door now, about 800 miles away from Fate ;) It seemed like a good idea at the time, and I still get a good chuckle every time I look at it.
Sure have. If I'm at a local bar, but they have pint glasses with their logo, of the logo of the beer they sell, then its going in my pocket for sure.
I also furnished my first apartment with silverware from Friday's. I always ordered a burger, thus never used the silverware they brought me. That went in my pocket as well.
I don't feel bad because the price of me doing so it already built into what I paid for. I use to be a server. Numerous servers would refuse to grab a piece of silverware they dropped in the garbage can while shaking off Joe Blow's food he didn't eat. If a server dropped glasses, it didn't come out of their paycheck, it was just written off as the cost of doing business. I once was carrying 16 mixed drinks from the bar and had another server walk in the wrong door, and cause me to drop it all. Its just a write off.
i have about 6 b-dubbs cups, various dishes/plates from restaurants. i take the nice china-like dishes from my college's cafeteria. silverware, everything. they don't care, nor they'll notice. IM A POOR COLLEGE KID...WHADDA GONNA DO BOUT IT!??
Sometimes i skip taking stuff and run to the car without paying for the meal. Best thrill of your life.
lol superstar. are you serious??? I have never ever seen anyone do that before.
LOL! sometimes I do that just because I get bad service.
I do it for the thrill. Usually i throw it away afterwards.
My ex mother-in-law supplied her entire kitchen from Denny's – from the cheesy scratched short and tall glassware (remember those OJ glasses?) to the cheap stamped flatware – it was all from Denny's. She particularly prized the early stuff which had the 'Denny's' logo.
She also stole those individual serving sizes of jam, jelly, and honey.
Whenever she would come and visit, I tried to take she and her husband someplace nice – that ended after the first couple of incidents. "They can afford it, with their prices", she'd say. My 'ex' (her daughter) would defend the practice. I'm glad they're well-out of my life now.
I am in the industry...and i will not sit here and lie that I have not taken anything, mostly glasses from my drinks, my hard rock cafe martini glass...The problem with higher end places, with that beautiful custom made china you're eating off of? The dinner plate alone will cost about $100 APIECE...Its custom, that goes for everything else as well, it is way more than any normal person would pay...But thats why the dinner costs so much! A careless dishwasher and you can lose $1000 in dishes in moments(that person also loses their job, usually) Chips render it useless as well...So the next time you want to steal that little fluted tube on ur dessert platter, that was probably 30+ dollars...think that if you cooked something nice at home for some one and they took a souviner, how you would feel, having to replace it for your set...
Does taking a Little Mermaid cup from McDonald's count?
My mom really liked the tea mugs at Benihana, so I considered slipping one into my pocket. Instead, I asked the manager whether I could buy a set. She said no, not for sale, but gave me one for my mother as a souvenir. That's the right way to do it.
Now if I go back six times with the same story maybe I can get a whole set!
When I was in college my friends and I would go out at night to local restaurants. There was one girl who always carried a very large purse so we would take turns putting salt'n'pepper shakers and those little plastic menu things they put on your table in her purse. It was a game to see how much we could sneak into her purse without her noticing. It was always funny later in the night when she would find all the crap we stuffed in there. Yeah, we were bad but it was funny. Haven't done that in ages.
I haven't taken anything from anywhere since I was 18 (a long time ago). What I need I buy. I do agree on many levels stealing from restaurants is wrong, but IMO if the worst thing anyone in this country does is steal an occasional steak knife or beer mug, this country would be a much better place.
are you serious! get over it people. when you eat at a restaurant everything that comes along with it is included in your prices. does it cost 11.99 to make 4oz of spinich artichoke dip??? NO. Don't you think it's stealing if we are paying for something we aren't getting?? People take stuff from restaurants, its silly and dumb but its not "stealing" and its not terrorism to whatever no brainer came up with that one. . .
No, it doesn't cost $11.99 to make it myself. I pay extra so someone else will make it FOR ME, not because I'm also buying the silverware, cups, napkins, table, and whatever else is not bolted down. You're paying for the restaurant experience (which includes not having to cook, not having to wash dishes, and renting utensils and dishes), not just the food. If you don't want to pay for all that, don't go to restaurants, make it yourself. Do you keep books you get from the library too?
No, you are not paying to TAKE HOME the china, the flatware, the glassware, the stemware.
You are paying for the food and the food preparation.
But, if it helps you, the thief, to sleep better at night – keep thinking that.
When my brother was a baby, he would often throw his spoon into my mom's purse, the diaper bag etc... And we often wouldn't notice until we got home and cleaned the bag out. After many years of going to sunday Brunch at the same place, they decided to close. On the last day they were open, we were joking with the wait staff about people stealing silverware, coffee mugs etc, and the number of spoons my brother took as a kid. The manager told us that because it was the last day, we were welcome to take anything that wasn't bolted to the walls or floor. Wrong thing to say to four college students who were trying to get furniture for college, and arrived in a GMC quad cab. I think we left with the silverware, the coffee mugs, and a pair of tables. The management and the owner found it rather amusing, and I still have the tables and the mug.
Where do I begin...bottles of herbal supplements from supermarkets, silverware, signs and an entire set of steak knives...
I took something from a restaurant once (well, once that I can remember) and I really didn't/don't feel bad about it. The prices they charge for food and drinks more than cover the cost of their supplies and I really doubt that it affected their profits at all. The dish I took I now use as a catch all container on my dresser and every time I see it I smile because I think of how funny my boyfriend thought it was that his innocent girlfriend nonchalantly snuck her side dish in her take home container. I don't think I'll make a habit of it though.
Hmmm, I stole a steak knife after a comment from the boyfriend about my lack of steak knives at home. I stole another knife on a recent vacation because I needed one to cut apples. Took a whole napkin/silverware combo from an Olive Garden since they wouldn't bring me to-go plasticware (and then proceeded to smuggle it and a tray of seafood alfredo, along with the obligatory breadsticks, into a movie). Another time after too many lucky cat martinis, I took a beer glass, dinner plate, plastic chopsticks and napkin from PF Changs....So I would say I'm pro-stealing
I just love the bath towels from Motel 6. They are super scratchy and dry me off just perfectly. I hate soft fluffy towels, they don't dry me. And I can't find scratchy towels at Wal-mart, so I take one every time I visit a Motel 6. Deal with it
OK, WOW – LOTS OF DUMB COMMENTS...DON'T STEAL, ENOUGH SAID!
Yes, I tend to have sticky fingers when I'm drunk so the morning afters are always interesting. I once stole a 4 foot tall decorated Christmas tree. How I got that out of the restaurant still amazes me to this day.
Those condiment cups from O'Chucks make the best shot glasses.
Why stop at taking things? Why not skip out on the check? There really is no difference. How would you feel if you invited people over to your house and they stole all of your glasses or butter knives?
Very good point!
That depends on how much I charged them for the meal.
I've brainfarted a few times and slipped a sauce container into a to-go dish. But I've grown to hate leftovers so it's rare I even have anything to-go let alone swipe the sauce container. Then once in Vegas, I walked out with one of those glasses from the complimentary drinks they serve at casinos to keep you gambling, only to leave it on a garbage can somewhere down the Strip. Is it me or do those glasses all look the same no matter what casino you're in? Otherwise, it's not on my to do list to take glasses/dishes/salt shakers, etc. That just feels weird.
Now for someone I know. One day I looked at the wall of my coworker's cubicle and saw a full bottle of Chipotle hot sauce from the restaurant. I flat out asked him did he take it. He gave me a goofy grin and admitted that he swiped it during lunch once. If he wasn't a coworker, I probably would have thumped him.
I have never and will never steal from a locally owned/operated restaurant, but as for the corporate chains..screw them, their food sucks anywas so i steal their stuff so when i cook at home for my friends i can give them the full atmosphere of "dining out" HAHAHAHAH FUCK YOU APPLEBEES IM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GRILL NOW
Did you know that the most commonly caught poacher has a "report poaching" bumper sticker on the vehicle?
In Hamlet the Queen says the following "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Those who protest the loudest are the most guilty of the crime they protest. So, for all of you who have never stolen, have never cheated or spoken badly of others – You are a hypocrite and you are not fooling anyone.
I know you and I know what you did – forget me not for guilt is a constant companion.
My mother in law takes all the 'fake sugar' packets and a few jellies if we go to a diner. If you haven't already guessed, I only take her to diners because for some reason it's not as embarrassing if the menu is laminated...
I have at least 2 dozen Eskimo Joe's cups. Everyone in the dinner party takes them home everytime we go. We are a classy bunch. They sale them at the shop next door and on-line, but it is always more fun just to eat there and take the cups home aftwards. I guess they save by never having to wash any cups.
Tarkin, you're supposed to take those!
They sell them in the gift shop if you'd like more than what your table drank.
Or if you wnat a specific color. They're only $1 to buy more.
Many years ago, I did take multiples (4) of certain glasses and mugs from clubs we played at.
I never bothered with silverware or dishes.
I still have them, but they're stored away.
All of these clubs are long out of business.
I took a cool ashtray back in the day wehre you could smoke in the bar area of a restaurant. my freind was mortified until I got away with it then he asked me to grab one for him too.
One Father's Day we were eating at Outback and my father in law mentioned how nice their steak knives were. Taking what I thought was a hint, I quietly slipped one into my purse to surprise him later. When we got out to the parking lot, my sister in law pulls out a steak knife and says "Happy Fathers Day! I stole you a knife". His other two daughters and I all pull out our stolen knives and start laughing. Needless to say the next time we visited we left all of our stolen knives on the table when we left. The server must have wondered why there were so many.
I think your father in law missed a good chance to march your butts back to return the knives, apologize to the management and teach the young'uns a lesson on morals. I am sure he must be a liberal because you people contribute to the moral decline of America. Dems are the party of hate.
I'm dumber for having read your post, T.Bagher. Soon I'll be buying Palin's book and pledging allegiance to Gingrich. Go back to Faux News, they miss you.
A few years ago we had a big birthday party at a very fancy restaurant. My wife baked a chocolate birthday cake and brought it along with a cake spatula. The waiter was more than happy to hold it in the fridge while we ate our (insanely expensive) meal, then served it to us at the end.
Even with a party of six half the cake was left over, and we gave that half to the waitstaff. It was really funny; for the next five minutes not. a. single. server was on the floor. They were all in the back enjoying the cake!
Anyway, the serving spatula was covered with gooey chocolate icing, and the restaurant only had cloth napkins, so someone wrapped it in a cloth napkin to bring it home. In the years since the restaurant has changed its napkins and we've given them multiple hundreds of dollars in additional meals, but I still think of that napkin since we washed it and use it now as a kitchen towel.
I don't get people who steal from resturants and cafes. You are not entitled to just take things from the places you go out to. Your bills pays for the cost of the food, and the labor that goes into making and serving said food. If your pan-seared mahi-mahi costs too much to you then don't order it. Also, think about why you go out, if you go to a fancy resturant do you really want to eat your $28 dollar entree, drink your $12 cocktail, or savor your $8 dollar dessert with stuff you can buy at IKEA? Your plate and glassware goes into your enjoyment of whatever you are eating and drinking whether or not you know it does. All that aside I've rarely been to a bar or resturant that either wouldn't let me have/ sell for $1 a glass or other item I wanted. If they refused I dealt with it and if the service was bad I didn't go back. It's that easy! Don't steal stuff that doesn't belong to you!
What about slipping things into restaurants? We had a drawer full of those plastic knife & fork packs with a napkin and salt & pepper. Half the time, even if you ask them not to put the silverware in your To Go order or in the bag with your leftovers, they throw a few in anyway.
My sister-in-law works at a local chain restaurant that's constantly shorted by management. Since I didn't want to throw away all those still-sealed bags of silverware, and she knew they would use them, she slipped them into the restaurant to be given out to their customers.
My brother once thought it would be fun to take the alcohol lamp from the table, but unfortunately he did not remember that the entire tab was on my aunt's credit card and the restaurant charged her for it, which in turn got him into deep dookie.
I go to the same Mexican food restaurant at least once a week. Sometimes I need to take the Salsa dish with my leftovers, knowing I’ll need salsa the next day. They don’t have small containers & I don’t like the salsa running all over my ‘to go’ box. But, I always take it back the next week. Oh, & I’ll also take the bowl if my plate comes with Boracho beans. One time I dropped my box on the way out, right in front of the owner *embarrass*! When she brought out an entire new plate in a ‘to go’ box, she included a bowl of Boracho beans.
I know someone who is crazy about hotel stuffs. She took ashtrays, glasses, silverware and even a big lampshade. One day, we were sitting on a table at this plush hotel in Manila when one of the waiters came and replaced the plates, spoons and forks with plastic ones. They really prepared for her visit!!
I have a set of flatware an old roommate left behind. I looked into adding to it but they were waay to expensive for me. He told me he pilfered them from the Trans-Alaskan Railway.
All I can say to those who feel they need to STEAL from a restraunt. Thank you for raising the prices of everything else on the menu for the rest of us. When you STEAL who do you think pays for it?
Stealing from restaurants is both a very liberal as well as a very retarded activity. You people are the reason I have to pay nine bucks for a freakin cheeseburger.
Susan T. You are super judgmental and boring.
Hey Ratchet: You think I am super judgemental and boring because I am not a piece of crap that steals silverware from restaurants? I have money so I will buy my own silverware THANK YOU!
When it opened in 1927, the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite suffered huge losses of all sorts of furnishings (most of which were custom made). Their solution was simply to sell many of these items in the gift shop. I imagine they still have some plates stolen, but most folks will buy one as a souvenir. (see http://www.yosemitegifts.com/ahwahneechina.html ) The hotel was (and remains) quite expensive - anybody who stays there should be above stealing. The opening night's huge losses were all from the specially invited celebrity guests! Many hotels sell robes, and memorable restaurants that have custom plates should sell them as well. Dining at the Ahwahnee is memorable - and a plate or two is a great bit of memorabilia - and you don't have to steal them!
In highschool we would steal the plastic serving trays from Wendys or any other place that had them. Not for any good reason, although they made okay sleds on icy roads. Stealing a tray is quite hard, try it some time.
I took a beer glass from my favorite bar. I used it for a week and it broke when I was washing it. KARMA!!!!!
I once had a guest who I watched put things into her purse and asked her if she could please return the items which she said she did not take. As they we're getting up from their table the Crystal S & P shakers, Crystal candle holder and 2 settings of silver she took from the table next to them all fall out of her purse and roll across the wood floor. I laughed my butt off as I escorted them out.
Personally stealing from a restaurant their silverware and dishes is uber tacky. If anyone I was with ever did that I'd say hasta la vista to their sorry rear end.
years ago we started a tradition at our lions club meetings of slipping a spoon into another members suit coat or jacket pocket, it has stuck through the years, you just never know when you might find a spoon in you pocket. i have hung my suit up and worn it the next week for a presentation and found a spoon in the pocket, the cleaners always look at you funny when you pick up your cleaning and there is a spoon in a plastic bag waiting for you with your clean suits. i've not jheard of this tradition in any other service club but ours.
And to think, I used to believe the Lions were a respectable organization. There goes my support of their fundraising campaigns!
Mehtare – these are Lion's Club members at their OWN clubhouse slipping their OWN spoons into members pockets. They are not out at a restaurant doing this and they certainly don't hold fund raisers to purchase more spoons for their own use!! I would assume that the members then return the spoons to the clubhouse.
My daughter and son-in-law have started their own restaurant chain (THE BLAZING ONION)......if you knew how hard they have worked for years and how hard they work now to make their guests dining experience great, you would feel guilty, guilty, guilty for stealing from restaurants. When you steal from restaurants, you are actually stealing from the owners. And most of them have worked hard for years to build a label and support their families and emloyees in the restaurant business. Think of me as your grandmother reminding you of the right way to behave. And remember...Grandma luvs ya!
I've gone to a resturant and asked for my leftovers to be wrapped to go, and the server put the steak knife and ceramic sauce bowl in my to go box. I guess it's not stealing when the staff gives it to you.
No! You are either really cute, or a big tipper.
My ex-wife dated a guy who stole silverware from the restaurant they ate at. If you think that is bad, there is one more little indiscretion he also did. When the ones at home got tarnished he actually returned tham and replaced them with new ones.
How about hotel clothes hangers? I have a walk-in closet FULL of those!
No, this is called stealing. It is not right to steal. The item does not belong to you. You did not, in any way, pay for the item (even if you did leave a big tip, that does not cover the items in the restaurant, that goes to the wait staff). If you want a glass, silverware, plate, whatever, ask the restaurant if you can purchase it. People have so little respect for other peoples' property these days including personal property and business property. And taking something from a restaurant is not a "minor" thing. Next thing you know, you are lifting "minor" things from friends, family, and strangers just because you feel that you are entitled to have it. DON'T STEAL!!!
I don't normally take anything that I can recall and even felt kind of bad when I realize I had mistakenly packed a hotel hand towel at one time. I say "normally" as the sauce ramekins are the problem children – if the dish comes with sauce, I want to be able to take said sauce home if I am taking part of the entree as well! So we do have a small collection of those. My sister steals ramekins like nobody's business and doesn't seem to mind taking other odds'n'ends either. I find it peculiar. I can't say I've really found anything noteworthy of wanting so much that I would resort to pilfering; I'd rather ask if I could buy it.
My Mom always takes the sugar packets, sugar substitute packets, and salt BEFORE the meal is served! Then the waiter came by after witnessing the theft and asked my Mom politely if she wanted more. Hilarious! Embarrassed,she put the packets back. To this very day she does this in EVERY restaurant we go to until I make her put it back. So sad!
It doesn't surprise me that people steal stuff from restaurants/hotels/bars/whathaveyou. What really amazes me is how proud you all seem to be of stealing and getting away with it. I bet if some visiting friends took some "souvenirs" from your house in an amazing twist of karma, you'd all be screaming bloody murder.
Bet you're a lot of fun, huh?
Nothing wrong with being judgemental of thieves.
Aww, did I hurt your feelings? I'm sorry your life is so empty, the only way you can get your jollies is by stealing.
That depends entirely on what they take! :)
We often lunched with school teachers and secretaries. I never saw anyone take anything except one that used to take all the leftover rolls and bread. She had a reputation for taking things like that. We always referred to her that way. And now , several years after she has died, we still identify her as the one who stole the bread. I am now 85 and have long ago forgotten her name but I still remember her. Most eateries throw out all that is left on the table anyway but I want to be remembered as something more than that.
Swiped fake orchids from a restaurant bathroom. Just a few flowers off the stem. Everytime I go back and see their sparse bathroom flower display I laugh and then question my sanity.
I am almost neurotically honest, and would never steal so much as a napkin. I've gone out of my way to find the owners of things I've found - wallets, and such. I don't see how people can feel so entitled. (Furthermore, I have had a lot of things stolen from me, so I am sensitive on the issue.) However, given that humans are what they are, any restaurant that uses markedly distinctive flatware of small glassware is kind of asking for it. Especially the super-pricely places. I'd say that if your tableware is going out the door, you need to use plainer stuff.
When I was at university, I knew many people who took entire sets of food service plates, flatware and glassware to furnish their first apartments. Do people still do that?
Stealing from restaurants goes hand in hand with my second hobby of lying in online polls
Back in my college days, I was known to snag a plastic beer pitcher or a nice beer glass. There was this one dive that had really nice "fishbowl" beer glasses that were impossible to sneak out with. Everytime I tried, the bartender would be tapping me on the shoulder outside and I'd sheepishly return it. Kind of an ongoing challenge that I don't think I ever heard anyone beat!
I would never do that now, or even think of trying to snag silverware, plates, or glasses.
My husband's ex-wife worked at Outback and brought home some things, so it's not all the customers' doing.
How to say this in a family website...?
My gf once gave me a job involving her hand under the table cloth at Denver's Chop House...
well, i won't be eating at that restaurant...
A friend and I once had such slow service at a restaurant we began [slowly] taking items off the table to see when the waitress would notice. The entire table was empty (including condiments) by the time we ended up with our bill, 45 minutes after having to ask for said bill. We did not return the items. We also, never returned to the restaurant.
Similar to my story, but you win! Went to a very high-end restaurant for my birthday and we waited FOREVER. They had the cutest potted cactus on the table. It went in my purse and now resides in my guest bathroom.
We have a full set of Smooth Sailing glasses from Red Lobster, but those came free with the drinks!
When I was a waitress, most of the stuff stolen from the restaurant was stolen by the staff. Waitresses would come in on their off days to fill up on sugar and cream packets, single-boxed desserts and coffee. When the owner decided to buy new glasses and phase out the old ones, everyone took home a whole set.
But, food for thought, do you really want plates, cutlery, and glasses that hundred of other people have used before you? Yuck!
Bennigans 1992 Orlando fl... I laugh everytime I see that glass in my kitchen...
Sometimes It seems right.. Then the next day your an idiot.. LOL
From a restaurant I've collected a few beer steins and sake glasses. However the real haul has come from hotels. All my camping cutlery is embossed with the Four Seasons, Ritz, Hyatt and Fairmont logos. Hand towels make for wonderful rags (and more enviro-friendly then disposable paper towels). I attempt to redeem myself by donating all of the lifted bath products (all unused of course) to a local homeless shelter.
I worked at McDonald's while in high school and college. People stole the big wooden straw and napkin dispensers more than once. Lost a few large ketchup pumps. We had a group of teens take off with a table and 2 chairs. My husband (before I knew him) acquired a collection of nifty patio umbrellas (Corona, Jose Cuervo, etc.) from area bars. What boggles my mind is when people take off with crap that you'd never use at home. Who has room on their counter for a great big straw dispenser?
My restaurant had all their S&P shakers stolen in the first two weeks we opened. They were very unique and made by a local artist (ordered 100 sets @$25 a pop). Now we only use cheap shakers that are probably made outside the US. We bought them off some website at the cheapest price possible. We are opening two new restaurants in the area and will not try the "local artist" experiment again. Not a big deal to us...we are actually saving money. The local artist....not so sure she would have the same opinion. To JMPelland...remember it's a "dog eat dog world" when you're boss takes away your healthcare b/c it's hurting his/her bottom line.
I'm going to make up a new and absolutely stupid rule that no one has to follow: If you tip the service double what's normal (up to let's say 30-40%), then it's okay to steal some of the cutlery, dishes, what have you. Well considered comments? Mindless derision? Silence? Your call. It's lunchtime here, so anything goes.
Required Addendum: Only if the server is in on it. Otherwise just the normal 20% tip.
I very rarely take salt and pepper shakers or glasses, unless they are unique but I can't seem to resist taking a box of steaks from the walk-in cooler behind the kitchen at Bobby Van's Steak House in lower Manhattan (If you look like you have business back there no one seems to notice when you walk out with a full box of steaks). Those steaks are the bomb when I cook them up at home!
Haha! Just joking of course!
No you aren't.
Pool towels! We wear the towels from the pool back the room and in the travel bag it goes. We try to pick (case?) hotels with the best pool towels when traveling. Hilton, Marriott are not very good, if you want good pool towels go with a 4-5 star, small chain hotel.
Need to go back to work now...
Once when drunk, I made it out the door of the bar with my shot still in my hand. So I guess technically that is stealing, but the bouncers are the ones that shoved us all out without checking if we had anything in our little drunk mits. :)
Who the hell cares? Steal or Don't.
restaurant no, but a bar that is different story. I've got all sorts of glasses from bars.
I once stole a table and the set of 4 chairs from a restraunt. It took 5 trips to the restraunt, one item on each trip. The staff never noticed it was gone. I kept the set for a short time before I dropped off the table and two of the chairs.
Call it stealing, call it getting your dollar's worth, call it what you will- but the truth is, I've taken more than my fair share of souvenirs. Since my early 20s, I've looted college dinning commons, fast food joints, receptions, fancy restaurants and cheap ones alike to assemble what is probably the most eclectic collection of china in existence. I don't do this out of some compulsive need to steal, however, as I've never taken anything I didn't actually need. Wrong is wrong, sure, but it's a dog eat dog world out there and how's a dog supposed to eat if he can't afford his flatware?
We accumulated a backpack's worth of plates, glasses, and silverware from the cafeteria in the dorm beside ours freshman year, with full intentions of returning all of it. Dumping that thing out on the conveyor belt in May was a very satisfying experience.
hahahahahahahahaha.... I can just see their faces too...
I took a salt and pepper shaker set from The Varisty in Atlanta back in the 1970's. I still use them in my kitchen.
I have taken logo beer glass from different brewers.
Every time I go to Vegas I take home cups, last trip I brought home 2 $45 cups...stupid black jack.
mmm. yup. im guilty of it. glasses, salt and pepper shakers, garlic and red pepper shakers, dipping dishes.. ect. never sliverware though. just mostly those cool glasses they sell 5$ drinks in at red robin. and a few from mongolian bbq.
Never stole from a restaurant, but when we were on our honeymoon in London, we fell in love with Pizza Express (it's an upscale chain that serves pizza and Italian food - nothing like the chains here in the U.S.) and I asked if we could buy one of their cup-and-saucer sets. They said it wasn't for sale, but they very kindly gave us one to take home. I wanted to have two, so we asked the same question at another Pizza Express - and they also very kindly gave us a cup and a saucer to take home. With our American accents, it was obvious we were indeed visiting from overseas. We really love Pizza Express - not only were they very nice, but everything (food, wine, dessert, service) was great. Hope we can afford to visit the UK again. Pizza Express will definitely be on our list of places to visit.
I used to "borrow" the salt and pepper shakeers from the cafeteria and use them in my office. After about a month or so, they'd be empty and I'd return and take a fresh filled set. It's not stealing, it creative useage. When I left that company I returned...oh wait. I still have them in my desk drawer here. Oh Sh!t, I guess I do steal!
My college roommate worked at Chili's and brought me 2 of the mugs (when they were still the heavy glass ones). I still have them-they are in my freezer!
Stole the hosey sauce when Arby's had it in the squirt bottles. Now they have it in the packets. It has been a long time since them, miss the good old days.
Stealing is for poors
You are a highly sensitive being, I can tell. If it weren't for the compassion shown by such outstanding citizens as yourselves, this country would be not but a charred and desolate place ravaged by the fires of anarchy and plagued with strife. Perhaps it is because, as you say in so many words, morals are a gift brought down from heaven above to be bestowed upon the righteous working folk. The poors are not worthy of such kindly human feelings such as these. AAAAAHHH BE THE PRAISE OF THE GOSPEL OF MADOFF!
One of the many horrifying and embarrassing situations my mother has put me in was when we were taking our food home from a restaurant and she insisted on taking the salsa, and the salsa dish. Seriously?! As the server for a smaller container! Like she needed a 50 cent salsa dish in my house. The woman made over 6 figures at the time – you could afford a salsa dish…and a container of salsa! If you don't think its wrong and embarrassing, your fellow diners just might.
I once stole a cloth napkin from a restaurant because they wouldn't give me a doggy bag and I didn't want to leave half a steak on my plate.
I went to a cute little restaurant with my husband while on vacation, they served us the cutest little pitchers with lemonade in them, I asked the waitress if there was a local store or distributor for them and she asked the owner, who came over to our table and offered to let us buy them from him for 12$, well they were so cute we scooped them up! =) but I would have never thought to steal them, if you like something just ask where you can buy one odds are they will tell you.
I took a glass once because we needed a glass to mix drinks / shots with. I tipped an extra $5 above 22% though for it.
I take good condiments from restaurants. If I am at a Mexican place with awesome hot sauce, or a steak house with great steak sauce I will jack that thing off so hard...
I had about 20 beer glasses at one time (my wife made me get rid of them), all with logos from the bars I got them from. However, not one was stolen. I simply asked my server/bartender if they would mind if I took the glass and every single one said yes (eventually).
The two that said no initially later changed their minds when I asked how many glasses broke in a typical day (one said 10, the other said 3). I just said, "what's one more?" They then told me to just take the glass with me.
you sound really cheap
3 Forks, 2 Spoons. It was a thrill!
I took a knife once, not even a steak knife just a regular run of the mill butter knife. It was a field trip, we had stopped at an open air market and i had bought some produce, but needed a knife or something to cut it with to snack on it on the way home it was about an hour long trip. So when we stopped for lunch i stole the knife in my place setting. Restaurants do have to replace silverware periodically because it will eventually get pitted or damaged through normal wear and tear and what not, it should be built into the budget to a point along with the other things customers are going to steal (which is everything that isn't nailed down and a few things that are)
So you're saying that because a place would have to replace the item eventually through normal wear-and-tear, it's perfectly fine for you to just take it when you want? If everyone did that, they'd have no utensils at all. I bet if you'd asked they'd given you a plastic to-go knife or two. Maybe even a full set of plastic tablewear. Or maybe they'd have just given you a knife they were about to replace anyway. That's fine, but not just taking it because "they should budget for it."
Do you budget for guests in your home taking your books/vases/knick knacks?
Well, you'll have to replace your car eventually due to normal wear and tear. Shouldn't matter to you if I take it then, right?
If you made all the payments on it, sure.
America... Where everything is OK unless it affects you directly!
Want to steal from someone else? OK, not a problem? It is not like murder.
Want to provide health care to a sick person! Heck no! Not on my penny! But hey, can you take care of my grandma?
Throw that Mexican drunk driver in jail! Judge, my teen is a good kid, just had a few beers, he is not a criminal!
I hate pigs! 9-11? Someone is trying to break into my home!
While I agree with the sentiment, you may have taken it a little far.
But I think you've hit on the restaurant-goers' sense of entitlement. It's okay as long as I'm drunk/offended/bored, or even if I just like it and want it. After all, I should be able to take what I want, right? I paid for the food, and it doesn't effect ME if I take it.
I never stole (because that's what it is) from a restaurant. I have been with people that think nothing of stealing towels from motels and tableware from restaurants. I have always thought it to be an incredibly cheap, no class thing to do. You need tableware : go to the dollar store.
Exactly!
Why do people steal hotel towels? You don't know how many people used them. How much is a towel anyways a few dollars?
I don't take "souvenirs" from restaurants, but my father loves coffee and truly prefers drinking it out of Irish glass coffee mugs. When I offered to buy him a set of six, he told me not to worry because he'd already "slowly acquired" a set of six from a local restaurant.
Yep what they said
And it goes without saying that we in no way endorse this behavior. Really – you like an item, ask if they'd sell it to you. We've asked a few times and almost always, they've just given it to us.
Could this be John in Minnesota?
My son took a steak knife when he was 8 and I drove him back to return it. I hope the lesson was learned. I would rather buy my souvenirs. Occasionally when you offer to buy something, they'll just give it to you anyway. If not, you've got a souvenir that is a good memory hook, which you got for a reasonable price from a place you enjoyed. Unlike most tourist trash, it's something you can actually use.
In high school my friends and I used to keep the plastic order numbers from Whataburger. They never bothered to pick them up when they brought us our food, so we just started keeping them.
That is stupid!
It was High School, we were stupid teenagers.
Drunk or not, taking stuff from a restaurant or bar is just downright white trash. Seriously.
^5 @ jim! way to stick it to the man!!
or the manager...
I took a glass from an establishment which over charged me. I ordered one beer on a visit and was charged for 3. After numerous phone calls and even speaking to the manager in person, and being assured it was taken care of, I never received a refund. Therefore I have made it my goal to "steal" $15 worth of beer mugs/glasses from this establishment.
Stealing for revenge – I can understand that...
My college roommate was stealing utensils from the dining hall every time we ate. I finally asked him what he was doing, he said, "I am collecting 12 sets to give you for a wedding gift." He failed out the next term and I never got my gift. :(
Sounds like you lucked out.
I've been tempted to take the tin plates from places like Chipotle but I've haven't actually done it. Yet.
I've taken lots of ramekins before. But it's only after I have asked at least twice for a small to-go cup and lid to take my sauce/dip with me. If they continue to forget, I'm taking my sauce/dip anyway – with the ramekin.
I've taken beer mugs and beer steins from beer gardens before as souvenirs. I know it is stealing but they have to budget in drunk people taking off with a couple of glasses or mugs every week. That is just common restaurant sense.
My family had some retaurants in Florida, our snow-bird customers took silverware, glassware, sugar, salt, pepper and all that the needed to replenish things in their home. We spent more on replacing the above some weeks than we did on food.
john- you mean to tell me it somehow makes people DO THEIR JOBS?!
No, it makes their jobs HARDER. If I am your server, and there is a lack of silverware, and you are being served food, I now have to go search for some. If they're all dirty, I've got to run them through the dishwasher, polish them so there aren't any water marks, roll them in a napkin, and take them to you. By the way (though you probably don't realize this), you are not the only table I am waiting on. Don't steal silverware.
Are you condoning stealing dishes because it "makes people do their jobs"? If your a server and your job is too best serve the restaurants guests and instead you find yourself running around to get dishes rather than checking up on guests and attending to less basic needs, than your not really doing your job.
When I first started working as a musician and was touring around different cities, I tried to take a pint glass from every bar I played in. After taking about 10 glasses, I noticed half of them were "Miller Lite" glasses. I then realized what a stupid collection it was and stopped.
you must have been on the "Miller Lite Tour"
This is a real problem. Stealing these items makes hard working peoples jobs more difficult. When there isn't enough silverware in a restaurant it has to be constantly rotated through the dishwasher and makes servers, foodrunners, and dishwashers way more busy.
Theft is theft, regardless of what you may think.
I'm sure you're a ball of fun!!!
because everyone knows you have to be a thief to have fun right?....right? Um, no maybe not.
I only take condiments at fast food places. Lots of them though, I have a condiment drawer at work. Salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, chipotle sauce, mayo, chik-fil-a sauce, taco bell sauce, arbys sauce, bbq sauce, you name it. I just wish ranch was easier to get, I try to remember and ask for it even if I wont be using it with the meal I ordered, some places try to charge you for it. I'll skip the drive thru just so I can go in and stock up on condiments when I get low.
PATHETIC!
Whats pathetic is how most of your comments are closely followed by "glj"
hmm
I guess you think these are free to the restraunts?
After not finishing an appetizer and meal at a casual restaurant, I asked for a container to-go. I received a box, but nothing to put the sauce in that made the meal so special. I asked for a little cup, and it never came. We waited a while, and finally I scooped up the small black dish that held the sauce and put it in the box with my to-go meal.
You're still a thief.
Maybe you should not have ordered so much food. It is not the restaurants problem that you ordered too much.
What a moron. Taking this discussion as an oportunity to blame Obama?
Typical of the Party of Idiots.
Yeah, I steal lots of crap... typically when service is really bad.... I know it's wrong... but when you've run out of things to talk about and you have to wait 20 minutes for a check.... your fingers just get a little sticky...
I ALWAYS steal a glass from a new restaurant I visit if it has the restaurant's logo on it (and they dont sell them or other logo merchandise.) ALWAYS. Its like bringing home a postcard. Allbeit a *stolen* postcard. Its easiest in the winter time, because i can just wrap my jacket around it. Besides, its not like they arent going to make up the difference from this overpriced meal I just ate. Hell, I used to ask but the waiters didnt care one way or another, so I just started taking 'em. I live on the edge, baby.
Yeah, you are a piece of crap. If the prices are too high for you then stay home.
You're awesome. Susan T seems like the most uptight person ever.
Thank you raising the price of drinks!
I agree with J about Susan T.
Umm a few ramekins from on the border or chilis cause they wouldn't give me a cup with a lid for my meals sauce. i DID just recently take a rocks glass from a bar but i was kinda drunk. i felt bad about it but its mine now so when i'm feeling a little guilty- i just make a drink and use it =]
The dipping sauce cups with the sauce in them. They did not have the dipping sauce in those Solo to-go containers. I want my basil aioli dammit!
haha, that's how I started too. the little cups in the go boxes, then it was the knives and forks at Outback. Now all I take is cute glasses from my roomservice cart when I'm at a hotel. But that's because I have no room for any more forks or knives in my kitchen.
My grandmother always took the napkins. We would get her home and all of a sudden she would start whipping out all of the napkins that were on the table. She was so bad~ that we would make her leave the table first so we could make sure she wasn't taking the napkins. We were mortified.
Why do people load up on napkins when they go to a restaurant? It doesn't matter if it is fast food or a sit down place. If there is a napkin dispenser people will load up on napkins. The napkins are cheap and don't even absorb.
I think these ones were cloth.
I used to have the small "Corona" bottle – salt & pepper shakers until I finally gave up. In 2.5 years, I went through over 300 of them. On the menu we offered them for sale for $6.50 per set. One lady even told me that she was going to take them. I thought she was joking but after she left, they were gone. I now have plain s/p shakers as I had already lost about $600.00. People are simply crazy. But I am sure most of them went to church on Sunday and never thought about what they had just stolen!
Yikes. I'm sorry. Anything people find interesting, they'll take. I like that you had them for sale, though. I tried to buy some bamboo chopsticks from a Vietnamese place once and they wouldn't let me. I was super disappointed. I've never since found their like. I still didn't steal them, though. I hope your customers aren't still stealing so much from you.
I brought home a Hooter's girl once...Quite willingly I might add.
ah oh...you just pissed off every orange bottomed girl out there!!!!
Forget oraqnge-bottoms, it is fat-bottomed girls that make the rockin world go 'round!
Nice Freddie!
But did you KEEP her... that's the question.
I was on a first date, and we went to a nice Japanese restaurant. Imagine my surprise when she asked me to make sure no one was looking when she slipped the saki pitcher into her purse. Never did try to get a second date with her...
Was the pitcher full of Sake?
Pint Glasses – I've collected them since college...some from other countries, breweries, unique logos and slogans, and resturant names. Most of the time I've asked waitstaff if I could purchase and they are more than happy to either rinse or go get me a clean one to take home! Before that I used to just take them, but since I've started asking I've felt much better about the whole collection!!
You are one of several people here saying you are doing this. Here is my issue...
How many of you think that the waitstaff actually has the permission to give you that glass? I mean really, if you know they are just giving you permission to steal, it's still just stealing. How bout I ask your brother/sister/friend if it's OK if I punch you in the mouth, is that OK?
The silverware is always so cheap that I cant believe people actually steal that. And drink cups? Thats pretty bold.
Wow, I am shocked, shocked to see that in Obama's hometown, people are lying thieves. Go figure.
Typical from the Party of Hate.
Thanks for bringing the whole conversation down a notch. This has nothing to do with politics troll.
Don't bother listening to Truth. He makes it a point to comment every single time with some anti-Obama propaganda that makes no sense at all to the discussion. The best thing to do is to ignore him. You know, like you do with an unruly toddler. The less attention he gets, the less reason he has to post these things.
What a moron. Taking this discussion as an oportunity to blame Obama?
Typical of the Party of Idiots.
So you post a bigoted hateful comment to complain about hate? Not to mention its a completely unrelated topic. So I have always wondered... Is ignorance truly bliss? C'mon truth, don't leave us hanging is it?
Whata di@k! The party of hate! Come on.
I used to steal from my university's dining hall all the time. Silverware, dishes, glasses, salt & pepper shakers, food, you name it. At the time, we justified it by complaining about the outrageous cost of just about everything associated with higher education, but in retrospect perhaps it was so expensive to offset the cost of thousands of sticky-fingered undergrads.
I've never stolen anything from a "real" restaurant though, unless we're counting condiment packets and extra paper napkins.
Does SIGNAGE count? I took the WE SERVE BEER AND WINE plaque from Dennys as well!!! Right from the waiting/sitting area...lol; YES alcohol was involved!
Funny. I remember conspiring with a friend in taking the restroom sign at a local establishment.
Ah the things we've done at Denny's after the Rocky Horror Picture Show outings.. kinda miss those days..
Loser
What a dink.
Matt: Your a dink. Shut the fuck up loser
Welcome to CCN Eatocracy blogging.
Name calling is next!
I haven't ever done this, but my husband took a whole set of bar glasses in college (one glass at a time, of course). We've been married for 12 years, and they have been a staple in our kitchen the entire time. Neither of us has ever done it since. I guess he just really liked them. I don't condone it, but I do drink from the glasses.
Then you are an accomplice and can serve as much time as he does. You should speak with a lawyer.
Over the years we've eaten at several restaurants where they serve an item – generally a dessert – in a "signature" dish that is intended for you to take home (as stated on the menu)... the restaurant in Macy's flagship store in New York comes immediately to mind, as we have several large glasses in which we have been served a fancy brownie fudge "sweetheart" sundae for two. I can also remember my mother (40+ years ago now) asking the manager of a restaurant (Patricia Murphy's in Yonkers, NY, as I recall) if she could purchase some of their "swan" dishes that they used to serve olives and pickles in; although the restaurant declined, they did provide my mother with the name and address of their supplier, and she was able to purchase them that way. (I wish she had also gotten their popover recipe... but I digress.)
But take without asking and paying? Never!
Way back then, my sisters had a "collection" of glasses they took from the discos they went to. This was really a "souvenir" type of thing and they had a shelf where they placed them sort of like trophies (I never got it, but then I was 10!) Once my dad discovered the glasses, demanded to know what that was all about and made them take each glass back to its origin! It took them ages and loads of embarrassing moments, but NEVER again did they take anything (neither did any of the younger siblings.) Lesson learned!
Once at a Chili's, the manager came over when I was kissing my boyfriend and told us to leave. I did, but not before taking these cute little plates my food came with. I was DRUNK and felt bad afterwards.
I also swiped a grated cheese shaker from a pizza place. I had run out of parmesan at home... I was DRUNK then too.
Glad I can confess this anonomously- I won't do it again!!!
until your drunk!
Yes I'm a fan of ashtrays myself. or was since there is no smoking anywhere. I tried at Chili's the ask how much for the pres. margarita set to buy... I got oh it's not for sale.. so three visits/meals later after empting it several times that night it has found it's way into my home with two matching glasses.
You sound like a ho bag. Drunk at Chilli's making out with boyfriend to point of being asked to leave and then stealing stuff?
Yep, huge hobag.
Yeah, right. Once a thief, always a thief.
Do you need someone to help you down from that horse? It DOES seem a little too high for you...
Only once when I was drunk :) I put the whole drink in my purse at closing time.. I still laugh when I see that glass in my cabinet!
I haven't, but I've definitely admired and coveted...
My, dare i say "friend" actually lifted a set of silverware from a local Tap Room....I was APPALLED, espeically b/c this guy is way too fancy for that and he makes great money....he is indeed a foodie! If someone was to rob even a plastic fork from his kitchen he would go CRAZY.....he is well groomed, college educated, the works....it wasn't until we left the Tap that the silverware fell out of his blazer....all I could do was pick my jaw up off the ground....appalled...beware of the company you keep....white collar crime! ha ha ha!
Dennys – Juice Carafe.
Jungle Jims – Plastic drink glass shaped like Elephant foot; alcohol drink.
Occasion dipping bowls/cups...but never a sit down nice classy dinnerware; that's just greedy!!!
LMAO! :-)
Like stealing from Denny's is better. Why would you want to steal something that you don't know how many people have used?
Thats true for any place you go eat. You don't know how many people used the silverware. But you can be 95% sure that it was washed before you used it. That makes it yours. It's fact. Look it up.
%AmericanPeople, at least you hope its above 95%!
Never utensils or cups or anything like that. however, I admit to snatching an extra bread roll, bagel, or muffin or something from the buffet for the road when on a long road trip. I figured I had paid for it. ;)
Ive taken 1 of each of the salt and pepper shakers that i believe red lobster used to have. (in the corona bottles) And ive taken a steak knife from a very expensive restauraunt in Niagra.
ive seen plenty of the little corona bottles sitting around in many of my friend's kitchens.. i wondered where they came from... :)
You can buy Corona in those little bottles at the beer store. Then you can go to a kitchen gadget store and buy the plastic lids that snap on and make them into salt / pepper / spice shakers.
Well, if you did that you are a very pathetic piece of crap!
And you are a judgemental Turd... Hey – you two should get together!
Thank you for raising the prices at Red Lobster!
Red Lobster is considered expensive? Holy cow, now that's one I haven't heard... I guess you can always try Long John Silver's.
Arrrrr, avast me matey, please don't be comparings me to Red Lobster, or I'll have ye walkin me plank!
Ramekins, lots of ramekins.
pathetic
Me too!
Yes! That's the only thing I have ever swiped from a restaurant. I have quite the collection forming from places that do not provide small to-go ramekins for left over sauces. I've even had a server suggest I take one because he didn't have anything else to offer.
I've taken several, as well. Almost always when I ask for a to-go container for the sauce and they just forget to bring it or ignore my request.
Taken Small Dipping Bowl.
Those things are great.
I think all of our dinner ware should be eatable.
Call it what it is. Stealing. This is not something that is budgeted for, like hotel shampoos/soaps. This is not something stamped with a logo that is meant to bring a customer back. It's outright theft and it's a wrong as taking something from a store.
Many restaurants do have freebies they'll give away to you. Extra napkins, matchbooks, promotional things like brochures, pens or magnets. All you have to do is ask. And if they don't, order a little extra something and take home a delicious souvenir without stealing.
stealing is next to terrorism
Are you saying stealing a knife from a restaurant is equivalent to 9/11.. i mean come on...
Um... no. But that doesn't mean it's a good thing. I recognize that you are trying to invalidate what I'm saying by comparing it unfairly to something much, much worse, but that won't work. Taking something from a restaurant is a minor thing, but it's still wrong. It costs the restaurant to replace the stolen items, and if done enough, it costs the patron with higher food prices to cover this stuff.
It may not be terrorism, but it's still wrong. Don't try to make it seem less wrong by making a wildly inaccurate comparison.
YES! It is as bad as 9-11!! First your scooping up that saucer and throwing it in the purse, and next your planning global domination MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh schnap, did I say that out loud?
Buttons
Are you saying stealing a knife from a restaurant is equivalent to 9/11.. i mean come on...
August 17, 2010 at 1:07 pm |
If it is more than 2 blocks away it is not
that's just stupid
Please find another forum to comment on that is better suited to idiotic comments. Stealing is breaking the law and wrong but it does not compare to terrorism.
I have done this, but only after asking first. I can tell you from experience, that 9 times out of 10, if you ask they will most likely let you have it. Like the saying goes, "The answer is no, unless you ask". I mean I have gotten everything from custom beer glasses, silverware, and even tap handles for certain beers right off the tap at restaurants and bars. If you are personable and willing to ask, usually staff and management of most nice restaurants are willing to accommodate your needs in order to make you experience more memorable. If you just take stuff, then they will remember you and it leaves a bad taste in their mouths and you most likely will not get good service next time you return.
WHAT? when was the last time a fork, knife, spoon, class, soup bowl brought down a building or self destructed. Unless your MacGyver
Oh please. Have you ever walked off with a pen from your office, bank or wherever and realized when you got to your car "oops I took their pen!" but didn't want the hassle of going all the way back inside to give it back?? Never???? I bet you're also one of those people who 'hate people who lie'. Everyone lies – every single person walking on this planet does whether it's "hey how are you"...and you feel like crap and say..."great" or telling someone you like their outfit when asked but you think it's hideous...and so on. Don't act holier than thou – you're just like everyone else.
Where would eBay be without all those valuable collectables?
I steal the urinal cakes out of the urinals sometimes.
Those cakes taste funny.
Me too. I wanted my bathroom to smell as fresh as those Denny's bathrooms in East LA.
I foolishly tasted one once myself. Thought it was a large mint. Tasted more like a moth ball. To those who might think this is not hygenic, I can assure you that I first washed my hands before putting the "mint" in my mouth.
@Justeatit – BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That's too funny! Thanks for the laugh!
ewww
Plain and simple.......You are a big LOSER if you steal.
robin hood was pretty cool
You're the one losing out if you don't!
I have worked in restaurant for a while and while some form of stealing is common it can truly suck for the staff. I worked at a fine dining restaurant in chicago where we had the nifty brushed aluminum salt and pepper shakers, very sleek and modern. They were so cool looking in fact that they were constantly being stolen, resulting in never having enough of the damn things. After procuring all of the shakers available in the area, we had to then wait for more to be shipped from Europe, the whole time having customers complain about not having salt and pepper shakers. If there is a moral here, its simply that every time you steal one little thing it makes someone's life more difficult, even if it is in small ways.
which restaraunt? I wanna to snag some...those sound cool.
would you have given them to someone who asked for it?
Maybe if the chef did a better job of seasoning the food the salt & pepper shakers wouldn't be required.
quit bitchin....don't have such a fancy salt and pepper shaker. it's seriously IMPORTED?
Unable to eat all of my food, I asked for a to go box. I asked for a smaller box to place my dip. They refused. They said one box was enough. I asked again. Politely. Still a no go on the to go. So I placed the small ramekin inside the to go box. I did not want the runny dip ruining the rest of my food.
So basically you are saying your a thief?
been there done that. nothing worse than dressing or sauce making the rest of your left overs soggy. love those ramikins
Wait a minute...hotel soaps and shampoos are yours to take or leave. That's not stealing. You paid for them.
Technically they are not included in your room fee. Most hotels offer these things as complimentary gifts, but they are not required. In the past it was understood that if you don't use the soaps or shampoos, you should leave them there for the hotel to re-use. However, hotels use their complimentary toiletries as marketing tools. Those are what they want you to take because the more you see their name and the longer you keep their soap, the more likely you are to come back. So now the are basically free gifts to the room's occupant. But technically you are only paying for the use of the room. Everything else is extra, but expected by the customer because of long-standing custom.
By that argument, you could also say, I paid for this meal, therefore I'm taking the plate, silver, glass, and even my napkin with me!
I'm guilty of "stealing" a bar glass or two in my life, big deal. Just as many are going to get broken by clumsy drunks anyways.
stealing - you actually believe that. every guest pays whether you use them or not.
I once went to dinner with a friend and commented on a nice table voitive candle holder. Later that night, she handed it to me out of her purse. I was so upset and told her on any level it was considered stealing and wrong. I returned it the next day. They tried to give it to me and I just told them it would never be admired or enjoyed.
Not stealing: pass it on!
A message from the Foundation of Better Life.
Where would eBay be without all those collectables?
In response to the person talking about Denny's, I don't know which is worse eating at Denny's or stealing silverware from Denny's. Either one, you got to be pretty desperate or trashy.
I think the whole subject is really odd....is it really a problem? At 1st my reaction was who in the heck would do such a thing, but now I am wondering if it's a topic that was picked just to stir up this type of commotion...since I really don't think it truly is a problem....if it was sterling silver, than I get it!