Keeping Tabs

A Restaurant Shamed a Family on Facebook Who ‘Forgot’ to Pay the Bill

Hardened criminals.
Hardened criminals. Photo: Shutterstock

The U.K.-based mini-chain Burger & Lobster has eight locations and is expanding at a rapid pace — its New York flagship debuted Monday in the Flatiron — which isn’t all that surprising because the business plan involves a spartan menu of grilled lobsters and hamburgers at the same flat price. While some hiccups are bound to come with all that rapid growth, it’s nonetheless shocking that the restaurant would post a photo of four customers it claimed left without paying the bill at its Cardiff, Wales, location to its Facebook page.

“To this family that walked out tonight without paying their bill, we are sure this was just a ‘mistake’ and you completely forgot, so out of the goodness of your heart please call the restaurant tomorrow to pay the bill. Thanks,” it wrote, in a since-deleted post. The public shaming of the unidentified family attracted 600 comments before it was pulled, representing a spectrum of trollish opinions. Some of the comments, however, pointed out that the timing of the post left the family very little time to correct what could have easily been an error by returning to the restaurant to pay.

In all, it’s been a pretty rough few years for egregious restaurants posting customer critiques, along with tip-shaming and other awful things on social media. Hopefully, next year people will be less horrible, or maybe more restaurant customers will just be using that app that allows them to dine-and-dash.

[DailyMail]

A Restaurant Shamed a Family on Facebook Who ‘Forgot’ to Pay the