Featured Image Credit: Facebook
Topics: US News, Food and Drink, Viral, Social Media
Rhiannon Ingle
One restaurant has made dine-and-dashers do a 'walk of shame' after they got exposed online.
Ken Brackins, owner of Rick's on the River based in Tampa, Florida, has called out customers who rock up to his restaurant, enjoy the grub they HAVE on offer, and dip without picking up the bill.
The individuals in question have since made it to Ken's 'hall of shame' after posting about all the run-ins he's had with dine-and-dashers on social media.
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Unsurprisingly, the sometimes heated encounters have taken the internet by storm after going viral and it's clearly come to some avail as Ken's persistence has successfully guilt-tripped many of the dashers into paying up.
He told Fox News: "We use this as also a deterrent.
"We're not really trying to… get the money as much as use as a deterrent… so they won't do it again or… we don't want those customers back."
"We always make them come back in and pay, they want to pay over the phone," he continued, "but we make them do the walk of shame and come in and pay."
The restaurant owner said most customers paid after being confronted by him, but one driving a Mercedes-Benz still refused to cough up for her tab even after the embarrassing altercation.
Talking about the ordeal, Ken took to Facebook writing: "This latest dine-and-dasher spent her beer money on a fancy, late model Mercedes.
"She refused to pay her entire tab because she said the wind blew over her pitcher of beer. There were only a few ounces of beer on the deck. True story."
"They're too busy for this kind of nonsense," he revealed to Fox. "If it's something very large or something, or if they get combative, we would call the police. The police are way too busy. They've got more important things to do."
"This is not the first time they're doing this," Ken went on. "These people are very relaxed when they do it, and I've had many other venues around call and say, 'Hey, can you give me that person's name and number because they've been doing the same thing?' So they'll wait a few months and come back and do it again if you don't do something."
However, despite the few bad apples, the restauranteur said '98 per cent of the people are on our side'.
He explained: "We've got some from all over the world where we get positive comments that they're cheering us on. I think they're sick of seeing the smash-and-grabs and nothing happening out on the left coast out there. So… we're trying to do our part."
"You get a few people that try to just… say that we're in the wrong," he continued. "But… hey, we're not the ones that are […] trying to steal something.
"So if you don't want to be splashed all over social media - don't do it."
Lesson learnt.