Dine and dash

For playing of PC casual game, see Diner Dash.

A dine and dash (also referred to as "dine and ditch", "eat and run", "chew and screw", "eat it and beat it", "eat it and street it", "lick it and split it", "book it and hook it", "stow it and blow it", "doing a runner" or "beating the check") is a form of theft by fraud, in which a patron orders and consumes food from a restaurant or similar establishment with intent of not paying.

Legal aspects

Simply failing to pay a bill when due is generally not a crime in most circumstances or jurisdictions. It is a contract debt, and the act is civil rather than criminal in nature. However, there are often laws that apply specifically to restaurants, hotels, and other circumstances, where the presumption is that the customer intended to never pay their bill in advance and therefore obtained the valuable services under false pretenses, is a form of criminal fraud.

Often, the establishment may make their employees pay the cost of customer theft to give them an incentive to police their customers. They may do so explicitly by deducting unpaid meals from wages or tips, or implicitly through an end-of-shift reconciliation system whereby the server is expected to provide enough cash and credit card receipts to cover the cost of their customers' meals, and keeps any surplus as tips. This is an illegal form of wage theft,[1][2][3][4][5] and if the server is held responsible for tabs that are not paid, the employer is liable for paying the server back his or her stolen wages. It is illegal, for example, for an establishment to require an employee to pay for an unpaid tab, but it is often a serious offense to have someone walk out on their check. The server must decide whether to pay the tab and keep his or her job, or not pay and risk losing it.

Some restaurants, lodging, or taxicab services may be forced to compensate for the unpaid bill by increasing prices to cover the loss. In turn, this will make it more difficult to attract customers, and may harm their reputation.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schultz, Connie (December 15, 2009). "The costs of getting stiffed shouldn't be the server's to pay". Cleveland Live.
  2. ↑ "Payment of Wages". Ontario Ministry of Labor. November 2009.
  3. ↑ British Columbia Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services (2005). "Interpretation Guidelines Manual: British Columbia Employment Standards Act and Regulations".
  4. ↑ U.S. Department of Labor (2009). "Fact Sheet #16: Deductions From Wages for Uniforms and Other Facilities Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Deductions that are not allowed" (PDF). Government of Alberta. September 2011.
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