Why would you go into a restaurant if you know you don’t have any money? A person with half a brain cell would make sure he has enough money before even walking in the place. You should have enough, PLUS a tip for the waiter/waitress, assuming that they give you good service. I know people who have went into restaurants without leaving a tip. I know people who have went into restaurants and left a HUGE tip, where the server didn’t even deserve it. Of course, i have went into restaurants where someone left a dollar or two when there was a huge check.

I like what one comedian said. “You can’t pay the check, they make you wash dishes? How does that work? What do they do, fire the dishwasher? The guy goes home, “Honey, i got bad news. I lost my job at the restaurant. Some guy didn’t pay his check. That’s ok. I’ll take you out tonight. I won’t pay my check. I’ll be working again!”

If it was my restaurant, I would call the police and file a report.

Sneak out or give them something you have. Like a watch or your phone.

Credit card , or phone a brother or a very near friend and ask for help.

you give them your contact info, maybe leave them some collateral, and you go and get the money

What a good question, Joe. As a restaurant manager, I have seen this happen, and we handle it on a case-by-case basis.

First and foremost, do NOT simply sneak out of the restaurant, as one person suggested. If you do, one of two things will happen:
1) Your server will be forced to pay your check for you. We do this because it is your server’s job to pay enough attention to you that you shouldn’t be able to something like that unnoticed, and because in the absence of that practice, it would be VERY easy for unscrupulous severs to pocket cash from a bill and claim that they had a walk-out. Seems unfair, but it’s an industry standard.
OR
2) Somebody will quietly get your license plate number, and you’ll have the police to deal with. The staff is highly motivated on this one due to scenario #1.

When you call the manager to the table, we’re going to automatically assume that you’re an honest person, because you’re not trying to sneak out. After that, it really all depends on the manager/restaurant in question, and what you plan to do to pay the bill. The most common scenario (usually offered by the patron before we have to ask) is for one person in the group to go to the nearest ATM while the others stay, or in the case of a single diner, leaving behind an item of value (cell phones are common, as are watches…anything you know fully well a member of the staff would gladly pay the amount of the check to take home if you don’t return) while they go to fetch some money. In the case of folks we see regularly, I have been known to take a personal check (during business hours when I can call the bank to verify funds), use a spouse’s credit card number obtained over the phone, or in a couple cases I have simply told a very regular guest who tips well that dinner was on me.

You will most certainly NOT be washing dishes. The paperwork to hire you legally and make sure you’re covered by workman’s comp. is blindingly complicated these days, and then we’d have to pay you, to boot.

The folks who work in restaurants are usually a bunch of fallable, work-a-day folks themselves, and are more understanding than you might give them credit for.

Just hand over your watch or some other valuable thing to the manager and tell him that you’d collect it on making the full payment then go home and get the cash and come back and pay

You leave a GENUINE rolex watch, to secure up to $1,000.00 of credit.

No Rolex?

We have these nice policemen, who will escort you from the premises…

I’ve had it happen as a waitress and if you explain the situation and leave a contact number (which you can prove is real) and leave something important behind (like your drivers licence or jewlery) then you can come back with money at a later date. However, you could also be arrested if the owner is an ahole

Ask to speak to the manager in private & explain that it was a simple mistake. Tell him to keep your phone or something else of yours until you return with his money.

Well this happened to me at a gas station.(In South Africa you have attendants filling in the gas for you & you pay after filling). The manager kept my CD players removable face.

i always have a backup nowadays like a credit card in the car.