Dine and Dash*

I remember in high school my friends used to joke about doing a “dine and dash.” It was always a huge dare, but nobody ever wanted to do it in fear of getting caught. While the fear is there for some, it is still done by others.

Dining and dashing (also referred to as “defrauding an innkeeper”) is when someone leaves a restaurant without paying for their meal. While it doesn’t happen often, it’s still a problem. Some restaurants have cameras and can usually track down the culprit, while others are out of luck if this happens, and so is the server as far as a tip is concerned.

Searching for stories about situations when this happened, I actually found a website giving ideas on how to get away with it. I couldn’t believe it! Believe it or not, people do get caught. This is stealing. Here are some cases of people getting caught. Check them out.

Getting caught at Dennys

Miss Teen Louisiana stripped of her crown

According to Section 915,

Defrauding Innkeeper and Others Prohibited. Any person who will obtain, food, lodging or other accommodations at any hotel, motel, lodging house, inn, boarding house or restaurant, without paying, with intent to defraud the owner or manager, or who obtains credit at any hotel, lodging house, inn, boarding house or restaurant by or through any false pretense, or by or through the aid, assistance or influence of any baggage or effects in his possession and control, but not actually belonging to such person, will be guilty of a penal offense. Proof that food, lodging or other accommodations was obtained by false pretense or by false or fictitious show or pretense of baggage or other property or proof that the person refused or neglected to pay for such food, lodging or other accommodations on demand, or that he gave in payment of such food, lodging or other accommodations negotiable paper on which payment was refused, or that he absconded without offering to pay for such food, lodging or other accommodations, or that he surreptitiously removed or attempted to remove his baggage, will be prima facie proof of the fraudulent intent mentioned in this section.

Plain and simple, it is theft, it is illegal, and it is wrong. What more do people need to know?