I was genuinely shocked and appalled when I read that a trio of brazen dine-and-dashers beat up a restaurant owner in Texas for trying to take a picture of their license plate. How much further must it go before the good guys strike back?
The whole nasty episode was caught on surveillance and phone video…
Dine-and-dash restaurant ‘theft’ has soared in the post-COVID era in the face of persistent high food prices. And it appears some of the perpetrators have gotten downright mobsterish about it.
Broad daylight
A trio of dine-and-dashers tried to avoid paying their bill at Cheko’s Mexican Restaurant and Bar in Austin, Texas. They started by complaining the food was bad, and they weren’t going to pay for the meal. Owner Sergio Alberto Vasquez was obviously disappointed, but said ‘don’t worry about it’. He also asked them never to darken his puerta de la cocina again.
Then the trio broke into a spate of ‘resto-rage’, breaking plates and tossing other tableware around. And beat it, on the lam. Vasquez then pursued them with his cell phone, trying to take a photo of their license plate.
But the three got back out of their car, tackled the 70-year-old to the ground, and beat him up. Badly. “Leaving the restaurant owner with ‘obvious injuries to his face’,” according to The Independent. This in spite of a resto employee and a customer trying to intervene on Vasquez’s behalf.
Caught on video
The whole incident, inside and outside the resto, was caught on surveillance cameras and phone videos (see clip, above).
Austin police are investigating, and have plenty of video evidence to go on. But whether they’ll be able to track down the thugs remains to be seen.
My take
Dining-and-dashing has been getting bolder and more brazen as time goes on and food prices remain high. I think some people out there actually feel righteous about stealing meals from restaurateurs who are working extra hard just to make a profit these days. But when it reaches the point that they beat up folks who try to stop them, the situation has gotten completely out of hand.
As I’ve said many times in this space, it’s not the restos’ fault. And it’s not the farmers’ fault. Based on the most recent profit reports from Canada’s Big-5 supermarket chains, its the retailers who are raking in excess cash at everyone else’s expense.
The solution?
It’s clear that something has to be done to foil dine-and-dashers. Stop the dash before it starts. Or at least catch them out when they try to strike. Put them in their place. I posted, not long ago, on one method a creative resto operator is employing to nip the problem in the bud.
Regardless of the mechanism by which they’re caught, transgressors should face stronger penalties for their crimes. Restitution plus penalties at the discretion of the court? Prison time?
Whatever the solution to the problem, dine and dashers who destroy property and beat up on resto operators should be treated as the thieves and thugs they are. And prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Maybe others considering absconding on a resto tab would think twice, confronted with a stern example of the consequences….
~ Maggie J.