A diner in Singapore left a restaurant in Bugis without paying for her buffet meal on Jul. 9.
Left when no one was looking
The restaurant in question, Mr Mookata, spoke to Shin Min Daily News.
The diner arrived alone at around 5pm and spent two hours enjoying her dinner at the restaurant.
The store manager said she was a middle-aged Chinese woman.
"She looked like any other diner, she didn't seem like someone who couldn't pay for her meal," he said.
As it was the restaurant's peak period, staff members were busy attending to other customers and did not take special notice of the woman.
At 7pm, the store manager realised that the customer had already left without paying the S$35 bill.
The staff corroborated that she did not pay for her meal.
He also looked through the cash register to verify that she had indeed dined and dashed.
Reviewing the store's CCTV footage, the woman could be seen leaving the restaurant with her belongings like nothing was amiss when no one was looking.
Restaurant does not intend to pursue the matter
The store manager told Shin Min the restaurant did not make a police report and is not intending to pursue the matter.
"We chose to let this incident go. Hopefully, this can serve as a reminder to fellow F&B owners. I also hope she would not reoffend."
He revealed that not many diners leave without paying.
However, he added that he understands this is the reality of working in F&B.
Therefore, he already takes such losses into consideration and is reluctant to investigate the matter other than go public with it.
Although the woman's face can be seen on the store's surveillance cameras, he does not wish to reveal her identitiy publicly as he does not wish for the woman to be bullied online.
This is not the first time a diner has left without paying since the restaurant opened two years ago.
"This is happened four to five times. Some of them dined alone, but we have had groups of diners who walked out without paying too."
The most the restaurant lost in a case of dine and dash was more than S$100. The group of customers had ordered alcohol.
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Top image via Shin Min Daily News.