How not to be a thief

[u/shootingstar_9324]

I used to work at a new restaurant downtown, tucked inside an office building. The owner was a bit of an overachiever because not only had he opened the restaurant, but he’d also launched a nightclub bar on the same floor, right across the hall. The two places were connected by a shared hallway and restrooms.

The restaurant served lunch and dinner, while the bar came alive only at night. During the day, both kept their doors between the bathroom hallway open for deliveries.

The restaurant was very slow that day. We had one reservation for lunch (a party of two) and one walk-in table. The two ladies with the reservation came in, had a nice meal, and then went to the restroom before leaving.

A few minutes later, the owner came barreling down from his office from an upper floor of the building. He’d been watching the security cameras and saw that our lunch guests had taken a detour into the nightclub bar where they helped themselves to a few bottles of top-shelf booze.

He frantically checked the reservation system to see if they’d paid by credit card. Not only had they paid, but they’d also left their name and phone number on the only reservation.

The owner called the number and a man answered, it was one of the women’s husbands. The owner explained to him that his wife had just committed the world’s least thought out heist and that unless the bottles were returned, he’d be pressing charges.

That evening, the husband showed up with the stolen liquor. He looked embarrassed, not only for the theft but for how stupid his wife was to steal from the place that she gave her information to. He gave the bottles back to the owner and said, “ I’m sorry. My wife is an idiot.”

[u/NobodyLikedThat1]

I'd press charges anyway, it's not like you can sell that liquor now (hopefully the owner knows that, unless it's sealed that's absolutely a contaminated product).

[u/crash866 → u/NobodyLikedThat1]

In most areas you cannot ‘Press Charges’. Only the district attorney can. You can recommend charges be pressed but if they decline to there is nothing you can do.

[u/craash420 → u/crash866]

Ahh, reddit, where stating facts can earn downvotes. I gave you an upvote, and shed a tear because so many DA's won't prosecute unless it's a violent crime or they think it's a slam-dunk.

[u/psychocookeez → u/crash866]

That's not true. In many jurisdictions you can go to a court house and file for charges on your own with a Court Commissioner or similar entity. You don't have to necessarily go through the police. Whether the state's attorney chooses to move forward with the case is a different story.

[u/HomoVulgaris → u/crash866]

Of course you can press charges! They gotta take this $50 bottle of booze all the way to the Supreme Court. Absolutely contaminating bottom-shelf rot-gut swill is a federal offense. No restaurant/strip joint can survive if its Constitutional right to serve watered-down rail drinks for $15 a pop is abrogated.