Tip taking teens not the brightest thieves
Two teens alleged to have swiped a tip jar from an American diner had the gall to come back hours later to buy a meal with the stolen cash.
The theft took place on Thursday at around 3.40pm when two girls, who looked to be 16 or 17, went in to look at a menu.
‘‘I asked them three times if they were ready to order and on the last time they said they were calculating the price and asked for some water,’’ Deluxe Diner waitress Chesney Hiroa said.
When Hiroa returned with the water the girls were gone and so was the tip jar containing $30.
The girls didn’t approach any staff when they entered the New Plymouth diner.
And when Hiroa noticed them and asked if they wanted to sit down they knew just where they wanted to sit.
‘‘They specifically wanted the booth in the corner in front of the till where you can’t see anything. It must have been calculated because they knew I’d have to go to the other end of the diner to get them water.’’
Staff believe the girls took the money. But in a bizarrely confident move, they returned just five hours later.
‘‘They came back later on and as I turned the corner one of the girls spotted me and turned away and left to go to Hell’s Pizza next door.
‘‘The whole experience was just really bizarre.’’
‘‘They were going to come and spend the money here,’’ Deluxe Diner owner, Chere Bailey, laughed. ‘‘It’s unbelievable.’’
The young girls had also gone to Hell’s Pizza earlier that day but were asked to leave when they pretended to be drunk and the employee thought they were going to steal drinks from the fridge.
Bailey’s concerned about what businesses will be targeted next if the suspected thieves aren’t caught.
‘‘If they keep getting away with it they’ll keep getting more ballsy.
‘‘They could be going from business to business and thinking ‘oh restaurants are cool because they’ve got tips on the counter’’’.
The diner posted about the incident on their Facebook page and have been inundated with generosity.
A regular customer turned up on his Vespa scooter not long after and put $30 in the tip jar to replace the stolen funds. ‘‘Our tip jar has been full since posting on Facebook,’’ Bailey said.