Students accused of bailing on tab
Perkins and students dispute facts
By: Erica Horton
Issue date: 9/29/09 Section: News
When employees of the Perkins restaurant on Poplar Avenue at Highland Street saw three University of Memphis students Sept. 19, they called the police. The staff members had said the trio walked out on a $77 tab the previous weekend, but the students said they were not at the establishment when the dine-and-dash occurred.
Senior exercise and sports science major Nicol Castillo said she felt something was wrong when the servers gave them "weird looks."
Castillo said she and five other friends came in for something to eat at 3 a.m. after spending time downtown. After her friends were seated and everyone had ordered, Castillo left to take a friend to her dorm.
When she came back to the restaurant, she said their waitress asked if she had been there the weekend before. Castillo, who had eaten at a restaurant called The Happy Mexican the weekend before, said no and that she had receipts to prove it.
"The servers started whispering and being rude," Castillo said.
She said another waitress refused to give the table silverware even though she had some in her apron pocket.
Tommy, a junior business major who asked to have his last name omitted, was one of the accused students. He said he was in Collierville the night that the Perkins employees said he walked out on his check.
"It was kind of awkward because a bunch of the servers sat and watched us the whole time," he said.
When they got to the counter to pay their ticket, Castillo said the security guard told them they could not leave until the police got there.
Castillo, a waitress at Chili's, said she would never walk out on a check at another restaurant because people have walked out on her before.
Castillo, Tommy and a third student waited as four police cars pulled up to the restaurant. The officers scanned their IDs.
"The cops didn't believe us either," Castillo said. "They told us to just not come back because the staff would be watching us from now on."
Senior exercise and sports science major Nicol Castillo said she felt something was wrong when the servers gave them "weird looks."
Castillo said she and five other friends came in for something to eat at 3 a.m. after spending time downtown. After her friends were seated and everyone had ordered, Castillo left to take a friend to her dorm.
When she came back to the restaurant, she said their waitress asked if she had been there the weekend before. Castillo, who had eaten at a restaurant called The Happy Mexican the weekend before, said no and that she had receipts to prove it.
"The servers started whispering and being rude," Castillo said.
She said another waitress refused to give the table silverware even though she had some in her apron pocket.
Tommy, a junior business major who asked to have his last name omitted, was one of the accused students. He said he was in Collierville the night that the Perkins employees said he walked out on his check.
"It was kind of awkward because a bunch of the servers sat and watched us the whole time," he said.
When they got to the counter to pay their ticket, Castillo said the security guard told them they could not leave until the police got there.
Castillo, a waitress at Chili's, said she would never walk out on a check at another restaurant because people have walked out on her before.
Castillo, Tommy and a third student waited as four police cars pulled up to the restaurant. The officers scanned their IDs.
"The cops didn't believe us either," Castillo said. "They told us to just not come back because the staff would be watching us from now on."