Man Arrested for ‘Dining and Dashing’ After Facebook Shaming Is Lucky He Wasn’t Punished More Severely

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Adriana Velez 14 hours ago

Remember Mr. Dine and Dash, the guy who got called out on Facebook for skipping out on his restaurant bill? The restaurant, Brewster's Cabinet, asked their fans to call Reno police if they happened to spot the man in the photo they posted. Well, you will be pleased to hear that the accused dasher, Saul Zelaznog, has been arrested -- and it turns out Brewster's Cabinet wasn't the only place in town he'd stiffed.

Zelaznog (or Gonzalez, as he calls himself when it's not backwards name day) was technically arrested for a probation violation, though he may have to answer for skipping out on his bill in restaurants throughout Reno. Which he can explain! He just forgot his wallet. Multiple times.

In general I'm a little squeamish over the whole idea of shaming restaurant customers and workers via social media. I think it can go terribly wrong. People can be falsely accused, restaurant workers can get fired, restaurants can get death threats -- it can backfire. What about all the cheap tippers who crop up on Reddit all the time? Sometimes justice is served. And Zelaznog is innocent until proven guilty. But if all these accusations are true, then it's about time Gonzalezelaznog or whatever his name is took some responsibility for his careless actions. I mean, if you're not going to be super creative about skipping out on your restaurant bill, like these daring diners who jumped 55 stories, we need to come up with something. Here's a few ideas.

Wash all the dishes every night for a year.
Buy all the diners' dinner one night at each restaurant.
Literally sing for his supper -- take requests from customers and seranade everyone.
Wear a sign reading "I skipped out on my bill here" in front of each restaurant he stiffed.
Spend 100 hours of service in a soup kitchen.
Write apology notes to every single worker affected by his non-payments.

Do you think restaurant customers should get shamed via Facebook or Twitter?

Image via Brewster's Cabinet/Facebook

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adriana Velez

is a staff writer who dabbles in food, parenting, news, entertainment, molecular biology, and anything else that that pops into her head. She lives with her elementary school-aged son in Brooklyn, land of urban farms and artisan everything.  

More
?