“Oh, you can’t pay for your food, you work for the restaurant now till you’re paid off!”
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but I think even by the 60’s this scenario would be bizarre if it actually happened.
I did it as recently as 1994… Little bit different situation, I let them know in advance I had no money, but was willing to work for a meal, I didn’t surprise them by ordering first then telling them when I was done… But they did have me eat first before putting me to work. I think that was to see how serious I was- feed me first, then if I’m a bum, they’re only out one meal, but if I’m still willing once I’ve eaten, I’m probably worth trusting with a few basic tasks. It worked out, I ended up staying there a couple days (slept on a couch in their lounge, it was a truck stop so they had showers too) and in addition to a few meals, $50 cash.
What you say is mostly true about big chains like Denny’s, or anywhere near a city, but most rural mom & pop places would at least consider it.
I dunno, I live in a pretty rural area and pretty much every small business would either laugh at that offer or just give you the food for free because they felt sorry for you.
A GM at a restaurant chain I worked for tried that once. Then the homeless guy hit a customer in the head with a 2x4 he found out back and the GM was fired pretty immediately. He was giving the homeless guy free food in exchange for taking the trash from the back door to the dumpster.
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I did it as recently as 1994… Little bit different situation, I let them know in advance I had no money, but was willing to work for a meal, I didn’t surprise them by ordering first then telling them when I was done… But they did have me eat first before putting me to work. I think that was to see how serious I was- feed me first, then if I’m a bum, they’re only out one meal, but if I’m still willing once I’ve eaten, I’m probably worth trusting with a few basic tasks. It worked out, I ended up staying there a couple days (slept on a couch in their lounge, it was a truck stop so they had showers too) and in addition to a few meals, $50 cash.
What you say is mostly true about big chains like Denny’s, or anywhere near a city, but most rural mom & pop places would at least consider it.
I dunno, I live in a pretty rural area and pretty much every small business would either laugh at that offer or just give you the food for free because they felt sorry for you.
A GM at a restaurant chain I worked for tried that once. Then the homeless guy hit a customer in the head with a 2x4 he found out back and the GM was fired pretty immediately. He was giving the homeless guy free food in exchange for taking the trash from the back door to the dumpster.
It’s wildly illegal to pay someone in food.