Incidents.

at our restaruant, we have not had lots of incidents of fake money, but we do have times where people dine and dash.

i remember this one time: these college kids come in and eat there were 2-4 of them. we were busy and we didn't pay attention to them. they sat by the doors. afterwards, my grandma (a cook), came out there and noticed they were gone. she said, "they're gone. did they pay?" and none of us had given them their check ($30-something dollars) or accepted money from them.

we called the cops. we knew them fairly well--back then, they would frequent our restuarant, and my ma would give them a generous discount of 10-25% b/c they were officers. 10 min. later, they pulled up in front of the store, with the guys in the back. they told us that they claimed to be coming from mcdonald's (there was a mcdonald's down the street), but they were acting suspicious. so they cuffed them. and my ma IDed them. they were the ones. but she let them go w/o pressing charges b/c they were willing to pay and keep the change $40.

i personally thought that they are so young--you need to teach them a lesson. they're not children any more. they're away from mom and dad, thinking they can get into bars under-aged, and do whatever they want and get away with it.

fee: back when fee worked @ the restuarant, one day a hispanic couple came in, sat way in the back by the kitchen, and placed a large order. they did not pay for it yet, and so the kitchen was busy making sure the order was done right.

when we came back out, they were gone, and so was her laptop that she left outside, along with her leather jacket.

fundraising: back sometime, about every week, there would be a couple of young african-americans selling candy to raise money. we had often bought, but we noticed that we spent too much buying candy, so this one day we declined. they stormed out, breaking a vase, knocking down the screen seperator we had by the door, and scattered menus all over the floor.

we called the cops. they were unable to catch them, but they never came back.

FIRE: there was this one day that I had noticed that there was smoke by the windows up front, and someone knocking on the windows. i had several times looked, and there was no one there. when the smoke became more and more visible, i came into the kitchen, telling my them.

they were already in a frenzy, smelling something burning. they were running around the steam table trying to douse it out, whatever that was causing the smell. but i told them it was from outside, they quickly ran.

i knew it was a fire so i, as a little girl to paid attention during fire drills, ran outside.

it was a fire from the men's bathroom from a lit cigarette. my dad smoked. he stopped though. and gained 30 lbs. even though he didn't do it cold turkey. my ma had promised him a rolex a few years back for his birthday if he quit smoking, keeping in mind that it was unhealthy, and the taxes on cigarettes rose every year. he quit alright. but the rolex never came. that was fine w/ him.

firetrucks came by, but none of them were for us. we remodled the bathroom. to this day it smells like a hint of burnt turkey.

B&E: people spray-painting our back door was often, but that was eaily fixed. there was this one time that we came to work one day and noticed that some one had tried to break in--the metal door in the back was a little dented, and peeled, like some had tried to pry it apart w/ a crowbar. but they failed. we had a sturdy lock, one of those old ones on apartment doors where a metal rod was inserted through a series of hoops to lock the door. we settled on not calling the cops, but i being the good girl raised on believeing the power of the cops, called them.

a young man arrived, and confirmed it. though there was nothing he could do.

a young man arrived a little later, from next door, a bar. L'il. he had told me how someone had broke in yesterday and stole a couple hundred dollars worth of cash and alcohol. i then told him how someone had also tried to break in yesterday. he commented on the priciness of seafood--scallops, shrimp. but i thought that was unusual. i would think they would go for the cash.

for watever reason he tried, he failed. my dad fixed the door, and installed a new lock on the bottom half of the door that was more weak and easy to pry open. there were no more attempts.