Mr. Kipper and I were out at our local Chili's for dinner tonight. We're friends with the bartender, so we stop in at least a few times a month. I usually pay, because it's easier for me to fish my wallet out of my purse than it is for him to fish his wallet from his back pocket.

I trust the bartender enough that I usually don't even wait for a check--when we're ready, I just hand over my card, and then sign the credit card slip.

Tonight, he actually brought a check, and without thinking about it, I got up and started to put on my coat, before realizing I'd not yet paid the check!

Not a big deal because I realized that before we left, and even if I hadn't, the bartender would've called me, and probably just covered it until he saw us again.

But, this has me wondering... has anyone else done something much like I did?

Where I came from this was called dine and dash

We didn't actually leave without paying, but it was one of those that we almost did.

We called it "book on the check" in high school. Bad kids.

Many years ago, I met a couple of friends at a bar and split some appetizers with them (they were there first and had already ordered). 10 minutes after they leave the bartender asks if I would like the check.

I hit them up the next day for their share.

I don't think I've every forgotten to pay at a restaurant. However, once, after getting my hair cut, I was getting ready to leave and my hair stylist had to remind me that I didn't pay yet. Years back, my buddy once forgot to pay after filling up gas during the day and it dawned on him at work. He went back the next day to pay.

I've never done it myself but had to pay a tab for a friend that was drunk, went to the bathroom and never came back. I paid her tab and looked all over for her for 10 minutes. I found out after I got home that she had been taken home by someone she had met that evening. He called me from her cell to tell me she got sick in the taxi and he was just leaving her apartment. I went to over to check on her. She was so sick that night and the next day that I never had the heart to ask for reimbursement.

At one of these chain restaurants (Olive Garden I think..), I have paid by Gift card which had an opening balance of $50. Our check came to around $47 or so with tax included but not the tips. The gift card was applied and the check was laid out in the usual fashion with a blank line for tips - I left a generous $9 tip (about 20%). I added the check to $56 and signed.

I only later realized that the gift card only had $50 in it� so I guess my balance of $6 tip never got �applied�. I feel sorry for my waiter for being shortchanged because of my error.

This one time in Burlington....

We realized it hours later and went back to pay.

I once forgot to pay at a fancy deli-cum-restaurant where I was trying to get a summer job. I phoned with apologies as soon as I'd realised when I got home. I tried to pay the next time I was in and they wouldn't take my money, but unsurprisingly they didn't offer me a job either.

Not that I can recall, but I guess if I really spaced out, I wouldn't even remember. Hopefully not!

One time I did check my credit card statement, and found that a moderate charge for $15 from a local restaurant hadn't posted. I recall them having problems with their credit card machine when I had eaten, and called and asked them. They said no problems, it had gone through, and not to worry about it. I left it at that.

The first time I ever heard this term was from an episode of Silver Spoons

It's happened to me, or I inadvertently perpetrated the act once. I was actually eating dinner at BDL before a flight. They started boarding sooner than I expected, so I wolfed down the rest of my food, collected my things, and headed to my gate (just across the hall). It wasn't until a couple of days later when I was doing my expenses that I realized I had forgotten to pay. Oops...

Once, when i was just a kid, mom left me and my brother at a casino's restaurant for an hour or so while she went to the slot machines.
As kids, we ordered everything on the menu from appetizers to dessert.
When she came back she said ok we're leaving, and none of us three reminded to pay the check. This was in a distant city, and we just came to notice on the way back home, about 3 hours from the restaurant. 2 years ago I went there and told them but the administration had changed and they wouldn't take my money

And maybe off topic, but once on a flight from Rio to Santiago, we had a duty free shopping spree, and upon landing we had a lot of missed calls from our bank's fraud prevention department, and they said that our card had been cloned in brazil and tried to make outrageous charges on our card, so we blocked them and the charges for the duty free onboard never showed up... a $400 value!

We did it on purpose once, many years ago.

Were in Stratford Ontario for a Shakespeare weekend, and had pre-theatre dinner at a place that turned out to have horrid food and worse service.

When it came time to get the check to pay our bill we couldn't find ANYONE to give money to - it was like the entire staff had vanished. After about 20 minutes as curtain time got closer and closer we finally got up and left.

Never....