A couple were caught on CCTV pulling out their own hair and placing it on top of their meal at the Steel Coop in Livingston, Tennessee, before getting engaged on the steps of the restaurant
A couple’s cunning plan to scam a free meal by planting a hair in their food was foiled when they were caught red-handed on CCTV, just moments before they got engaged outside the restaurant.
The pair had just finished dining when they complained to the manager about a rogue hair in one of their meals, prompting him to kindly offer to take the dish off the bill.
However, another customer alerted staff that the hair hadn’t come from one of the staff’s heads, but had actually been pulled from the couple’s own locks. Furious, the manager gave chase and found the lovebirds mid-proposal on the steps outside.
Patrick Jones, manager of the Steel Coop in Livingston, fumed: “It looks like somebody pulled a wad of hair out of their head and placed it right on your plate, That’s awful.
“It’s a struggle for us and all of them [other restaurants], they don’t need this kind of thing happening. People need to see that. It’s not always the restaurant that is wrong.”
Mr Jones confronted the couple, saying: “He was proposing to her on the side steps there, and I stopped him. I said, ‘look, don’t come back here again’.”
The shocking incident was captured on CCTV, clearly showing the hair being deliberately placed on top of the couple’s food. The restaurant took to Facebook to expose the scammers, warning customers: “These fine folks came in over the weekend and placed hair in their entree to get it for free. Please be aware of scammers such as these.”
Someone wrote on the post, “I’m glad you caught it on video, I bet they’ve scammed several restaurants with that. Well, here’s to their engagement memories…..if they’ll come back next year and they make it a year, heck I’ll buy their dinner.”
Another voiced their outrage, saying: “The level that people will stoop to continue to work the system to get everything for free is sad sad sad. Glad you took the trash out!”.
Others weren’t holding back either, with one chiming in: “I hope other businesses see this and seeing that she gave him the hair lol… they were meant to be together. Trash hangs with trash.”
And the comments kept coming, with another adding: “How pathetic, I’ve been a server and had patrons try to pull garbage like that. Generally managers let them have it to save face I guess.”
They went on to reveal: “Had a boyfriend for a short time who in four weeks pulled such stuff at three places we went to, a hair/ a piece of plastic/ an unidentified bit of possibly metal.”
However, there was no drama with the law as the manager decided against pressing charges when the police arrived. In an unexpected turn, a relative later came by to settle the bill, which came to about $20 (£15).