OVERTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) – A couple dining at a Tennessee restaurant allegedly put their own hair in their food before complaining and getting the dish for free.
Patrick Jones is the manager at The Steel Coop in Livingston, so when a customer has concerns about their food, he is the one to fix the issue. On March 14, he was called over to a couple’s table, where he saw hair on their food, WSMV reports.
“It looks like somebody pulled a wad of hair out of their head and placed it right on your plate,” he said. “That’s awful.”
Jones did what any restaurant manager would do: he took the meal off the bill and apologized. However, while the couple was getting ready to go, another restaurant customer told Jones the hair on the couple’s food did not come from his staff.
Surveillance video shows the woman reach behind her head. Shortly after, the man reaches over and grabs what’s there – hair – then later allegedly places it on his food.
“This was one that we’re like, ‘You know what? We should post this,’” said Cindy Cooper, the owner of The Steel Coop. “People need to see that it’s not always the restaurant that is wrong.”
After checking the surveillance video, Jones ran out the front entrance to confront the couple. He came around the corner to find a bizarre situation.
“He was proposing to her on the side steps there, and I stopped him,” Jones said. “I said, ‘Look, don’t come back here again.‘”
Cooper decided not to press charges against the couple when the police called and asked. They were able to track down the people responsible, however, and let them know that they should head back and close out.
“It’s a struggle for us and all of them [other restaurants],” Cooper said. “They don’t need this kind of thing happening.”
She hopes the move she made in good faith deters the couple from doing this again.
“This is a lesson for him, us and everybody,” Cooper said. “He’ll just come and refund our money. We’ll let this go away.”
Cooper told WSMV that a family member came in on Wednesday morning and paid the bill. It was a little over $20. She says the incident can serve as a warning to other restaurant owners that keeping eyes on the food that goes out is essential to stopping this.
“Look at the food,” Cooper said. “It was obvious. That would have been seen immediately.”
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