Drink and flee is new mantra for youngsters

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Consider this: A swanky club on a Saturday night, and youngsters in a mood to let their hair down and party hard till the wee hours of the morning. Interestingly, there are many “clever” youngsters in the capital who love getting

those extra kicks by downing their Cosmopolitans and quickly sneaking out without paying the bill. They claim it is not too difficult to pull it off, especially on Saturday nights when the pubs are packed and buzzing.
Many youngsters feel it is a cool way to get a free drink. Sudhir Kumar (name changed on request), a DU student, reveals, “I have a few friends who would enter a club only after midnight when it’s full of people because they can easily get away with a few drinks without paying. Some of them usually try to go and order drinks in a group, to confuse the bartender. Many a time, they order tequila shots and it often happens that the person serving tends to lose count due to the loud music. And then an argument ensues wherein my friends insist they’ve consumed less than they actually did.”
Often, youngsters have their fill of drinks and then make an excuse to go out for a smoke, and usually they never come back to clear the bill.
Gagandeep Bagga, a senior bar captain, says, “At times people refuse to pay the bills and come up with excuses like ‘we have already paid’ or ‘put it on our table number account’. For regular customers we usually take their credit cards and keep deducting from there and for the new ones, we make sure the payment is done then and there itself. Many a time, we include the money in cover charges and give coupons in return for buying drinks.”
Bar owners too are smartening up now and have devised ways to bell the cat. Deepali Narula, CEO of F-bar and lounge, The Ashok hotel says, “When we have busy days like weekends or special occasions, we maximise our vigilance. The staff is extra careful on crowded days and keeps an eye on the customers. A couple of times people have tried to act smart and refused to pay their bills, then such mischievous people are immediately handled by managers. The bartenders keep a track of the number of drinks served and submit the accounts next day, so they are quite responsible in collecting the money after serving drinks.”
Rajeev Ranjan, manager at Kasbah says, “We have people who are specially hired to keep a tab on such mischievous people and keep a sharp eye on things that look fishy. We also have a system of Bar-order-ticket, aka BOT, that is like an account and all the money for drinks and food is deducted from there. At times, we also keep the credit cards of people and return them after swiping the total amount under that person’s account.”