Stéphane Place, correspondent in Bordeaux / Photo credit: KATHLEEN FINLAY / IMAGE SOURCE / IMAGE SOURCE VIA AFP 4:12 p.m., February 2, 2024
For several weeks, a serial thief, looking like an average customer, has been stealing the piggy banks for tips in Bordeaux restaurants. With always the same operating mode. A restaurateur, met by Europe 1, lost nearly 300 euros intended for his employees.
Tip piggy banks that disappear in Bordeaux restaurants. For several weeks, an individual has been having fun stealing these little pigs placed on the counter and into which you can slip a coin after paying the bill. A restaurateur, met by Europe 1, was even able to identify the culprit.
However, it was an average customer who did not appear threatening at all. The latter goes to the establishment run by Frédéric Lafont, reserves a table, but says he is waiting for friends and colleagues. An excuse to sit at the counter.
“It’s happened to quite a few colleagues”
"He pretended to call his friends. For a quarter of an hour, he stayed at the bar, but he was not monitored, he was an ordinary person, aged around fifty. After a while, he left and said to my room manager: 'They're here, I'll go get them'. But he never came back. And after an hour, a first customer came to pay and wants to leave a tip. The pig was missing,” says the restaurateur.
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“Afterwards, we looked on the cameras and we saw him stealing our tip pig with, roughly, 250 to 300 euros in it, intended for my employees. I found it sad and I was a little angry. That's why we decided to post this on social networks. And, as I'm an old restaurateur, I know quite a few people in Bordeaux and we realized that this had happened to quite a few colleagues, with the same person,” continues Frédéric Lafont.
In his establishment, the new piggy bank is now chained to the bar. And monitored with the greatest attention.