Singer Harry Styles is currently in the midst of a 15-night engagement at Madison Square Garden. Entertainers big enough to fill a venue the size of the garden, which seats nearly 21,000, are used to having flowers, small stuffed animals, and similar objects tossed onstage by adoring fans. But three days ago, someone in the audience flung something in the general direction of Styles that was weird enough to prompt a response from him. It was chicken nuggets.
In the video that follows, the performer can be heard telling the audience member that he doesn’t eat chicken and that even if he did, these were cold and, hence, unappetizing.
Whose Theft Is It Anyway?
As Tim Gilberto wrote last October, New York’s outdoor dining structures carry their share of downsides, such as a passerby swiping a fry from your plate.
Sometimes, however, the consequences can be far more serious. Grub Street reports on a recent incident in which a diner’s bag was boosted by a passing bicyclist. The victim was seated at an outdoor table at Walter’s in Fort Greene with her wife and two friends when the crime occurred. The group gave chase, but two wheels are faster than none, and the thief was gone. As if the criminal’s actions to this point weren’t brazen enough, he returned to the scene of the crime long enough to fling the bag, now empty, at the table.
But the story doesn’t end there. As Grub Street writes, when the group returned after its futile attempt at capturing the perp, they found that their food had been served and was now quite cold. The management of the restaurant added insult to injury by presenting the foursome with a check for their meal.
At least that’s the point of view of the victim of the purse snatching, who took her case to the court of public opinion, posting a nearly two-minute video on TikTok in which she shares the belief that Walter’s should have absorbed the cost of the meal.
@thelipsticklesbians Theres so much to unpack here. What do we duscuss first, the robber or the restaurant? #robbery #stolenphone #restaurantreview #robberyscene #appleiphone #fortgreene #fortgreenebrooklyn #findmyiphone #whatdoyouthink
Grub Hub makes a compelling case for why the restaurant’s covering the cost would have been a solid gesture of good will, while also arguing equally effectively that the theft was customer’s bad luck — not theirs. Where do you come down on this question?
See also…
- The Future of Outdoor Dining in NYC Is Likely to Please No One
- New York’s Makeshift Outdoor Dining Structures Have Gone from Blessing to Headache to Nightmare
