I stole thousands of dollars worth of food from my old job.

I used to work at this really upscale upscale Italian restaurant. I had a couple of jobs, one was the panatería (which is essentially a pastry line for all the desserts) and the other was a server. I was underpaid and overworked when I was a server. Tips were good, but the bussing staff constantly complained about not getting the 3% we were supposed to give them, and the management was assholish.<br><br>Anyways, this place had an extensive wine selection and they were very proud of the quality of their fish and meat. From day one, I realized they were exchanging quality for massive markups. Their pastries were frozen, their risotto was made with arborio rice from Costco, and we used vineyard vinegar instead of aged red wine vinegar. Their meat came from this company called Broadleaf that was known for being the supplier for every Applebee’s in the country.<br><br>I realized they were exchanging quality for profit margins, and their menu items were marked up 450%. Their alcohol was marked up around 600%. I was friendly with the sous chef, and I convinced him to let me take home whatever was going to get thrown away at the end of the night. They always had leftover bread, cheese, prosciutto, and grapes. It was a nice little basket, and the value was estimated to be around $50 a night. They took this basket to events they hosted, but they never had enough events to go through everything. So I just took whatever was left, even if they used it at an event. This went on for around 4 months, and it was the best fucking prosciutto and grapes I had ever tasted.<br><br>The second job I had was as a server. I also ended up taking around $4,500 worth of wine, but that was harder to do. They had cameras in the wine cellar that pointed directly at the door, and they kept a very accurate inventory. I ended up taking just enough to the point where I could explain it as a mathematical error. The problem was they tracked the wine that went out, the wine that came in, and the inventory. I took six bottles, which is the equivalent of 3 cases of wine. I remember one time a couple ordered a $200 bottle of wine and left half of it unfinished. I took it home along with four other bottles. I was so paranoid and drunk I almost cried in the car.<br><br>I took more bread, cheese, and prosciutto along with it. I remember the sous chef saying “People don’t even know how much this prosciutto costs. It’s aged for 52 months, and it’s $60 a pound.” Their menu item consisted of around 2 oz of the stuff, which is around $7.50 in material cost. It was marked up to $22. I took entire pounds of the stuff, along with pounds and pounds of cheese. I never got caught, and I just left the job after a few years without any issues. I even got a good reference from them.<br><br>Looking back on it, I realize that the owner was in serious fucking trouble if he lost $4,500 worth of alcohol. I feel bad, but fuck him.<br><br>Edit: Alright, this blew up. First off, thank you for the gold and the pit. Second, the best part about this is that I can see the owners and former employees have found this post, and they’re pissed.<br><br>Edit 2: The owner has stated that they lost around $50,000 worth of alcohol during my time there.