Thousands of euros

Waiter pocketed money into his own pocket

Judge Alexander Wehinger considered the defendant's statements to be less than credible.(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

For years, a waiter in Tyrol and Vorarlberg had cheated his employers and colleagues out of thousands of euros. Now he had to answer for it in court.

The fact that God's mills grind slowly was once again demonstrated in a trial at the Feldkirch Regional Court on Thursday. The defendant (28), who now works as a restaurant manager in Switzerland, had to answer for several "legacy cases" in Zillertal and Vorarlberg. It is a case of commercial theft from 2017 to 2023, a period in which the man from Inner Austria worked as a waiter in several restaurants. According to the public prosecutor's accusation, the accused not only stole cigarettes and food vouchers, but also repeatedly pocketed revenue and tips from employees. The damage is said to amount to around 17,000 euros.

During the trial, the accused only pleaded guilty in part. For example, in the case of the unpaid tips to three service employees in Lech: "In the case of two employees, I didn't understand why they should get the same share as the others when they were only there for two weeks. The third waiter had not done the final cleaning properly," said the accused.

Reaching into the safe
The 28-year-old denies that around 3,000 euros were also missing from the tip box. His argument: "Since Corona, guests no longer tip so much. At a wedding, we once only got a packet of toffees as a thank you." The accused also has an explanation for reaching into the Lech restaurant's safe. A colleague was on sick leave at the time and had asked him to check the safe to see if her three waiter's bags were still there.

Not a very credible explanation for Judge Alexander Wehinger. Especially as the waitress in question also suddenly found 1000 euros missing from her purse. As two witnesses did not appear, the trial was adjourned indefinitely.