New Jersey's Little Old Lady Silverware Thief

Welcome back to Shit People Steal, in which we ask restaurateurs what items in their restaurant have been (or are frequently) stolen.

In this edition of Shit People Steal, the owner of Plantation Restaurant in Harvey Cedars New Jersey, recalls a particularly brazen theif:

I have had so many things stolen: pepper grinders, Zagat rating wall plaque (yes the wall plaque for what I do not know), women's room sign (same thing why?), artwork, open flags, welcome carpets, you name it. But the best was I got a tip from a bartender that some little old lady was coming into happy hour and stealing silverware off the the tables. Mind you our silverware was not cheap, $12 a piece. So I waited patiently for to come in again. Then one day the bartender gives me a nod. And right before my very eyes, I watch this 85 year-old short woman pick up a whole mise plate and dump it into her bag. I was appalled, we are talking like 40-50 pieces of silverware. The bar is packed (that's what $2 mojito will do) so I go over and confront, she denies it and denies it. So I grab her bag and she is pulling and pulling. Finally the bag breaks free and out pours all this silverware. She ran so fast for the door I couldn't believe it for how old she was.