A cappuccino-slurping thief burned a Manhattan barista by swiping fistfuls of cash from his tip jar while he was busy with another customer.
The java jerk was caught on camera at The Chipped Cup in Hamilton Heights snatching $40 while the worker, Brendan Cayton, was ending his shift around 8 p.m. Monday.
“I slammed my hand on the counter and screamed, ‘F–k!!’ before running outside to try and catch him, but he was already gone,” Cayton said.
The heartless crook ordered a cappuccino, then pretended to rush off to an ATM to get cash when his card was declined. But when Cayton began to help another customer, the thief dug his hand deep into the tip jar, scooped out handfuls of dollar bills and shoved them into his bag.
Cayton said he didn’t notice the callous act until after the customer was gone.
“About a minute after he left, I look down at the tip jar that was supposed to have around $35 to $40 and I only see about $2 and some change left,” Cayton said.
He added that it would’ve been a fairly successful day if that money hadn’t gone missing.
“It would’ve been a solid $80 day if that $30 to $40 didn’t go missing 30 minutes before I was supposed to get off,” he said.
Surveillance footage showed the thief wearing clean clothes, carrying a messenger bag and appearing well-groomed — suggesting he was not in need of the money.
“He didn’t look broke, he looked clean, so I don’t think he was homeless,” Cayton said.
Chipped Cup owner Andrew Ding said the sneaky crook did a great job of covering his tracks and remaining unseen while he lifted the tips.
“He was very cunning,” Ding said.
“He lifted his bag to block the view of the other customer, and then reached in the jar two or three times.”
Ding also agrees that the man didn’t appear to need the extra cash, and thought it was unfortunate that his employee had to pay the price.
“This is not cool,” he said. “I don’t know the circumstances that led him to do that.
“Dude, if you need food, we’ll hold a food drive,” he added.
The coffee shop posted video stills of the tip thief to their Facebook page in hopes of letting the community know that he’s out there.
The shop also issued an open letter to the thief on Imgur:
“DEAR TIP THIEF, We don’t know the circumstances that led you to do what you did, but this is not the way to go about things if you’re strapped for cash. Our employees work very hard to keep this boat afloat and, well, what you did was just plain crappy.”
Ding said he doesn’t necessarily want to see the man get in trouble, but instead wants to warn people of his methods.
“We’re not calling up a hunt for this guy,” Ding said. “Just a public awareness.”