Man pays for meal at Kriner’s Diner months after he walked on tab

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Eight months after a man walked out on his tab at Kriner’s Diner, he returned to get a meal. He paid for both it and the one from eight months ago. Before he left, he handed Norann Kriner a note.

Andy Kriner and his wife, Norann, have owned Kriner’s Diner for 11 years. Alaska’s News Source spoke with Kriner on Wednesday, and he described what happened that morning. Kriner said Norann went to him with tears in her eyes, and then they both started crying reading the letter.

“When he was done eating he left a note, and ah, it’s pretty cool, haven’t seen anything like this in my 35 years I’ve been ... 35 or 40 years I’ve been in the restaurant business,” Kriner said.

In the note, the man who came back to pay for his meal wrote that he hoped Kriner was not mad. Kriner said he was never mad. Sometimes people walk out on a tab, and he just hopes when people do, it’s because they just needed a bite to eat and are in a hard spot. Kriner went on to say that when people don’t have anything to eat, he helps in any way he can, and that this note just made his day.

The person who left the note wrote that they were in recovery from addiction.

“One little word of kindness goes a long way,” Kriner said. “You never know whose day you’re are going to make, ya know, by being nice to somebody. This guy made my day because his letter was so heartfelt, it made my day.”

Kriner also had a message for the anonymous person who left the note.

“Just stay on the road to recovery, and believe in God, and of course, I’m not mad at you,” he said. “I’m proud of you.”

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