WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 15 (DPI) – A 27-year-old technology salesman thought it would be funny to pretend he was waiting all evening for a Valentine’s dinner date to show up at a restaurant, a stunt apparently designed to fool nearby diners into paying for his meal and to entertain people on social media at the same time.

The stunt even managed to get coverage on the Washington Post site, which reported on Stephen Bonser’s series of Twitter posts Wednesday night as he was carrying out his prank at an Arlington, Va., Outback Steakhouse. By the end of the evening, Bonser’s act had motivated unsuspecting diners who took sympathy on him to pay for his steak dinner.

Readers, not surprisingly, were almost universally disgusted by Bonser’s stunt, which prior to social media wouldn’t have gotten an audience, much less press coverage.

Among the most popular comments among the more than 1,000 comments attached to the Post’s report, including the most popular comment first:

This is neither cute nor funny.  It’s also not “acting” – it’s conning and stealing.  The couple who paid for this idiot’s dinner were the victims, not the waiter or the restaurant.  I hope this prevents him from many future dates with honest women who wouldn’t want to associate with a conman in training.

Geez. Grow UP already. You are no longer 12 years old and this is not funny. It’s a manipulative, mean, shallow publicity stunt but given this day of social media and sensational behavior, I’m sure you are getting all of the attention you crave. There’s so much need in this world, and you can’t find anything better to do with your time, energy and money afforded you by sheer, random luck of having been born when and where you were? You have privileges that people in 3rd world countries can’t even dream about. Cut it out. Do something meaningful with your life.

“I  just stole $50 from an elderly couple, aren’t I cool?” No, that’s fraud and you should be arrested.

I’m depressed that the Post considered this worthy of a whole story, and I’m depressed that I read it. Ugh.

what a dick. deceiving and fleecing kind and trusting people is not something worth bragging about.  Criminals do that every day.  Being a person of integrity and being kind to others in need is worth bragging about.