Waitress Patricia Idrissi remembered that Atta had entered the bar at around 3pm with two other men. One of them wandered off to play a video machine at one end of the restaurant, while Atta and his other colleague — named as Marwan al-Shehhi — sat drinking and arguing between themselves. Al-Shehhi's drink of choice was Captain Morgan rum mixed with coke. Over the next 90 minutes, both of these supposed Islamist extremists, polished off five drinks each. But as they were preparing to leave, Atta questioned his bill of $48 and Ms Idrissi called her manager, Tony Amos, to come over to try and help sort out the problem. "I said to the guy, 'Hey, if you can't pay, let me know upfront and we'll work something out'," recalled the manager, Mr Amos.
At this point, Atta got annoyed, pulled from his pocket a wad of $100 and $50 bills, paid his bill and left Ms Idrissi a nominal tip of just $3. Mr Amos added: "He got angry and said 'You think I can't pay my bill? I'm a pilot for American Airlines. I can pay my fucking bill'." (by Andrew Buncombe, Independent News) |