Celebrated Labor Day by visiting one of our favorite restaurants and provide the laborers there some work.
After the satisfying meal, I asked for the check and presented my only credit card. The waitress returned in a few minutes along with another lad and the charge paperwork... but not my card.
Lad: "We've never seen anything like this."
Waitress: "I'm so sorry!"
Me: "Did they turn down my card? I guess the guy I stole it from has finally reported the theft."
Actually, the card was fine, as far as being accepted, anyway. The problem was that it had fallen behind a tall and large cabinet securely fastened to a solid wall. There was a very narrow gap along the wall and the cabinet and the card was somewhere between that edge and the concrete floor.
Next, the manager arrived and reported the same basic story. No one had any idea of how to fish out the card nor any tools to move the cabinet. I suggested I fetch a good sized crowbar I'd been keeping at my house for just this sort of problem. Before they could respond, one of the owners came in.
We now had at least four 'chiefs' working on the problem and customers waiting for their food! After more consulting and examining of the cabinet, the owner announced she was going to Home Depot to get some kind of saw that might be used to cut holes in the back of the cabinet. However, a customer over heard the discussions and wanted to provide another solution. At this point I decided to let my wife have my car to complete a shopping errand and I retired to the entrance/waiting area while all the "chiefs" looked for "indians"!
The ultimate 'solution' was to write off the meal charges, leave the card behind the cabinet and call the credit card company. My new card will be here by Thursday. Just another reason to use those mobile charge machines carried around by the server. ApplePay would be great, also, but this mom-n-pop place will never get that kind of technology...
