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Flash forward two years later. The guy whose card was defrauded walked into a retailer and guess who was at the checkout stand. He walked out of the store after informing the store manager of his cashier's past.
Again, we suffered no losses as we made a quick report to the credit card issue.
Loads of restaurants in the US have card readers at the table. It's usually the chain restaurants like Olive Garden, TGIF, Chilis, etc. That's not where I prefer to eat, so I rarely see them when I'm out.
I saw these for a bit a few years back, maybe 2010-ish, around here at a few fast casual places... Applebee's tested it, as did a Longhorn Steakhouse that's local. I don't know of the market testing indicated poor performance, but neither has them anymore.
I wonder how many thousands of dollars the OP has saved over the years, by making dinner at home from scratch, instead of going out to eat?
There can be much more to going out to eat than just having a meal. Every week a bunch of us Air National Guard retirees meet for lunch. There can be lots of other reasons for going out. It's not my goal to die with a big fat bank account.
20+ years of using credit cards, and this has never happened to me. It's unlikely that the OP will encounter this in his one restaurant trip in 50 years.
It's also very difficult to determine exactly where credit card fraud occurred. While they're pointing the finger at a waiter, it probably happened some other way that they didn't think of.
My corporate credit card information was stolen used to purchase $6000 of computer equipment in India. A card I hadn't used in a restaurant at any point in the months before the purchase (much less within thousands of miles of India). There's no way to pinpoint when or how it happened. Point being, it's not always restaurants.
I had it happen to me. Brand new credit card and no one else but my waitress ever had it. Then there was a Netflix charge of about $70 the very next day. I have no business relationship with Netflix. That narrowed the list of suspects down considerably.
You may want to make a note on your own copy of the receipt, the amount that you tipped -- if you used the credit card to also tip.
A lot of people tip in cash instead of using their credit card, to keep it "under the table".
I always take my copy and write down the tip and stick it in my back pocket. When I get my bill via e-mail I open it up and check all the receipts against what was billed. Last year I found that one restaurant had added over four dollars to my tip. A quick call to the restaurant and they corrected it. So it pays to keep a record of your tip amounts and to verify it against your statement.
Well, everything went like you guys said. No problems with the transaction.
The main difference since 1970, at least for this type of restaurant (mid-level, not high end and not greasy spoon fast food) is the absence of water. I wonder if this an eco-greenie thing or they actually sell you bottled water nowadays.
One annoying thing is that the waiter kept filling up the soft drink glass without being asked and even though it wasn't empty. Seemed to happen every time I stepped away from the table. Must be a 21st century thing.
Well, everything went like you guys said. No problems with the transaction.
The main difference since 1970, at least for this type of restaurant (mid-level, not high end and not greasy spoon fast food) is the absence of water. I wonder if this an eco-greenie thing or they actually sell you bottled water nowadays.
One annoying thing is that the waiter kept filling up the soft drink glass without being asked and even though it wasn't empty. Seemed to happen every time I stepped away from the table. Must be a 21st century thing.
A lot of restaurants still provide free water, but only upon request. They fill a lot of glasses that never are touched, so they figure it's easier to wait until it's requested. All you had to do was ask, and I'm sure they would have brought it for you. Some restaurants do sell bottled water (still or sparkling), but those are generally the nicer places.
The water doesn't get touched because people today prefer the bottomless sodas. I know a lot of people that say they hate water, but will drink gallons of sugary brown bubbly water.
"...every time I stepped away from the table." How many times did you step away? That seems odd.
"...every time I stepped away from the table." How many times did you step away? That seems odd.
Once to use the facility and one other time to see the "original" restaurant, a log cabin built in the 18th century, and still in use, attached to the current building. I should've waited until we were finished to see the old cabin.
Oh, that was in my "wooing" stage. When I no longer needed to "woo," there was no need for restaurants.
I find this beyond fascinating. You never took your partner and/or children out to eat? Anniversary, Valentine's Day, their birthday? You never went out to lunch from the office? Never dined out with friends? Never had to travel or went on vacations?
And your partner was ok with this? Were they allowed to do so without you? Who did all the cooking? What about when they were ill and unable to do so?
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