Carol Van Wyk

Michele Marits

English 111: English Composition 1

26 April 2008

A Plate of Pancakes

With today’s technology what used to be a long and complicated process has become a simple task. Banking for instance involves almost no effort; paychecks are automatically deposited and transfers take only the click of a mouse. Check writing has been replaced with the swipe of a Visa check card. Yet, as the process gets easier, the possibility of the risk of human error remains the same. Security measures have been increased on the corporate side, but how do you protect yourself from yourself? What happens when the person on the other end of your transaction doesn’t pay attention?

It had been a long six months and my girlfriend, Shelly, and I were looking forward to a small vacation. Our husbands had recently come home from deployment and the everyday challenge of being single, working mothers had taken its toll on us. We needed to relax. We booked a hotel in Williamsburg, made reservations at a day spa and explained to our husbands that since we worked all year long half of the tax returns were technically ours to spend.

The second day of our mini getaway, we were off to spend an exuberant amount of money at the outlet malls, but not before we fueled our shopping engines. Stopping off at a small, family-owned restaurant, we enjoyed pancakes and eggs topped with the argument over the bill.

“I’m paying for breakfast this morning” I exclaimed.

“No. You paid for the hotel and I have cash in my wallet let me get this one” Shelly argued. The discussion over the bill went on for about five minutes when the waitress finally brought us the check.

“Shelly don’t be silly, you paid for breakfast and dinner yesterday, it’s only fair that I pay for breakfast this morning. It’s only $20 and if you really feel that you still owe me for the hotel you can buy me some coffee later.” She agreed. I gathered my purse and my coat and walked to the cash register.

“Was everything ok?” The hostess asked me.

“It was delicious, thank you.” I replied

She rang up the check on an older style cash register.

“Your total is $20.86.” She told me.

“Do you take Visa?” I asked

I handed her my check card when Shelly walked up to the register. As we discussed which stores we wanted to start with or whether or not we should buy our husbands anything the hostess handed me the credit slip to sign along with a pen. I looked at the slip I was about to sign and lost my breath.

“Um excuse me?” I said to the hostess “There seems to be some mistake.”

“I’m sorry?” She replied.

“Well either your register printed this wrong, or this is the most expensive breakfast I have ever eaten.”

I pointed to the total on the credit slip and showed the hostess what I was referring to.

“According to this slip, I just paid $2,086.00 for a plate of pancakes! Which while they may have been good, they weren’t that good.”

The hostess looked as shocked as Shelly and I were. “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I’ll void that out right away!”

With some reluctance, I handed her my card again. The hostess was voiding the transaction and putting the correct charge on my check card when I heard a faint chuckle from Shelly. She had a smirk on her face and an ‘I told you so’ look in her eye.

“Shut up Shelly, I don’t want to hear it right now.” I said with a little more attitude than I wanted.

“I told you I had cash.” She said. Then to the hostess “I’m curious, how exactly does a person get charged $2,000 for a $20 bill?”

The hostess explained to us that their typical register was broken and the one she was using was an older model than what she was used to.

“I must have forgotten the decimal point when punching in the total amount.” She said. “On our other register you don’t have to do that.”

Unbelievable, I thought, that someone could forget the simplest of things when working with other people’s money. But with the mistake being caught and the transaction being voided there was no use in getting upset over it.

Twenty to thirty minutes later Shelly and I were happily sorting through the sale racks at Anne Taylor Loft. After trying on several outfits and making fun of the ones we didn’t like we stood in line to check out.

Joking with the sales clerk I said “if my card doesn’t go through you can bill The Pancake House up the street.”

The sales girl looked at us confused and we explained the situation.

“You should call your bank.” She told us. ”Something like that happened to me once and it took almost a week to get my money back.”

Outside the store I decided it would be a good idea to look into my checking account and see exactly what was going on. I didn’t have a computer handy and didn’t want to call customer service if everything was fine so I took another route. I called my husband and asked him to log into my checking account and tell me the balance.

“It says you have $8.” He told me.

“Can you tell me what the transactions read?” I asked him although I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to know I had been overcharged that much.

“It says here there is a charge at Anne Taylor, The Crowne Plaza, and $2,000 at The Pancake House? What the heck is going on up there?”

I told him what happened and assured him I would be calling the bank immediately to find out what exactly was going on.

On the phone with customer service, the representative explained to me that since I had used my Visa check card and the funds were available in my checking account, the transaction posted within seconds. However, a voided transaction doesn’t work the same way. Paperwork is involved and the bank must wait to receive all daily receipts and void slips from the restaurant before being able to credit any lost money to an account. I would get my money back but when was another issue.

The rest of the day I walked through the mall with Shelly helping her decide what clothes looked good or which watch to get. On the way home she suggested that we make this trip a yearly treat for ourselves. I agreed that I had fun and that it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“But Shelly,” I said “if we ever do this again, we’re paying cash for everything.”

Word Count: 1,120