Family
Like many families around the world, eating out is a way of spending quality time with the family. But what happens when your generosity at a restaurant is turned into a nightmare?
Whitney Anderson is left in shock as what she thought was a good deed backfires on her immensely.
A Good Deed
Restaurant diner Whitney Anderson is a mother of three from Salem, Virginia. Without a second thought after eating at a nearby restaurant with her family, she handed her credit card to her server and included a generous tip like most people would have done.
Receipt
After paying for a product or service, a receipt is most often generated as a proof of purchase. It shows information such as business name address, amount paid, transaction date and time.
Bank Statement
Oftentimes when receipts are collected, they are dumped in trash cans. However, a simple habit of keeping an eye on your account regularly to check your financial habit can help you spot fraudulent activities just like Anderson discovered.
Something is off
Quite a while after eating at a neighboring restaurant, the mother of three looked at her bank statement and something seemed to be off. She wondered if she had spent that much money that month. The numbers were not adding up and she became completely puzzled.
Memory
Anderson thought back about how she had spent her money. It didn’t take her a long time to discover the confusing number was from Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant in Roanoke Virginia she and her family had eaten.
The Restaurant
Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant is famous for its sumptuous Mexican food and its particularly popular and delicious quesadillas and burritos. Did everything however really go down well for the Andersons?
Reminisce
Everyone’s tongue started watering as soon as they entered the restaurant due to the savory smell of the unique food. Their meals, which turned out to be superb just like the ratings, were ordered. Everything went off without a hitch. Or so they believed.
Red Flags
Anderson was unaware that the restaurant bill had unexpectedly gone up the next day. The family was unaware of what had occurred. By checking her bank statement, Anderson gasped after spotting a red flag.
The Swindle
Anderson thought of the total she had seen on her receipt and called Jason McKnight, the general manager of the restaurant. She explained that the charge on her bank statement was higher than she signed for. The manager however requested to see the customer's copy of her receipt.
Lost or Not Collected?
A frequent oversight by many people after visiting a restaurant to dine is to leave the customer’s copy of the receipt or trash it before correlating with their bank statement. In the case of Anderson, she had left the customer copy with the waitress . Although, she didn’t let this prevent her from seeking the truth.
Merchant Copy
Anderson had signed the merchant copy of the receipt and handed it over to the waitress. Though she forgot to take her blank customer copy, Anderson requested to see the merchant copy of the purchase in order to clear up the confusion. The restaurant however could not oblige.
Freehearted
Anderson recalled that the meal’s price was $45.50. She also gave the waitress a generous tip of $10 which is more than 20 percent. The final amount was then $55.50. But her bank statement stated otherwise.
Similar Experience
Having worked part time before, Anderson understands the struggles waiters and waitresses undergo. She was always pleased to leave a tip generously. She also didn’t ask for a lot in return.
Good Service
Leaving a generous tip is a pleasant way for customers to show their appreciation for the services provided to them. Good tips result from good service. Anderson would be captivated like most customers if a server simply provided a friendly service. Anderson was however completely wrong at the end.
Ripoff
When Anderson asked the manager for the merchant copy of the purchase, they couldn’t oblige because according to her, the waitress trashed her receipt (the merchant copy) and filled out the blank customer copy she left. $20 was written on the tip line instead of $10. How did that happen? Was Anderson confused about the amount she tipped?
Forgery
Remember Anderson had signed the receipt but when she took a look at the new receipt from the manager, she realized the signature was forged. It looked nothing like her original signature. The waitress had gone an extra length to take some extra money.
The Imperfect Crime
The waitress who carried out this fraudulent activity would have probably thought she would not be caught. Little did she know that everyday is for the thief, one day is for the owner. The Anderson’s family case led the restaurant’s management to carry out an investigation.
Social media
The manager notified Anderson that he would investigate the situation and also assured her that he would respond in 10 business days. This was a long waiting period for Anderson. She couldn’t wait that long and proceeded to post about the unanticipated happening on social media to serve as a warning to others.
Misrepresentation
The waitress has given a bad representation of her job. Anderson was deeply hurt by the breach of trust because she had once been in the waitress's shoes. She was a waitress for 11 years.
Betrayal
Having worked as a waitress before, Anderson knows how important tips are. She was less concerned about the additional $10 the waitress gifted herself but the trust she had in her when Anderson handed her credit card over.
Robbery
The waitress had forged Anderson’s signature in exchange for giving herself a bonus of 25 percent. Anderson thought that was just as awful as stealing someone’s wallet or handbag to get their credit or debit card.
The resolve
The restaurant manager finally got back to Anderson sooner than was set. He apologized for what had happened and offered to return her entire check. Everything that was deducted from her account and not just the extra money the waitress had given herself was offered to be reimbursed. But did the waitress’ offense end there?
Repeat Offender
Anderson had hoped the restaurant understood the scope of what their waitress had done. The manager claimed that Anderson’s complaint was taken seriously and would investigate further. This kind of daylight theft had occurred at Abuelo’s before.
Victims
The social media post by Anderson began to get a lot of buzz and people had started to message her about the same experience from this waitress. It turned out that she was fired from her previous job for the same thing.
Integrity
Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain. Abuelo's waitress obviously lacked this virtue.
Police
According to Anderson’s post on Facebook, the police had to be involved. She has been serving for 11 years and so many people has left the blank copy of the receipt but it has never crossed her mind to fill it out and forge their signature.
Outrage
Anderson was appalled that the restaurant was not doing anything about it. She was in dismay that they allowed someone so dishonest to handle money and people’s credit cards.
Verification
Anderson said “who knows how long she’s been doing this to people that probably don’t check their bank accounts regularly.” This simple act helped her to detect the robbery which some others never got to realize the source.
Next time
Anderson’s case showed how important it is to always take the customer copy of the receipt. She likely will not repeat the same mistake again. Ensure that neither do you.