I think the lesson is that if you put your faith in plastic, you may just lose your children. Keep your faith in the Almighty--dollar that is.

Both.

If the card scanner is broken I think the family should have eaten for free. Let's say the patron had only a fifty dollar bill to pay for lunch, no bank cards and the cash register wouldn't open to make change. A $34 tip would be out of line so how would this issue be settled now that the shoe is on the other foot? Would the restaraunt owner leave the patrons in charge as HE had to run to the bank to get change? I see some interesting scenarios in this story.

Sell the kid on EBay!

How is what the owner did, legal? I would think that if the machine failed, it is not the customers fault, he had the intent to pay his bill. I would not be visiting that establishment again and I would spread the word in a hurry!
Reminds me of what happened to me a while back. I was stuck on a country road and managed by radio to contact the RCMP who in turn got a tow truck out of Caronport to come and winch me out. The tow truck got stuck after I was winched out and he called for another one {same company} to come and pull him out. The boss got there and got HIS tow truck stuck. He called his buddy in Caronport who came out with his 4X4 and got them all out. Mean while I was stuck at the back of the line and waited the three hours it took to finally get out of there {I couldn't go ahead and had to wait for them to clear the way}. I paid for my initial winch but now the owner & his buddy weren't gonna let me go until I paid him for pulling his OWN trucks out!! I didn't have any more money on me so he took my $1000.00 camera until I gave him the cash for pulling himself out!!! Right friendly, religious town of Caronport Saskatchewan!!

Hey Coyote, ever see the movie National Lampoon's Vacation when Chevy Chase goes to settle the bill with the mechanic?

Chase: "How much are the charges?"

Mechanic: "How much you got?"

Sounds like she was being facaetious (I hope). Otherwise it was an attempted hostage taking. If that's the case then it's a very dangerous town indeed and the government and the UN should pull out.

You know, there have been times when I would have offered to leave both my kids as collateral and then gone on the lam with my $16, partying wildly around the globe, while always keeping a lookout over my shoulder. It would serve her right.

Was that said tongue in cheek about the child?

If not, hard to believe another reaction would be that the restaurant should 'eat' the $16, or that the word should be spread about the *restaurant's honesty* around their scanner!

Good grief, it is the customer that has asked for ability to use interac, never mind the additional cost to the business owner, and to them, to use them.

And most often, it is the card that is at fault...and as with any technology, sometimes it just doesn't work every time.

Ask anyone that has owned a business, how many ways from Sunday dishonest people try stuff,(not saying this guy, but saying it happens).

If he was a regular, we would have no problem with having him come back later to pay.

It has happened that the customer will find they have not brought enough cash along, or the 4 cards in their wallet are maxed out or not working...then negotiations happen... and most often the customer will offer to leave something behind...never their child...thankfully

Forty some years ago I would have gladly offered my younger brother to stay. He had a very carefree interest in ever getting toilet trained.

Which makes ME wonder sometimes if Kate is really as conservative as she claims. Many thanks for the last two posts - humour is a good thing.

And since I'm wondering, why the expressed interest in seismic activity when you live in Saskatchewan? St. Helens is just around the corner from me and I do have an interest, but why you, Kate? Or is this a metaphor for the issues you address?

According to the guy who called, the woman wasn't joking. He argued with her until a stranger came up and paid the bill on his behalf. (That was the reason he called actually - to send a thankyou to the person who didn't leave his name.)

As for the other question - I just think the seismic map is cool, and the MSH cam makes for some very pretty and changing scenery - along with the occasional episode of it blowing off steam.

I know a guy at a hospital who did a similar thing, he refused to deal with some government paperwork on his newborn.

They firmly told him he couldn't leave the hospital with the baby unless he did. He handed them the baby and started to leave.

They changed their mind before he chickened out.

This happened to my sister whilst working as a waitress. The customers wanted to use their bank card. It didn't scan three times. Made the same offer to go get the cash at the nearby bank. She never saw them again. Had to swallow the forty bucks.

Brings back good memories, When we were posted back to Canada from Germany in 92 my youngest was 2 and could she ever cry and did constantly. We were pre clearing customs the day before our flight home and silly me thinking that my daughter who had two Canadian parents born on a Canadian military base by Canadian doctors in a Canadian military hospital would be Canadian was informed she wasn’t. So as she cried loudly in the background they informed me she wasn’t allowed to go to Canada. After I argued for about half an hour I said, No problem, she is all yours. They quickly drove to Frankfurt and got her a passport and citizenship papers.

the same as not to accept $100.00 bill. Only in Canada the money is worthless.

I read this item in yesterday's paper. The end of the story was that the bill was paid by another patron.

This has happened a couple of times to myself (card won't work). Every time I just left my drivers licence with the establishment until I returned.

Hey, I'm still waiting for the "Take my wife... please" line. Geeesh, I must be old.