honesty and cash flow

Broke night. Watched the sun rise. Again. I should be grateful I'm getting to see these as I'm not up to see the sun come up very often. It's during times like a sunrise or sunset where one ponders one's humanity, their success and failings, frailty, and beauty.

However, it also means one's awareness is not very sharp and I walked around today in a bit of a fog. I was hungry but did not really register the food except for the tangy sharpness of the ketchup as T and I finished brunch today after T's doctor's appointment.

T handed me two twenty dollar bills along with the bill that had been written up by the waiter and walked out of the place to wait for me. There was a little line, with two people ahead of me and the cashier was nowhere to be seen. After a minute, she came forward and collected from one, then as she counted the money, I could see she was rushed. The other lady who was waiting said, "Oh, you can go ahead," and I said, "I am waiting until she is done with this prior order," as the woman was still doublechecking the money in her drawer before closing it after giving the other customer their change. The other lady said she had to pay with a credit card which is why she was telling me to go ahead.

Then the cashier took my bill and the two twenty dollar bills, peered at the bill, then went to count out change. She handed it back to me, and I proceeded to give a $5.00 bill to the waiter and then walk out with two bills and some change and handed it to T. Turns out later the bills were one dollar bills each and I had been shortchanged $10.00.

We came home and then shortly thereafter I finally went to sleep. When I awoke around 6:10-6:15 from my nap, I was immediately told of the missing change from T. Luckily I had grabbed a menu on the way out so we had the number to the place. I called, and T walked out, and muttered that never mind we'll probably never see the money again. For $10.00, the cashier would know if the till was over, I countered, and let the phone ring.

After speaking briefly to a man there, I asked to speak to the lady cashier. I asked if she was there working around 1 pm to 2 pm today. She immediately got on and admitted she was the only one who worked the register today. I gave her my name and explained about the $10.00 and she stated that she did not handled the counting out of the drawer, that the owner did, and that she didn't know if the owner had counted out or not as she was not sure of the times when it was done. I asked for hers and she didn't give it. She did state she was the only one who handled the drawer.

She stated I could call back tomorrow. I asked if I could leave my name and number and when the drawer was counted, if it was over $10.00 could they call me. She then mentioned about the manager being there, and I patiently waited for her to finish her thought as english was not her first language. I asked if I could speak to the manager if the manager was there now. She paused, then said OK. She also added that this was the first call for today, that there had been no one else calling about the overage and no other complaints. That didn't assure me too much.

The manager got on after I heard her briefly explain the situation in another language. Then he got on, I greeted him with hello he answered hello back. I asked if he was the manager and he said yes. I asked his name and he said Angelo. I gave him my name and proceeded to tell him my story and about the till possibly being $10.00 over. He listened, then said the register had already been counted out at 3. I asked 3 in the morning or in the afternoon? He responded 3 pm today. So I said "then you can tell me if the till is over." He said yes. So I asked if it was, and he didn't answer straight away. He instead said I could come over tomorrow morning around 9 (which T reminded me would be their busiest time) and talk to another manager named Alex who would be there to help settle the matter.

I went, OK, and then said, "could I leave my name and number and have Alex call me tomorrow to see if the money's there for sure instead of me making a trip out there?" And Angel assured me that I should just come by, no worries. I said, OK, although that was all weird about his not really answering the question of whether the till was over or not.

So I said OK and we said goodbye and hung up. I went to look for T who had since disappeared during the five to ten minute conversation. I took down the names of Angel and Alex onto the menu I had of theirs and wanted to share the news. T was nowhere to be found. I went back to my room and texted a "hey where are you?" kind of a text. Three minutes later, I heard the front door unlock and T and my dog sauntered in.

I quickly gave T the update and T had no confidence we would get the money back and said to let it drop. I countered that it is $10.00 not a dollar, and that the owner wouldn't have insisted on my coming by just on the off chance the money may or may not be there. The money was there, and the manager probably wanted to downplay it without saying outright they screwed up. "I asked him if I could leave my name and number and have Alex call me back so I wouldn't have to take a trip over there, and Angel said it's OK that Alex would take care of it, so that tells me that they probably just want to doublecheck it by checking me out to see if I'm legit or not. The lady cashier who was the only one there and our waiter may remember me, so...(I'm sure the trip will not be in vain)."

T expressed doubt, but the conversation was finished. I will take the walk tomorrow morning since I'll most likely be awake. I've broken night several times. I just pray I can be more focused and the conversation is positive.