Disappearing Server Tips

Friday night I went to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner.  I put the bill on my debit card and included a tip.

Saturday I stopped at an ATM to get some cash and asked for a balance also.

When I got home I updated my checkbook application* and things didn’t look right.  The balance in my checkbook didn’t match the balance given by the ATM.  I couldn’t find any sales slip that matched the discrepancy.

Today as I looked at my sales slips I recognized the discrepancy.  It was the tip on the sales slip.  When the restaurant takes my card, it puts a hold on the amount on the slip.  When I add the tip, the hold isn’t taken off, but the total is submitted.  Given that I was checking on Saturday, when my account would not be updated, I was unable to find the restaurant charge in the online list of transactions.  But the ATM slip did show the balance with the hold on the printed sales slip.

I will get verification of this on Tuesday.  Monday is Presidents’ Day and I assume the online data will not be updated during the day.

But it did spoil my Saturday evening as this control freak tried to get everything balanced.

*The checkbook application is Checkbook Tao for the Mac, no app version yet.  You can find it in Apple’s App Store.

You can’t get local news from an ATM

Rather than use the ATM for cash today I went into the bank to cash a check and to say hello to the manager and any familiar tellers.  I asked about the sudden closing of one of the nearby shops.  I got more news than I expected.  I knew the owners and some of the staff of the shop and hadn’t heard as many details.  It was stuff I wouldn’t have seen in the newspaper and I am not going to repeat here.  I did get some information that I could use in planning my future business.

I doubt if I’ll ever need a loan again.  If I do it will be easier and possibly with good terms than if I had just been a number in the system.  Besides the ATM doesn’t give Tootsie Rolls.

"Bank failure" explained

See "My bank is a failure?"


Today I went to my bank with my checkbook.  As I walked from my car I saw that the ATM was open for business.  I went inside anyway to chat with the staff.  The manager explained that they put the ATM offline about four o'clock everyday for balancing or something.  I hope I remember that time frame the next time I want cash.

This also shows the wisdom of buying local.  Personal attention without a bureaucracy.

My bank is a failure?

This afternoon I drove up to my bank's ATM to get some cash before some other errands.  "Lane closed" and the machine had all of its panels closed.

If I go by the criticism of the computer problems of the Affordable Care Act, I'd say my bank is a failure.  Can't it keep its computers running all the time without error?

Also sent to Rep. Rick Nolan, Sen. Al Franken, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.