Caught between a diner’s rigid rules and an overpriced ATM fee, the couple faced not just financial strain but a moment of helplessness. The owner’s indifference to their plight underscored the cold disconnect between customers and businesses, turning a lighthearted journey into a test of patience and dignity.
On a road trip last week, my girlfriend and I stopped at a rural diner for brunch. We sat down and a waitress opened our menus before she put them on the table (that detail is important later).
It was a very nice meal honestly. Our total was around $25.
I was ready to pay with my debit card. The waitress then told us that this was a cash only establishment. Unfortunately I had zero cash on me. “How were we supposed to know?” I asked.
She shows us some tiny text on the front of the menu. Because of the way she’d put our menus down and taken them away, we had not seen the front. There was literally no indication of their cash-only business other than that.
She sighs and points to an ATM on the other side of the dining room. At this point I’m still apologetic so I went there with my card. I noticed it had a fee of, I shit you not, $9. I asked to speak to the manager.
She brought the owner.
I told the owner this is ridiculous. I suggested he let me go get cash from somewhere legit, or take $9 off the bill if he really wanted me to use that ATM. Nope. He threatened to call the police.
I said go ahead. My girlfriend felt the same way. Long story short, the cops agreed with me, and we left without paying anything.
I told my sister about this today. She thinks the cops were wrong and I was being an asshole. Because “you wasted everyone’s time over 9 fucking dollars.” I think the owner is the asshole.
The only part I regret was not being able to tip the waitress. AITA?
Conclusion
The original poster (OP) felt cornered and unfairly targeted by the diner owner due to the lack of clear cash-only signage and the punitive ATM fee, leading to a public confrontation. The central conflict is between the OP’s sense of fairness and the establishment’s strict enforcement of its policy, which resulted in the OP leaving without paying.
Was the OP justified in refusing to pay the full bill or seeking to avoid the high ATM fee when the establishment failed to clearly communicate its payment policy, or did the resulting confrontation and departure without payment escalate the situation beyond reasonable bounds?
Here’s how people reacted:
A little background. I left a dude at a restaurant once because his credit card was declined and he “didn’t believe in carrying cash”. He was an acquaintance, not a friend. We were all on motorcycles btw. First he asked me to put the charge on my card. I said “no”. I have a practically infinite credit limit fwiiw so I could have, just didn’t want to. Then he asked to borrow some money. I said “no”. I had at least a couple of hundred on me. He asked around the table and nobody was interested in backstopping his stupidity. He had to leave his cell phone and go looking for an atm to get cash. Since we were all on bikes we just left and told him to catch up to us. Cash will get you out of a situation when tech fails, not a difficult concept to grasp.
Edit. Changed from he’s TA to everyone sucks. Was half asleep. The usurious atm fee is clearly a ripoff. Give them a nice HONEST review on google maps to warn off others who “don’t believe in carrying cash”.
PRO-TIP as I deal with this a lot. Keeping cash is hard if it’s on you. Grab a chapstick tube, (use it or waste it, who cares), and when its empty and clean, put $100 in 20’s in there, and keep it in your car (glove box or center console). You’ll now always have cash, it’s in a usable amount, and it’s discreet enough that if someone breaks into your car, they aren’t likely to knick a chapstick tube. Hope this helps!
The police should have instructed you to go to a local bank / ATM that doesn’t have unreasonable fees, then return and pay the bill. Or the owner should have given you a bill with his bank information so that you could pay the bill when you got home.
Since the police let you go without paying, there have probably been previous complaints about the business practices. The guy probably knows that he’ll lose if he tries to go to court, so he just profits from the majority of the customers who accept the $9 charge if they don’t have cash in their pocket.
I once went to a restaurant that charged for tap water. Apparently it was printed in tiny font on the front of the menu, waitress did the same thing. We ordered the water mid way through the meal, so didnt have the menu in front of us, and the waitress didnt tell us at the time.
When paying I had to go to the front counter and the guy just read the final amount off his screen. He only reluctantly offered to print the receipt after I already paid and my partner got suspicious. He charged us 6 bucks for tap water
$9 ATM fee? $9 says he owns the ATM and makes a profit off it by doing this intentionally. And you were willing to pay, the fact he wouldn’t let one of you leave and the other stay for a few minutes to do so is fishy too. Good on you for calling their bluff, my guess is the cops have been called more than once and are sick of this owners shit too.
1. Make sure that *cash only* font much larger.
2. Not have 1 ATM that has a fee of literally 36% the cost of your bill.
Just wanted to suggest you put a review on google to warn other tourists beforehand.
You still ate a meal that you enjoyed (presumably) without paying. Whether or not you tip (you shouldn’t) is up to you but you should pay 25 $ that you owe to the restaurant.
EDIT: Even if everyone sucks You suck a lot less.