I did
something admirable last week while reviewing my credit card statement.
I keep
receipts until the charge shows up on my monthly bill and then discard them. I
noticed that a $137 restaurant bill from October still hadn’t appeared. Had the
waiter mislaid it?.... What to do…. No
one would object if I kept waiting. But when I ordered the meal, I was
obligated to pay for it.
After some
agonizing, I e-mailed the restaurant to remind them. Then, since no one was
around to praise me, I praised myself.
As I turned
that honorable action over in my mind, a memory took shape. Didn’t the
restaurant mistakenly decline my credit card? And didn’t my wife pay with her
credit card for which I reimbursed her?
I examined the
receipt. Sure enough, it revealed the
last four numbers of her credit card, not mine. So I had paid the bill! I sent
another e-mail to the restaurant, cancelling the earlier one. Honesty had cost
me nothing. Who says virtue is its own reward?
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