Contactless bank cards

[ken]

On 16/11/2010 10:59, Ian Batten wrote:

 > ... people who pay
 > cash (who you need for your fraud to work) are going to
 > have to be prepared to either not have any change, take
 > their change from the pile you keep beside the till...

Both common in local pubs and cafes. Sometimes the bar staff 
stack up orders in their head, deliver the drinks, then collect 
the money afterwards from the customers in turn.

Also you see cusomers leave money on the bar, walk off, and come 
back later to pick up the change.  And cafes  often have small 
plates where customers leave small change as tips, so there 
really is a pile of pennies beside the till. (though not, in 
England, pubs - isn't culture weird?)

"A pint when you're ready, guv?"  "Keep the change!" "One for 
yourself?".

In more formal sit-down restaurants with waiter service the till 
is usually out of sight of the customers, so they have no idea 
what is cashed up. And in some places waiters carry around small 
bags of cash to make small change.

Corner shops too. Its quite common for a few pennies either way 
to be ignored - if the bill comes to five pounds and  a few 
pence they's say just give me a fiver, if its just less I might 
walk off without the change.

And even people who check receipts carefully (I usually don't 
even take it) are likely to look at the amounts, not the payment 
method (assuming its even on there)

It all depends on trust I suppose. These things work as long as 
the managers and staff and customers either know each other, or 
are willing to accept small discrepancies as the cost of doing 
that kind of business.

And is probably the reason that the landlady of our local seems 
to spend hours every day going through the till and the till 
roll and the stocktake, just in case.