Opinion
Payment refused
ANDREW J. LINN
Occasionally people have no intention of paying. I remember seeing a man at an adjoining restaurant table enjoy a superb lunch with a bottle of expensive wine. After his coffee he informed the waiter that he could not pay. I never saw the final outcome, but one ... thing is sure: he would not have been asked to wash the dishes, as the old myth used to have us believe. Nor is calling the police a cost-effective alternative. Writing off the loss is the commonest finale.