About a year ago I had a very unpleasant experience at a fast food franchise at the airport in Atlanta. I paid for my sandwich with a $20.00 bill, but was given change for a $10. When I complained, the cashier pulled out his drawer and said, "See? I have no 20's in here." Luckily for me, the woman behind me in the line had seen the cashier palm my 20 and put a 10 from his pocket into the drawer. I asked to see the manager, who eventually appeared. He and the cashier vanished into a back room and did not return. It seemed to me and the Good Samaritan woman behind me, who stayed to back up my story, that the manager and cashier were deliberately staying out of sight, hoping I would have to leave to catch my plane. After about ten minutes, I told another employee that I would call for the airport police if the manager and cashier didn't show up pretty fast. This brought them out of hiding. By now, many people had "tuned in" to what was going on and I was being pretty vocal about this rip-off. To get rid of me, the manager made a great show of pulling out his wallet and saying that he was going to pay me out of his own funds, even though he didn't believe anything untoward had happened. I took the money and left, but I was furious. When I got home, I called the corporate headquarters of this franchise operation and lodged a serious complaint. The last I heard from them was a "sorry you weren't satisfied" form letter enclosing a coupon for one free meal. Has anyone else fallen victim to this scam?

I'm sure that this was one dishonest person and not an airport scam.

Jabez - I agree with you that this not an airport scam, but I do believe the restaurant cashier and manager were in on this together. You cannot believe how smoothly it was done. Fortunately for me, my "eye witness" had been paying particular attention to my transaction as she was going to have to pay with a 20, too.

It is not uncommon for the staff and low-level managment to be in on this stuff together. I first witnessed it at 16, when working in a toy store. I was then the "victim" of it in more recent years (well, the charges were blocked). Some of what is called "management" in these places are paid maybe .25/hr more than the counter clerk, and may not even receive overtime pay so may make less in actual wages and be even more disgruntled after the "promotion." In your particular case, I think its probably limited to just a small scale.

Eastbay1K -
I'm sure this is a small scale operation, but it certainly made me mad!