Rick’s Rants and Raves

I’m finishing a business trip in San Diego, and there were a couple of “convergences” of trust that I found interesting.

The first part of the first convergence came when I was finishing breakfast in the hotel dining room. I could have the meal charged to my room, rather than pay for it right there. All I had to do was write my room number and name on the receipt and walk out. Since the wait-staff hadn’t been terribly attentive, I could have been half-way across the city before they noticed. Of course almost no one ever does that, so it is obvious that the trust is worth while for them.
Later that evening, I went to the bar and had a conversation with the bar tender about what it would be like if he had an “honor system” to pay for drinks. Then he hands me my bill, and I point out to him that it is the honor system–I could put a fake name and room number on and walk out. If he isn’t quick about checking, I could easily get away with a lot of free drinks (once).

At the end of my trip, due to scheduling difficulties, I decided to get a taxi cab from my hotel to the airport, rather than use my rental car. (The car was going to be returned by my co-worker). I went to the front desk of the hotel and asked who they recommend for a taxi service. She told me about a “town car service” that is much cleaner, much nicer, and has a fixed price to get me to the airport, whereas a taxi is variable. The price for the town car would be $55 for cash (”The EXACT same price as a taxi”) or $65 for credit. That’s when the red-flag went off in my head: should I trust a service that is willing to break a key term in their contract with credit card companies, namely that they must charge the same price for credit and cash? I declined to have her set up the pick-up for me. When I got to my room I called a local cab company (chosen nearly at random) and asked them to estimate how much my trip to the airport would cost. The answer: $45. “Do you take American Express?” “Yup.” Then it dawned on me: how could a town car cost the same as a taxi cab if they are so much better? In a competitive environment, every improvement in service will likely increase the cost. I chose to trust the cab company’s quote and arranged to have them pick me up. The final cost: $46.80 (plus tip).

The irony of my trusting the cab company is that the driver failed to hand my Amex card back to me after processing the charge. He handed me my receipt and I dashed out. I only discovered the lapse after I got through the ticketing line. I don’t know if it was intentional or not–I’ll lean toward the better side of human nature and assume it was a mistake. Of course, I don’t trust them enough to let them just mail the card to me. I called Amex once I was at the gate and had them cancel the card. Oh well. Lesson learned. Trust is a flimsy thing.