Dilemmas of the pie kind

So I faced a conundrum recently...

My partner and I were having lunch at a nearby supermarket cafe (glamorous I know!) and I ordered the pie and chips. The pie wasn't ready so we headed off to pay as I was told I'd have the pie brought to me. At the till, a small battle ensued as I (and my partner) tried to relay to the gentleman eagerly tallying up the total that I had ordered a pie and that should be included in the bill. Despite several attempts on her part and mine; he was happy it was all square and we were ushered off.

At the table, awaiting the pie... I looked at the bill. It seems fairly cheap at the till so I wasn't sure it was correct. And it wasn't right. There was no pie accounted for in the £7.50 total. Her food was there; but mine was not.

Now, I am a fairly principled guy. I don't feel right eating something I haven't paid for; but I don't like being shoo-ed off like an imbecile. So I faced a dilemma. I didn't want to go back up to the now unmanned till, hail a staff member over and explain the whole story and pay for a pie when I was so eagerly rebuffed earlier... the offending fool must pay his price. But I couldn't eat a pie I hadn't paid for.

Toil.

I felt like a Shakespearean tragic hero... ok. Tragic guy. Plain tragic maybe the best description actually.

So I concluded that I wouldn't hand my money over to the supermarket staff; but couldn't keep it myself and the only way to satisfy both was to donate the money to charity.

So cheers whichever charity has their little blue change bin at Tesco's in the South East of the UK - I enjoyed my pie from the moral high ground.