Random Tue May 06 2008

To Comp or Not to Comp

I was on a bus this past weekend and struck up a conversation with two frazzled-looking women who were returning from a rough experience. Earlier that day, the women had just ordered lunch while sitting at a restaurant's outdoor patio in Wicker Park (which didn't have a barrier fence around it) when a passerby ran up to their table, quickly stole one of their purses from underneath a chair and ran off. Thankfully, her cell phone and keys were in a jacket. As the victim went through the dreaded notification of her credit card company and bank, she discovered that the thief had already made off with $600 in gas and purchases at a drugstore a few miles away. After expressing my condolences for her loss, I asked if the restaurant had comped her $8 meal. Both women's eyes lit up. "No!" they said. "Can you believe it?"

Does this seem right? Help me out.

- Robyn Nisi