There’s a restaurant near where I live with a sign on the door that says, “Not accepting credit or debit cards today.” The servers even double-check with you before taking your order, ensuring that you knew of their (ostensibly temporary) inability to process non-cash payments.

As I quickly learned, “today” is a euphemism for “ever.”

So upon subsequent visits, mainly to be obnoxious and prove a point, I’d respond with, “just today?” when asked, eliciting coy and knowing glances from servers.

It’s not the fact that I can’t pay with my credit card there (there are thousands of cash only places of business in NYC) that bothers me; it’s the subtle, insulting dishonesty that’s off-putting.

I haven’t stopped going to the place completely (it’s still a nice place to take friends and visitors unfamiliar with my neighborhood), but everyone gets a version of the above speech whenever I break my temporary boycott and return.

Not exactly raving fan marketing.