Check And Double-Check The Check

(My siblings and I arrange a weekend away for our parents’ anniversary and book some rooms in a B&B run by a couple. I do most of the admin for organising the trip but I arrive last due to a delayed train, so the landlady doesn’t meet me until the next morning, when I am dressed in very casual clothes. When it is time to pay, my sister and I find the landlady. We have agreed that I will pay by cheque and my siblings will pay me back, as the B&B doesn’t accept card. Note that in addition to wearing very casual clothes, I look very young.)

Me: “Would you mind giving me the bill so we can pay?”

LandLady: “Ah, yes. How would you like to pay?”

Me: “Cheque, please.”

LandLady: “Sure.” *starts to write out bill* “And are all of you paying?”

Me: “I’m paying the full amount and then my siblings are paying me back. It’s a surprise holiday for our parents.”

LandLady: “You’re paying it all?”

Me: “Well, yes, but my siblings are paying me back.”

LandLady: “Okay…”

(She hands me the bill, which is a few hundred pounds.)

Me: “All right, great. Let me just write out the cheque.”

LandLady: “That is quite a bit of money.”

Me: “Yup.”

LandLady: “Are you sure you want to pay it upfront just yourself by cheque?”

Me: “Yep. I’m afraid I didn’t fancy carrying this amount of cash around with me and your website said I could pay by cheque.”

LandLady: “But it is quite a bit of money.”

Me: “Yes… and I have the money in my bank account; I checked before I came up here.”

LandLady: “If you’re sure… I mean, if your siblings wanted to pay some of it… You know, chip in…”

(At this point, my sister decides to step in as I’m not understanding what the landlady’s problem is.)

Sister: “She’s actually the best placed to pay upfront. She probably earns the most of the three of us; definitely a lot more than I do.”

(The landlady looks at me with some surprise.)

LandLady: “Um, what do you do?”

Me: “I’m training to be a lawyer in a corporate city law firm.”

LandLady: “Oh. Oh! You understand, don’t you, the worry we get when people write cheques, though? Since we can’t do card up here…”

Me: “Yeah, I know.”

(She was already very pleasant to us but I noticed she seemed to treat me a bit more like an adult after that.)