Tom and Ray said that the answer to the puzzler was $14.75 lost by the store.
WRONG!!!
They forgot the real $20 (two $10 bills, remember?)the store owner had to give to the diner owner to reimburse him/her for the bogus $20. So the total lost by the store is $34.75.
So please send me my $26 gift certificate for Car Talk stuff already!!
Ooops! This was supposed to in the Second Opinion section!
The $10 bills would probably be counterfeit.
NYBo:
The shop keeper got 20 1.00 bills from the diner. He paid with a bad $20. That put the shop keeper up $20.00 and the diner $20.00 in the hole.
The shop keeper gave the bad guy $8.00 and put $12 in his till.
Since the shop keeper paid $6.75 for the shirt and sold it for $12.00 he made $5.25.
Recap: Diner -$20.00 Shop till (12.00) bad guy (8.00)
Later the diner owner gave the fake $20 back to the shop keeper in return for two tens.
Recap: Diner = Even bad guy $14.75 ($8.00 change + $6.75 shirt) Shop keeper -$14.75 (Shop till -$8.00 to bad guy Inventory -$6.75)
The shop keeper is only out what the bad guy got away with $14.75.
~Michael
D’oh! What was I thinking?? I totally forgot about the 20 $1 bills!! In the words of Miss Emily Litella: Never mind!
Thanks for straightening me out, Michael.
No problem NYBo, my brain fails to work most of the time. Glad I could help on this one.
~Michael