…or in this case, dinner.

I wouldn’t say that I travel extensively for work. I’m not out of town 300 days a year or anything, but I do travel enough that I have made more than my fair share of stops for food at restaurants I will likely never go to again, not because of the quality of their food or service, but because they’re four hours away.

On Wednesday February 15 I was traveling home from a business trip and needed a quick bite to eat so I stopped at a Taco Bell. In Altoona. Regardless of your thoughts on the quality of Taco Bell’s food, you pretty much know what you’re going to get when you go into one. That said, I paid for my meal with my debit card (processed as a credit card, yes there’s a difference but we won’t get into that here) so I’d have a receipt that would allow me to get reimbursed for the business expense.

The next day the $6.35 transaction showed up in my online banking as “PENDING” like most transactions do. In this case however, unlike most transactions, instead of posting to my checking account, it just disappeared. I’d seen that once or twice before, and they always showed up a day or two later. That’s not the case this time.

It’s now been two weeks and the transaction still hasn’t posted. I went to the local bank branch and they said “well, it looks like you got a free meal.” I asked them how long it normally takes for something to post and they said it should have by now, but it might show up in another week or two.

How long should I realistically wait for this transaction to post? Once that time passes, then what? Who do I call? Taco Bell? I want to pay for my meal. Heck, I’ve already been reimbursed for it. I realize this is “only $6.35” but this kind of stuff bothers me.