Woman's warning over 'trick question' when asking for water at restaurants

With prices being what they’ve become, meals out are rarely a casual affair nowadays.

Sacrifices have to be made on locations, courses, and beverages if you want to hit a restaurant without it hitting your wallet twice as hard.

The food and drink themselves are often saddled with extra little charges, too. Gratuity being attached to the bill has become a presumptuous default on restaurant’s part, and previous freebies like a basket of bread have started getting added to the tally as well.

Sneaky charges are increasingly prevalent on restaurant bills (d3sign/Getty Images)

TikToker Minna, posting on @badgurlmimi, has shared a warning to fellow diners about another sneaky charge that gets added if you fall for a trick question.

She explains that she had a visited a bar where a waiter had come to check whether she wanted some water.

When asked ‘still or sparkling’, she made the fateful mistake.

"They asked me, ‘still or sparkling?’ and I was not thinking. I was so disappointed in myself. I said 'still'."

In that scenario you might expect a glass of tap water to follow, but that’s where Minna had slipped up. She was later upset to find she had been charged $9 (£7.18) for bottled water rather than tap.

"Does it look like one bottle of water will quench my thirst? Because no. One bottle of still water is not going to cut it. I will need about two, but I’m not gonna pay $18 (£14.36) for water when I can just have tap water.

"Avoid this trick question. They’re just trying to get money out of you."

She closed with: "When someone asks you 'still or sparkling water?' You say 'Neither, I would like tap water, please'."

Sound advice.

Of course, as Minna is American and experienced the mistake at an American establishment, it’s worth pointing out that we in the UK have got different rights where tap water is concerned.

Under the Licensing Act 2003, we’re entitled to free glasses of water at establishments that serve alcohol. American bars and restaurants aren’t under the same obligation, but many will sort you out with some free tap H2O if you ask.

Sneaking some bottle H2O in the glass while his back's turned? (Tempura/Getty Images)

Other social media users shared their own experiences of being stung with water charges.

"It was $70 (£55.84) for water at the end of the night because we were getting refills," said one hoodwinked water drinker.

"I heard a woman ask for ‘New York’s finest’ as a way of saying tap water and I was inspired tbh," said another.

A third added: "As a former server, our restaurant made sure to tell us to say ‘still, sparkling, or tap’ and every time I hear still or sparkling, I automatically read it as greedy."