Featured Image Credit: Gonzalo Azumendi/Getty Images
Topics: Restaurants and bars
Rachael Davis
Heading out for a meal has become a rarer and rarer treat for millions of us as the cost of living crisis and inflation have left people with less disposable income.
If you’re lucky enough to get to a restaurant for a meal out, you’ll likely spend more than you would have done a few years ago owing to rising costs being passed on to customers, and that’s before we consider whether you feel more or less inclined to tip waiting staff during these cash-strapped times.
For those of us who’ve made a trip overseas in the last couple of years, it’s clear the higher prices aren’t isolated to the British Isles – it seems that everyone everywhere is feeling the pinch.
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One holidaymaker in Menorca, Spain – Antonio Barbeito – was particularly stung by these inflated costs when he got his bill at an unnamed restaurant.
The receipt detailed some water, orange juice, a pair of Coke Zeros, two coffees, shrimp tartar, lobster, fried baby squid, mussels and two scoops of ice cream for dessert.
A proper feast, although perhaps not to the extent that the €252.80 (£215) final bill made a lot of sense.
While lobster is expensive and the additional charge that pushed things over €250 was pretty meagre, it no less stunned Barbeito to find that he had been charged €3 for a glass of ice.
"[Translation] I love national tourism and I almost never leave Spain to support a community as important as the hospitality industry, but on a bill of €250, being charged three euros for extra ice seems extremely out of place," he said in a post to X.
Commenters were quick to weigh in.
"[Translation] Absolutely right,” agreed one user. “It's a ridiculous charge.They just need to charge for electricity and rent for the cutlery."
That said, another argued: "The protocol is correct. If you buy a pair of 150 euro trainers and ask for extra laces, you will pay for them.
“If you fill up a 100 € tank of gas and want a pack of gum, you're going to pay for it. Extra ice bucket...that's it."
Some might say a customer spending €250 might could expect a little leeway from the restaurant, but it’s equally justified to say that these businesses aren’t charities and they’re under no obligation to hand out freebies.
After all, times are hard.
Barbeito noted that he didn’t ‘want to bother anyone’, but hoped that the restaurant owners might recognise the bill and do… something accordingly.
For the sake of €3, it might have been best to let it slide.