Cheating Meals

Have you ever been charged unfair prices by shops or restaurants? At shops, it is easy to return goods or not to buy it; but for restaurants, once you have eaten, it will be difficult not to pay.

Once we had lunch in a traditional restaurant in Geneva, Switzerland. My friend saw the "Menu of the Day" (Plat du jour) was a fish dish. It was a good deal. We, the others, had the traditional fondue. When the bill came, we were shocked to see the fish dish was charged twice more than the price of the plat du jour. So a B$15 dish has become B$30. When we asked the cashier, she told us that we actually ordered the a la carte from the French waiter. But we argued that we wanted the plat du jour as written on the board. She answered: "This is the problem if you dont speak French". With anger, I spoke "Je peux parler francais". In the end, we still had no choice but to pay no matter what.

This happened again this morning in one of the restaurants in Kiulap. When we sat down, the waiter told us that the breakfast menu was unavailable on weekdays. So we had to order the food from the a la carte. So, it cost two of us B$9 for some simple dishes that we normally have for lunch, not that heavy for breakfast. So, the waiter was trying to force us to spend more on breakfast. Actually when I got home, it was supposed to be B$8.60. The cashier again overcharged us 40 cents.

It is not the money that we are not happy about. We are sometimes willing to spend B$45 per person on a buffet. It is just the cheating technique that I am not happy about regardless of how much it is.

So, the lesson is: Before ordering, if I am not happy about anything, just leave. It is my right. But if I have already ordered, then I have to stick to it (happy or not). No complain afterwards.