A cafe customer was left foaming at the mouth after being charged more for a cup of cappuccino coffee because they had asked for it to be served with less froth.
The astounded punter, who has been named only as Francesca, turned to social media to complain about the bizarre bill from a bar on the Piazza della Stazione Vecchia in Ostia, just outside the Italian capital Rome.
Erica’s Facebook post said the brass-necked Old Station Caffe owner had told her that because she had less foam he had to top up the cup with more milk.
She said: “Today at the bar I wanted to have a cappuccino with cold milk and the owner asked me for an extra 10 cents [GBP 0.08], explaining to me that without the foam it cost more because we needed more milk.”
Francesca added: “Tomorrow I’ll get one with a little milk. Will you give me a discount?
“I’ve paid up to EUR 5 [GBP 4.27] for a good cappuccino, but I knew from the price list what I was paying for.”
Italian netizens were quick to point out that Erica should actually have been charged less because a cappuccino machine uses lots of milk to make a little foam, so the owner was actually serving up less milk.
But the bar owner – not named in local media – denied he was milking it.
He said: “I charged 10 cents more because it takes more milk for a cappuccino without foam.”
He added: “It should be noted that there are two receipts photographed by the lady: she probably first went to the cashier and paid for a cappuccino and then went back again after the barista informed her that she would have had to pay more for a cold cappuccino.”
The new foam row follows a summer of complaints that holidaymakers in Italy are being ripped off by overcharging venues.
During the last month alone one upmarket bar near Lake Como, the Pace Bar in Gera Lario, charged a customer EUR 2 (GBP 1.71) to cut their EUR 7.50 (GBP 6.41) sandwich in half.
And in Sicily a restaurant charged punters EUR 20 (GBP 17.08) to cut a birthday cake into slices despite them blowing EUR 121 (GBP 103.36) on other dishes and drinks.
Then a mother dining at the Osteria del Cavolo restaurant in Finale Ligure was charged EUR 2 for an extra plate, so she could give her child a taste of her food.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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