A posh restaurant in Italy has really taken the cake after charging outraged customers EUR 20 just to cut a birthday cake for them.
The family had brought in the cake with them for a celebration at the restaurant in Palermo, Sicily.
But the party-goers were astonished when they found they had been charged EUR 20 (GBP 17.26) for cutting it into pieces.
The cost was calculated as a charge of EUR1 (GBP 0.86) per party-goer, despite the group spending EU 121 (GBP 103.49) on pizza, wine, beer and water.
The eaterie listed the charge as ’20 X Servizio Torta’, which translates as ’20 X Cake Service’.
But the slicing charge is just the icing on the cake for a series of bizarre price increases across Italy.
One bar beside millionaires’ playground Lake Como – Pace Bar – charged a customer EUR 2 (GBP 1.73) to cut a sandwich in half.
The owner of the bar, who has not been named, hit back in Italian media, saying that “additional requests have a cost”.
They explained: “If a customer asks me to make two portions of toast, I have to use two saucers, two napkins and go to the table using two hands.
“It is true that the customer is always right, but it is equally true that additional requests have a cost.”
Then another restaurant – the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure – charged EUR 2 to provide a customer with an empty plate.
And owner Ida Germano also said the charge was valid because more plates to clean meant more work to do.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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