A customer had some reservations about his bill at a restaurant.
One frustrated customer claimed that they were charged a “quiet time surcharge” on the bill, which was added before the tip — because the restaurant was empty.
The user shared on Reddit said they checked out a restaurant for the first time which seemed to be a quiet place to dine.
“At the end, I check my bill and there’s an extra 20% pre-tip charge labelled ‘Quiet Time Surcharge,’” they explained.
They assumed it was an error and asked the server what it meant. The server apparently looked “sheepish” before giving an explanation.
According to the post, the server said something along the lines of, “management says when it’s not busy, you’re basically getting the place to yourself. It’s kind of like flying private instead of commercial.”
The customer was astounded.
“I had to laugh, but also… are you kidding me?” they wrote on Reddit. “I’m not ‘chartering a restaurant,’ I just wanted dinner.”
“If anything, it’s less service work when the place is empty.”
The post ended with the user pointing out how “wild” it is that restaurants are adding on fees because they are not busy.
Many people in the comments agreed that fee was ridiculous — and some even suggested the restaurant can’t legally enforce a fee like that.
“All charges not advertised are illegal and others can be removed,” one person wrote. “I would refuse to pay the bill until it was removed and get a receipt and check the charge online.”
“That’s a new one, typically restaurants offer discounts to get people to come in during the quiet time or certain weekdays. Charging more because the restaurant is empty is just f–king crazy and seems illegal. If you weren’t warned ahead of time I have no idea how this would be legal,” another said.
Mostly, people were simply baffled by the idea.
“You didn’t book the whole restaurant for yourself; it just happen to be empty. I hope you didn’t pay that fee,” another said.
“If this is a true story, I foresee much more quiet time in this restaurant’s future,” one quipped.
“You should be trying to entice people to come in when it is quiet. Not give them a reason to never come back,” someone pointed out.
“You decided to come give them business when they needed business the most — and they decided to charge you extra for it? Their quiet time is about to get quieter.” a user commented.
This isn’t the only time a bizarre fee was added to someone’s restaurant bill.
While on vacation in Menorca, Spain, a man was charged $3 for an extra glass of ice.
Another diner posted a receipt from a restaurant that charged its guests a mandatory “living wage fee.”
Meanwhile, in France, a restaurateur was ripped online for announcing a new fine on dining parties whose number of members didn’t match their original booking.
Read the full article here
