Yes, right here - where it says, “Tea - $2.50.” We didn’t order tea. And it’s there ten times. That’s $25.00 extra added to the bill. Oh, wait - surely you don’t mean… you do? You’re charging us, per person, for a pot of tea? The same pot of tea that every other Chinese restaurant on the face of the planet includes with the meal? You’re, in all seriousness, charging us for what every restaurant I’ve ever been to gives us gratis like glasses of water and the fried noodles to munch on before you get us our meal? You’re charging us for flavored water?
If I could say it in Mandarin, I would - suck my dick. For $25.00, each and every person at this table deserves a blowjob - even the women.
Oh, and while I’m at it, might I inquire about this charge of $0.11? Pardon me? You’re charging me for what? You’re charging me eleven cents for barbeque sauce? I’m sorry, did I walk into a McDonald’s in the Twilight Zone? When did this start happening? I still get ketchup, mustard, napkins and a straw for free, don’t I? And where the hell did you come up with eleven cents? Make it an even dime, for God’s sake, if you’re going to charge me for something that every other fast food restaurant on the planet gives us free!
You, too, may get on your knees and service my man-tool. I don’t care if it’s a lousy eleven cents - if you’re gonna screw me, you’re gonna get me off, too.
WTF? $25 for a pot of fucking watered-down tea at a lousy Chinese restaurant? I certainly hope you didn’t pay, and if so, I hope you made damn sure she showed you on the menu where a pot of tea was $2.50 per person.
I recently went to the fast-food chinese place in the food court near my office (where I eat lunch on a regular basis - or rather used to).
The amount of change I received seemed off a bit, but I didn’t say anything. Then when I got back to the office, I noticed from the receipt that they’d charged me US$.10 (plus tax, which makes it $.11 also) for the packet of “Duck Sauce” (what’s in that stuff, anyway?) that they’d tossed in my bag but which I didn’t even ask for!
Way to up the one-time profit by $.08 and lose a customer (as well as the custom of most of my co-workers and associates after I told them the story) forever.
What HBS genius thought it was a good idea to implement that bit of business brilliance?
I guess we can take solace in the thought that if this is part of the plan for how “asian people of origin” are planning on taking over our kitchens and “our” world…
Well, I don’t know if it will make you feel any better, but I was once charged $4.00 for * parmesan cheese *. You know, the stuff they grate onto your pasta or whatever.
When challenged, they said their cheese was the best money could buy, and was worth that much.
I told them they could either have the $4.00 now, or I would continue to patronise their restaurant, as I had been doing up to that point, spending $50-60 a time.
Yeah, Esprix, I really need to know, unless it was outside of San Diego County…and even if it was, the local residents need to know, too! That is completely outrageous.
No, we left a tip. Some other members of my party insisted that this is becoming de rigeur at the Chinese restaurants they frequent, so they just accepted it.
I recall the motivation for charging for BBQ sauce at McD’s. We had a real problem with people requesting absurd amounts to go with their meal, so we decided to give one sauce for a four piece, 1-2 for a 6 or nine piece, and I think 4-5 for a 20 piece. Anything over that amount we were supposed to charge for.
