Restaurants can add trivial fees that feel unfair or extreme to the customers on the receiving end of the bill. A restaurant on the Italian Riviera was criticized after a picture of the receipt became a viral topic on social media. A mother was charged $2.19 as a “sharing” fee for splitting a meal with her three-year-old daughter. Simply asking for a “sharing saucer” landed her an extra line on the bill.
Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure, Italy, charged the mom an extra plate so she could give her daughter some of her pesto pasta. Selvaggia Lucarelli, journalist and actress, shared a picture of the receipt to her Twitter account.
The restaurant was subject to tremendous backlash as people spoke about the charge being unethical. Giovanni Toti, regional governor, agreed that the additional charge was “wrong” but was quick to defend the restaurant workers for playing an important role in the growth of the economy.
Ida Germano, the 76-year-old owner of the restaurant, spoke out to justify the service fee. Germano said, “Work must be remunerated.” She defended the charge by saying that another dish was additional work for the staff to clean and that they deserved to be paid for the extra service.
Germano added that she is proud of the quality of the food at the restaurant since the criticism wasn’t a reflection of the taste. She believes they “would have suffered more if they had criticized the food.”
Source: https://twitter.com/stanzaselvaggia/status/1688536898682130432