Tourists enjoying a meal in Italy were left baffled after spotting a charge on their bill for the service of cutting a sandwich in half.
I know tourists sometimes have a habit of complaining, claiming it's 'too hot' in European countries in the middle or summer or that you 'just can't get a proper brew' on holiday, but these visitors might actually have a point.
They took to TripAdvisor to share their confusion over the charge after visiting Bar Pace, a fancy bar in Gera Lario, located on the northern shore of Italy's exclusive Lake Como.
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The cafe serves up coffees, cocktails, salads and wraps, but it was a mere sandwich that sparked the outrage after the customers stopped by for something to eat.
They ordered a Coca Cola, a sparkling water, an espresso and a vegetarian toastie with chips, all of which showed up on their bill.
The sandwich came in at a fairly standard cafe price of €7.50 (£6.46), but when the tourists came to pay they realised they'd been charged an extra €2 (£1.72) for something they didn't get to eat.
The receipt features a charge listed as 'diviso da meta', which translates in English as 'divided in half', and related to the sandwich being cut in half for them.
It's unclear whether the customers had asked for the sandwich to be cut, or whether they'd, told the waiter they'd share the lunch, but needless to say they weren't happy about being charged for it.
The disgruntled customer shared a photograph of a receipt online as proof of the charge, writing: "There were two of us and we asked for a toasted sandwich to share at the table. We have to pay because the toast was cut in half?
"This has never happened to me in any of the places I have visited in the world."
In total, the cost for the lunch and the drinks came in at €15.70 (£13.52).
After the customer complained about the charge, the owner of the bar, Cristina Biacchi, hit back in Italian media to argue that 'additional requests have a cost'.
“We had to use two plates instead of one and the time to wash them is doubled, and then two placemats," Biacchi said.
“It wasn’t a simple toasted sandwich, there were also French fries inside. It took us time to cut it in two.”
The owner also claimed the customer had not complained about the charge at the time, and that if they'd queried it the charge would have been struck from the bill.
Though this particular pair of customers weren't impressed with the extra charge, Bar Pace in general has good reviews from customers and has earned an impressive rating of 4.5 out of 5 on TripAdvisor.
Topics: Money, Food And Drink, Travel
Emily Brown