TMOliver

I would be more sympathetic had I not spent much time abroad.

In France, Italy and Spain, small "coffee bar" type establishments will often have three sets of prices...

Cheapest - standing at the counter to eat and or drink.
Mid-price - seated at a table inside (waiter service - bad ju-ju to seat your self to consume items ordered at the service bar).
Most expensive - seated outside

In Asia, especially SEA - The "mistreatment" you received is in many locations more than commonplace. It's to be expected. For Asians in the US, the cultural tattoos of centuries are hard to eradicate in a few years. I've encountered the same "arrangements" (2 menus, different prices) in "Asian", mostly Chinese, in several larger US cities. I'll never forget my experience many years ago in NYC, learning that a small restaurant I liked and frequented several times a week had 3 menus, "Take Out", "Table Service for [non-Chinese]), and "Chinese Menu" (cheapest, widest variety). After about a month, the owner explained the intricacies of the Chinese menu and thereafter served and price my meal from it, providing me with the same - I guess - premium treatment accorded those who read/spoke his language.

I understand from my nephew [redacted] who lives and works in Beijing and has traveled throughout China, an amazingly diverse place, that there are areas where the locals expect the waiters to be disputacious. I recall that those in Cholon could be. My nephew also claims that many local restaurants require patrons to bring their own containers for "take out", but do maintain (as in India) substantial stocks of special metal/bamboo takeout containers for meal delivery to nearby offices - leaving one set, then picking it up on the next delivery.