I went to a very nice restaurant on Saturday night and the bill came to $165 for three with no alcohol. I noticed there was a $1 charge as I asked them to leave the cheese off the onion soup and that made it a special order. Shouldn't the price of the cheese cancel out the service charge?

And I applaud DC for it -- it was a great step forward and the river really needed it.

But many stores in SF haven't handed out plastic bags in years, and as of last year they've been completely banned city-wide. These are paper bags I'm talking about, and there haven't been any issues with those washing up in the bay.

the dc law is for all disposable bags. i pay the extra $00.05, as my thunderbird, or md20-20 just does not taste right unless it comes out of a paper bag.

Of course not. Then you'd have to see the label and face the reality of what you're actually drinking :)

I haven't had it in years, but as delicious as it tastes, it left me feeling more than a little...uncomfortable for quite some time.

I have no problem with an extra charge for lettuce or other veggies/condiments as long as it is disclosed in advance, either on the menu (in a reasonable type setting in a reasonable location) or at the very least verbally by the waitperson. I'm a "no surprises, please" kind of guy when it comes to my $$$.

Um, why couldn't you just use the tea? :confused:

It wouldn't even occur to me; I can't take big gulps of scalding hot liquids, certainly not enough to wash down a couple of big pills. Does anyone do this? I'm genuinely curious, as the thought of it makes me cringe. Maybe I'm just weird or have a particularly heat-sensitive mouth :)

Regardless, the issue at hand, as it relates to the thread, is that a cup of tap water seems like a reasonable thing for a paying customer to ask for without charge.

The Up-Sell
 

I'd be cheesed off too. ;) Why not charge extra for well-done beef over rare since it costs more to cook? :D

Our most striking example of this happened awhile back in Cheeseburger in Paradise, a Waikiki tourist trap. Probably most have seen these and other up-sells. What was impressive about this service was the way they just kept coming, one right after the other.

After the waitress removed the plastic souvenir pineapple glasses they sell to people who buy alcoholic drinks (prices unlisted on the menu), the ordering went something like this for the Chicken "Oriental Salad." (sic)

"Do you want avocado on that?" No thank you.

Then it was on to the Cajun Chicken burger, or rather what would be on it...

"Would you like cheese on that?" No thank you.

"Would you like bacon on that?" No thank you. She left disappointed but soon returned.

"Oh, I forgot to ask if you'd like fries or onion rings with that?" No thank you.

Oh, and it was a lousy meal too. What a surprise.

I half-expected an up-sell to a "deluxe condiment assortment" or maybe "cloth napkins."

Lettuce. :D

Not sure if they do a hard sell everywhere but they're actually a national chain. I probably would have told the waitress I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potato, big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer just to see her reaction.

I always wondered what Jimmy Buffett felt about a place named after one of his songs competing with his own chain.

Wikipedia tells me that Buffett's Margaritaville Holdings LLC licensed the name to them. It might be a shrewd business decision to make his own restaurants look really "authentic" in comparison. ;)

Paper bags may not have issues with washing up in water bodies, but they have their own environmental problems, such as deforestation, carbon emissions, and so on.

When San Francisco banned plastic bags in grocery stores several years ago, most stores switched to paper bags, which are not necessarily any better for the environment overall. That is why DC and other cities decided to ban or tax both paper and plastic. San Francisco introduced the paper bag levy last year in order to get people to bring reusable bags rather than just switching to paper.

This has generally been successful; if you go to grocery stores in the LA area, the majority of customers bring reusable bags with them. Of course in an airport environment if anyone needs a bag they will just pay the charge because they are unlikely to bring reusable bags with them.

I prefer full disclosure when there is/are extra charge(s). When we are asked if we want something extra, I ask if there will be an extra charge for the extras. If I see an extra charge on the bill, I ask them to remove it. I DISLIKE when they suggest add-ons that are extra charges.

We may give an appearance of being "cheapskakes" but we would like to make informed choices concerning extras.

We were in Lisbon a few years ago and we got charged for the meat/cheese plate they put on the table. Since the meal was very reasonably priced inside a very large Lisbon mall, a few extra euros for the extra was a very valuable lesson learned. (glad we were not in Rome where they charge more than a few euros for bread!!).

Bottom line: We always ask what extra charges are for the suggested extras. What are the prices of the daily specials the waiter/waitress suggests for our meal. We find they do not mention the prices of the daily specials! The daily specials are much expensive and usually not to our liking!

You are not supposed to drink tea with medication due to potentially dangerous interactions between the active ingredients in tea and the medication.

I actually found out about this recently as I am on a trip to China and having a cold. The cashier at the pharmacy told me not to drink the bottled green tea I had in my hand with the cold medications I purchased.

Some info: http://www.livestrong.com/article/41...on-medication/

This actually does happen kind of often.

I work in the restaurant industry (while going to school) as a waiter. We are encouraged to upsell as much as we can. For example, we charge extra if you want avocado in your burger or on any of the entrees. For a different type of fries we charge an extra 59 cents. So yes, this is common, but really I have never heard of charging for Lettuce before....

They should have just raised the base price of the burger by 50c instead of trying to charge you extra.

That or make it all completly build your own burger, with each topping costing a certain amount. No in between option