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Date Published: 18/07/2022

Spanish bar blasted for charging 20 cents every time the waiter goes to the table

The manager of the Zamora bar insisted that it is normal practice to charge for service on the terrace

They say that nothing in life is free, but one bar in Spain has taken this concept to a whole other level and gone viral for their trouble.

In October, with the weather still pleasantly mild, one customer decided to sit on the terrace of the Imperial Bar in Benavente in Zamora. After a bite to eat and a couple of drinks, the man asked for the bill and was shocked to find two additional charges: he was expected to pay an extra 20 cents for each time the waiter had come outside to serve him.

It didn’t end there either, as the customer quickly realised he had also been charged 1 euro for the use of the cutlery.

The baffled patron took to Twitter to share a copy of his bar bill, writing: "Something curious happened to us a few days ago in Benavente. Every time the waiter came to the terrace table to bring something they charged us 20 cents. The last straw was the euro that he charged us for putting some cutlery out to cut a toast that we had ordered."

The Imperial Bar was rapidly on the defensive once the tweet went viral, claiming that it is common practice for hospitality establishments to charge extra for service away from the bar. Moreover, the owner said that the 20 cents wasn’t for each time the waiter went to the table, but rather for each drink that had been served.

A nosotros nos ocurrió algo curioso hace unos días en Benavente. Cada vez que venía el camarero a la mesa de la terraza a traer algo: cerveza, la tapa... nos cobraba 20 cént. El colmo fue el euro que nos cobró por poner unos cubiertos para cortar una tosta que habíamos pedido. pic.twitter.com/IyeJ0BNJCr
— Blas Galey Hermoso (@blasgaley) November 1, 2021

A similar story was told by one woman after a trip to Tenerife at the beginning of 2020. She and her partner again sat on the terrace and ordered some drinks, before a waitress approached and asked them if they would like a blanket to keep warm. Sounds like a considerate place, right? Wrong! When the couple went to pay their bill, they found that they had been charged 6 euros for the use of the blanket.

When they complained, they were simply told by the manager that they should have asked if the blanket was free, and were refused their money back.

You might also like: Calling time: Spanish bars limit how long customers can nurse a drink

Image: Blas Galey Hermoso on Twitter

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