by InTrieste
A bar on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy has found itself at the center of controversy after charging a customer a €2 surcharge for cutting a toasted sandwich in half.
The incident occurred at Bar Pace in Gera Lario in late June but came to light in recent days after the customer’s Tripadvisor review was shared widely on social media.
The story was first published by La Provincia di Como newspaper before being picked up by national media in Italy on Sunday.
“There were two of us and we asked for a toasted sandwich to share at the table” – the customer wrote on Tripadvisor – “We have to pay because the toast was cut in half? Incredible but true…”
The bar’s owner Cristina Biacchi responded to the storm of criticism online, telling La Repubblica newspaper 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”, adding: “It wasn’t a simple toasted sandwich, there were also French fries inside. It took us time to cut it in two.”
Biacchi said that the customers did not complain to her at the time, stressing that if they had “we would not have insisted on demanding that extra sum” and “none of this would have happened”.
