sure but if it doesn’t happen very often there’s no real reason to charge for it?
maybe it’s differing alcohol cultures, idk. according to some bullshit map i saw years ago i live in the “vodka belt”, so maybe i’m too drunk off of ambient fumes to get it.
Yes but the up-charge on wine is absolutely obscene and can frequently be more than what they earn on the food. Additionally, the places that can get away with this are the kind of places where arguing about what would be a relatively small charge on the bill would be so incredibly awkward that you wouldn’t dare.
i’ve read that before the alcohol monopoly laws there were about 200k distilleries in sweden which is one for every 25 people in 1910. even after the restrictions were put in place, the limit for a single meal was three schnappses (“två vita och en brun”) totalling 15cl of 40-60% abv liquor. that was considered the minimum they could get away with implementing. and people still cheated the system to get double rations. i can only assume the norwegians went through something similar.
Edit: almost forgot to mention; wine was unrestricted during that time. no rationing.
yeah sorry, i expanded on it in another reply to my comment. and i’m just using euro to make grasping the costs easier, not many people are up on the exchange rate of the krona :)
Here’s a non-wine related thing often charged by restaurants: a cake-cutting fee. The restaurant offers desserts which you won’t be buying, and yet they are supplying you with plates and forks, and they will keep your cake safe in the kitchen until dessert, bring it out to be admired with maybe candles and a song, or a toast to the happy couple, then they’ll cut and plate and pass the slices, and afterwards they’ll wash the dishes. So they charge a fee to pay for the people and supplies.
We had a birthday party at a sushi train restaurant and brought a rainbow cake. We’d agreed to pay $20 or something over the total of all the sushi everyone ate. They turned down the lights and sent out the cake as individual slices on individual plates each with a lit candle flickering on it, and the teenagers loved it, which is pretty hard to do because teenagers.
sure but if it doesn’t happen very often there’s no real reason to charge for it?
maybe it’s differing alcohol cultures, idk. according to some bullshit map i saw years ago i live in the “vodka belt”, so maybe i’m too drunk off of ambient fumes to get it.
Yes but the up-charge on wine is absolutely obscene and can frequently be more than what they earn on the food. Additionally, the places that can get away with this are the kind of places where arguing about what would be a relatively small charge on the bill would be so incredibly awkward that you wouldn’t dare.
So it’s extortion basically, but fancy.
so the reason i haven’t seen it is probably the alcohol tax that adds 50€/liter of pure ethanol to every beverage. it’s just not useful here.
wait.
as in, every beverage has 50£ worth of pure ethanol added to it? if so… no wonder Slavs are always depicted as drunk off their asses LOL
or is it a 50£ per litre of pure ethanol on each pallet of alcoholic beverages (eg… 2l of pure ethanol adds 100£ of tax to the pallet price)?
a 10% ABV half-litre bottle will have 2.5€ in tax added to its price for the ethanol content.
that is… so incredibly -strange-.
was this added to encourage citizens to homebrew their own alchohol, or something? thats about the only reason I could think of…
homebrewing is very much illegal. this nation historically has a drinking problem.
Norway?
phew, dodged a bullet there, thanks danskjävel :P
i’ve read that before the alcohol monopoly laws there were about 200k distilleries in sweden which is one for every 25 people in 1910. even after the restrictions were put in place, the limit for a single meal was three schnappses (“två vita och en brun”) totalling 15cl of 40-60% abv liquor. that was considered the minimum they could get away with implementing. and people still cheated the system to get double rations. i can only assume the norwegians went through something similar.
Edit: almost forgot to mention; wine was unrestricted during that time. no rationing.
“this nation”…? there’s quite a few that use €… not sure which one you’re referring to.
yeah sorry, i expanded on it in another reply to my comment. and i’m just using euro to make grasping the costs easier, not many people are up on the exchange rate of the krona :)
Here’s a non-wine related thing often charged by restaurants: a cake-cutting fee. The restaurant offers desserts which you won’t be buying, and yet they are supplying you with plates and forks, and they will keep your cake safe in the kitchen until dessert, bring it out to be admired with maybe candles and a song, or a toast to the happy couple, then they’ll cut and plate and pass the slices, and afterwards they’ll wash the dishes. So they charge a fee to pay for the people and supplies.
We had a birthday party at a sushi train restaurant and brought a rainbow cake. We’d agreed to pay $20 or something over the total of all the sushi everyone ate. They turned down the lights and sent out the cake as individual slices on individual plates each with a lit candle flickering on it, and the teenagers loved it, which is pretty hard to do because teenagers.
ok that’s cute
Wait that rules. I’m gonna have my next birthday at a sushi train restaurant. Hell yeahhh
Why wait for your birthday? Sushi Train tonight!
If there was no charge then everyone would bring their own, and they would have to start charging more for the food to make up for the loss.
not if they just say no.
What loss? They can lose something that they didn’t had in the first place.
Like it or not, alcohol sales subsidize their income. The markup is substantial.
And that still doesn’t justifies the literal extortion of their clients.
Yes it does?
Mate, it’s not extortion because you have the option of not doing it. Look up extortion in a dictionary.
Then if you still think it’s wrong, work out why you actually object to it.