What's the most ripped off you have ever felt?

[coulditbeme2323]

Now I don't mean something that was expensive but you really enjoyed, but where you felt ripped off.

I'll start.

26 euros for two Sprite's in Paris.

And this was circa 2014.

£150 to spend time going through the compliance required for anti- money laundering, pay for professional indemnity insurance which, depending on size of firm may be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds, spend time taking instructions from you, and lastly have the experience and knowledge to know what should and should not go in the letter.

Stayed at the Radison Blue hotel at Stanstead a few years ago. Asked for a glass of chardonnay wine, was told they don't sell chardonnay but they do have sauvignon blanc.
So I agreed to a glass of sauvignon - £26!! I was shocked, I have never in my life paid so much for a glass of wine.

A very average pizza - £40 on the Amalfi Coast.

That puts me in mind of the toilet "attendants" in Belgium when we holidayed there in 2003 (DH's idea, not mine). Old man and old woman sitting like organ grinder's monkeys holding out cap (or similar), actually getting in the way of people coming in and out of the loos. Just install a fucking turnstile and coin slot already. Job creation scheme, DH has mused. He's probably right.

Ha ha! It was exactly like that except it was one youngish bloke and five dodgy mates, not intimidating at all!

Oddly in Cologne I used a public toilet bynthe Cathedral that had both a coin operated turnstile AND an attendant who sat by the turnstile.

$100 at Phoenix Sky Harbour airport for a plate of nachos and 4 beers.

When I stopped buying food, pens, highlighters, rubbers, rulers, pencil cases, books, rewards, fidget toys etc for my students (I'm a TA) and got dragged into a disciplinary meeting for my 'recent attitude'.

Two glasses of house champagne and two supermarket-quality salmon sandwiches (ie in a triangle box, not freshly made), no change out of £40 at ENO. This was well before the pandemic in about 2013. Tickets themselves were well over £100 each.

And they complain about young people not wanting to attend the opera!

€1 for using a public toilet in Taormina. Went down some stairs. Woman toilet attendant stretched out her hand “uno euro per favore” without looking up from reading the Italian answer to Take A Break.

Toilet was filthy and smelly

Oh yes, I was in Belgium in 2008 and there wasn't a free wee anywhere but the campsite. We travelled all over and always had to pay a euro!

Reminds me of the 'toilet guy' in the episode of the IT Crowd where they go to the theatre!

I get that they need cleaners/re-stockers to visit maybe once or twice a day; but I'm with you that it seems totally unnecessary to have full-time bog trolls practically living in there. Especially two of them - it's not even like they need cover for one of them to leave the premises when they need the toilet, is it?!

I haven't been to the continent for many years; but it always seemed horribly unfair that they charged the equivalent of 30p for everybody using a cubicle, but there was a room to the side full of urinals that was completely free of charge, with no angry-looking attendant with their hand out the instant they spotted you approaching.

It depends how busy the toilets are. I work in McDonald's and have to check the toilets every time someone's been in because people don't seem to be able to flush or turn taps off.

"Bog trolls" 🤣

Of course there had to be two - a man to collect for the men's toilets, and a women to collect for the women's. Men couldn't possibly be expected to hand their coin(s) over to a woman, and vice versa, could they?

I wish I were joking, but that's exactly how it was! 🤷‍♀️

I love wine, but I am not a snob with it, there's a particular type they sell for about £7 in most corner shops that I actually really enjoy, and I will happily pay in excess of £12 a glass in a 'real' wine bar that has some types I might not get anywhere else, but weddings and functions and the like, this has been my experience.

At my works' Christmas party last year it was about £11 for a very small glass of what I can only describe as bitter swill with a very unpleasant taste. I had two and then took myself up to my room for an early night. They'd forgotten to bring my main course which was a convenient excuse to exit early "I couldn't possibly drink more on an empty stomach and I have a sandwich in my hotel room so I am going now'...

I don’t think it was meant to be funny, just a normal response to the post. It is a fairly standard price for 4 drinks in a city centre pub.

Nearly £7 a drink's standard now, is it? The world's gone well and truly mad.

I handed over 10 euros in around 2005 for a vodka and cranberry expecting change but he asked me for more. This was in Amsterdam.

well it certainly is where I am in the SE. Almost a tenner a pint in some places we go, 15 for a small glass of wine is not uncommon and a tenner for a spirit and mixer.
i would be delighted if a round of 4 alcoholic drinks came to under £30 these days and suspect they had missed a drink off the bill.

Oh excellent, I've run out of people to tell about this outrage!

In Gatwick airport WH Smith a couple of weeks ago, juggling bags, running v late, I bought a Diet Coke, tapped my card without looking properly and legged it

£3.90

THREE POUNDS NINETY for a bastard Diet fecking Coke

I call this sort of thing 'Twat Tax'. The fact that I have to call it anything illustrates that I am prone to paying it myself.

An actual disciplinary because you stopped spending your own money on tat for the kids? How did that end up going? Because if they’ve made your working environment hostel over that and you ever feel like you need to leave, then it sounds ripe for a constructive dismissal claim.

I have thought of another one. I think that kindle unlimited is a rip off. Okay it is possible to borrow several books at once but there are still quiet a few books that you need to pay for. I decided to join the library instead. At least i am not getting charged £9.49 a month.

I grew up near there. As a child I always wanted to go in because it looks so nice from the outside (if It's still there?) but we never did. I know why now!

This thread makes me grateful to be teetotal.

I don't begrudge paying the equivalent of £1 to use a loo in the back end of nowhere in a poor country. Usually they're spotless and the attendant is busy scrubbing the place to within an inch of its life. I do begrudge paying it when it's a filthy cesspit in one of the richest countries in the world.

£15 for a ready made canned cocktail that wasn't even cold at Hampden
Refusing to pay those prices when I go back next month