I was in Athens, Greece with my 18-year-old son celebrating his high school graduation by “broadening his horizons.”  Even though Greece is going through financial crisis, I quickly learned that tourists were not seeing any savings.  The Euro is still pounding the dollar, and broadening his horizons was going to substantially thin my wallet.  Add to it that I fell from the frugal tree and, well, you get the picture.  So when I got our dinner bill and it was 30% more than I expected, I didn’t just “let it go.”

The bill was written in Greek.  Have you ever seen that language?  I can’t even recognize the letters to know what sound they make, let alone recognize a word.  So I inquired about the bill.  I saw the “tip” charged separately, about 10%, no problem with that.  The other 20% was for a “service fee.”  He explained that they charged a service fee for the bread and olives.  I asked him why he didn’t explain this before serving us, to give us the opportunity to forgo the bread (by the way, we probably would have accepted the bread and the fee.)  He started to sweat and said that it was on the menu.  I asked to see it on the menu.  He couldn’t locate it.  I explained that I had not run into this expense at any other restaurant.  Nor had I been solicited on the street to enter any other restaurant.  I explained that I would be sharing my experience with a bus load of tourists the next day, and I paid the bill.

As soon as the waiter left, my son lit into me.  This is why he doesn’t like going to restaurants with me, because I “cause a scene.”  I embarrassed him.  I don’t know how things work in Greece, so I shouldn’t question them.  Ah, the wrath of an 18-year-old son.

The next day I told our tour guide about my experience.  He disclosed that what the restaurant had done was recently declared illegal.  You see, it was greatly upsetting to the tourists that they did not get what they expected when they received their bill.