Sunday, February 11, 2007
Society Preys on the Unassuming
Left LB just this morning at around 10AM, arrived in cubao at about 12:30PM without eating anything yet, since I'd figured I'd just eat on the way home. Then Flip (real name Felipe) the driver tells me that we have to pick my bro up in Katipunan, so I'd figured I'd settle down and just have a big lunch somewhere there. A Pancake House joint catches my eye. And because Pancake House = good fried chicken (for me, at least), I decide to order a combo meal. I look in my wallet, and I find exactly P200 worth. The menu says P170. I know there's a service charge, so I estimate it to come close to 200. I order, have my lunch, and ask for the bill while drinking the last few sips of my iced tea. I look at the bill.Combo meal, 170.
Service charge, 14.
Then I see VAT, 20. And this basically adds it all up to P204. I stay calm and composed-the way you are expected to behave when sitting in a place inhabited more often by rich old folks than college students- but inside I'm screaming every curse I can come up with. There are no coins in my wallet. I go through my pockets, and luckily I find exactly P4 in coins in those smaller pockets you find in the right leg of your denims.
Moral of the story? No wonder people never go out without extra cash on them. You never know when society will, with its claws of copper and bronze, suddenly pounce on you and your wallet. All because you didn't leave P20 for the freaking VAT.
3 Comments:
whoa, that was scary. haha.
hey yah.
kainis talaga ang vat na yan. :(
may nangyari na rin sa aking ganyan. kaso sa bus galing lb. 100 na lang yata pera ko. so 94 point something fare. tapos six pesos pamasahe ko sa tryke pauwi ng bahay. humiram ako ng 50 cents sa katabi ko na buti na lang kaklase ko... dati. :)
Stupid hidden costs. As if people didn't have enough money problems to worry about already.
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