2 Restaurant scams attempted on me that FAILED!

[Winston]

A few days ago when I was out with friends at a pizza place, when my check came, I noticed that I was charged for the large pizza rather than the medium one. When I pointed it out, the waitress tried to convince me that it was correct. So I asked for the menu so I could show her the mistake. When she reluctantly brought it, she held the menu far away from me and pointed to it trying to convince me that the price charged to me was right. She seemed reluctant to let me see it. When she finally gave in and handed me the menu, I pointed the right price to her and she corrected the mistake and changed my bill to the correct price. I don't know if it would do any good to tell the owner about it, who is supposed to be a foreigner. But the fact that the waitress tried to hold the menu away from me and didn't want me to see it strongly indicates an attempt to conceal something rather than an honest mistake, don't you think? After all, if it was an honest mistake, wouldn't the waitress have checked the prices on the menu herself and confirmed the mistake, rather than trying to withhold the menu from me and arguing the price with me without even double checking it herself??!?!?!?! Simple logic of course. They probably thought that I was a nonconfrontational Korean or Japanese that would not dispute it, but they were WRONG! ahahahahaha!

Afterward, I said my friends, "What do they think I am? I am a master debunker and expert in point by point debate. Do they really think they can pull that shit on me?"

Do you think I should report it to the owner to teach them a lesson?

What I don't get though, is how they could profit from that? I mean, the extra charges are written on the receipt, so whatever I pay would have to match the sum total on the receipt and therefore have to go to the restaurant and not the waitress directly. So how can they pocket the extra cash? Maybe they turn in another receipt that is more accurate and not the one they gave to me?

And one time long ago when my parents were here, we went to a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern place that served good vegetarian falafels. My dad did not listen to me though when I told him to only order what I knew was good. He ordered something else that was not that good and overpriced too, a fish. It was kind of expensive at 250 pesos and not very big, plus they didn't even bring the salad that was included on the menu, and when they did, it was a piece of plain crap. But when the bill came, the fish was charged at 300 pesos. When I complained about it, the waitstaff tried to justify the extra 50 pesos by claiming that the fish was bigger than usual, and so they had to add 50 pesos! WTf? That did not compute! First of all, the fish was small or standard and did not look that big. And second, even if it was bigger than usual, they still have no right to charge a higher price than what was listed on the menu. That was their problem and fault, not mine. I tried to explain this to them, but they kept saying that they were justified in adding the extra 50 pesos. Then I lectured them and told them that they could not do that and that it was both unethical and illegal for them to do that. My dad hated seeing me debate this, and so left the restaurant while I argued with them, but my mom was on my side and said I was doing the right thing. Eventually, the waitstaff gave in and returned the extra 50 pesos.

But when I stepped outside, my dad was gone. So my mom and I tried to find him. Apparently, he was pissed and walked off without waiting for me (even though he's a senior adult, sometimes he loses his temper and acts immature too, and in this case it was without cause). I was pissed at my dad now, for wandering off and risk getting lost, just cause he wouldn't wait for me to get money back from a little scam. But if he had listened to me and not ordered that fish, this wouldn't have happened, as I had been to that restaurant many times and never been scammed before. When we finally found him, we argued and yelled at each other for a while, and I lectured him for wandering off and risking getting himself lost, as he was my responsibility, as though I were the parent and he were the child. I sternly told him that this was my turf, and he had better just do what I say intead of doing senseless things like that.

The next thing that happened proved me right. While we were arguing, a drunk Filiipino guy on the corner came and threatened my dad because he thought he was looking at him with an angry face. My dad told him that he was not looking at him, but the guy wanted to start a fight anyway and raised a bag of lettuce in his hand while moving toward my dad. My dad stepped out of the way and retreated. When I tried to talk to the drunk guy, he wouldn't listen to me either. I wanted to kick his ass, like I should have, but my instincts told me to just walk away and be safe and avoid the incident altogether, even though my ego wanted to kick his ass.

So we left and I reported him to the police on the street. The policeman drove me by motorcycle back to where the drunken guy was, but he was gone, and everyone there said they didn't know who he was. Typical cover up.

Anyhow, none of this would have happened if my dad hadn't ordered that damn fish, which led to a scam which in turn led to an encounter with a violent drunk guy. I was really pissed about this. I wish people would just LISTEN to me! (Dianne would avoid a lot of stupid mistakes if she had listened to me too!)

I guess that when you don't fit in somewhere, like my dad doesn't fit in with Angeles City and hates everything about it, negative coincidences happen to you. After all, in the two years I've been here I've never been threatened by a drunken guy like that, on a touristy street that is usually very safe too.