Diner fined for whining, but did café cross the line?

An unhappy customer was billed for complaining at a Copenhagen eatery over the weekend

A customer was not happy with her tapas plate at Copenhagen’s Café Pegasus on Saturday night, and she had no problem telling the waiting staff about her dissatisfaction. And then the chef. And the management. And then other customers.

That’s when the café’s owner, Karina Skov Iversen, decided that was enough whining for one night and added a 50 kroner fee for “complaining” to Ann-Sofie Bertelsen’s bill.

“I was not happy with my food,” Bertelsen told Ekstra Bladet. “I was expecting to get a free coffee or something; instead I got a 50 kroner bill.”

Iversen said that the extra fee added to the bill was done tongue-in-cheek and as a gentle jibe, but Bertelsen failed to see the humour.

“It's absurd. I hate to complain, but the food was mediocre and the extra charge was unfair,” she said.

The customer is always … grumpy
Iversen said that Café Pegasus never wants unhappy customers.

 “Our customers are our lifeblood, and we always want them to be happy,” she said.

“We had given her a discount on her wine and meal and spent half an hour on her complaint, so we added the charge.”

Iversen thinks the whole incident has been blown out of proportion.

“She didn’t pay the fee. It was done in fun and this has all gone too far.”

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