Unfiltered Story #233595

My family and I are the customers in this story. We are visiting my cousin who just moved to Montana, and this is the first time any of us had been to this state. We had just finished a day of shopping and exploring and had noticed the lack of sales tax on our receipts, which was a nice surprise. We stopped at a restaurant in a different town for dinner, and my dad has offered to bay the bill. Glancing it over to make sure nothing was missed, he noticed an extra charge at the bottom for tax, and was slightly confused, as there was no tax on any of our previous purchased in the shops. He called the server over to inquire about the charge.

Dad: Hello, I was just wondering about this charge here at the bottom. I thought Montana didn’t have a sales tax?
Server: The state does not have sales tax, that is correct, but the town does have a local tax for certain businesses like restaurants.
Dad: Oh, okay. Do you know what the rate is?
Server: *visibly getting nervous* It’s 3% sir. It’s mainly used to keep the town visually pleasing, like paving the streets, keeping the lights on, maintaining the parks and gardens, stuff like that. *speaking quickly* But we can take care of that for you, sir. If the customer doesn’t want to pay the tax, we will pay it for you, it’s no problem at all. Let me get my manager.
Dad: No! No, no, that’s not necessary. We were just wondering what it was, since we didn’t pay sales tax while shopping today.
Server: *starting to calm down* Oh, okay. Well, I’m glad I could help.
Dad: Yeah, you see, we’re from Massachusetts where sales tax is double this rate, and sometimes there’s a meals tax, too, so we were wondering if that was what it was. I’ll pay the 3%, that’s nothing!
Server: Thank you, sir! Some customers from out-of-state are upset and angry when they see that and refuse to pay, so we will offer to pay it for them.
Dad: That’s not the case, here. We will pay and be on our way. Have a great evening!
Server: You, too, everyone! Enjoy your stay!

My dad left a nice tip.