Unfiltered Story #392156

My brother and I visited Venice, Italy, for the first time. Well aware it was a very “touristy” thing to do and that it would be very expensive, one night we decided to have a beer in a pub with a nice view on the famous Rialto bridge.

I glanced over the menu and 0.5l (1 pint) cost €8,50. They also offered 1.0l for €16. (As a comparison: The year before 1 litre at the Oktoberfest in Munich was €15, so it was in fact, an expensive place.)

While my brother had excused himself, I ordered:

Me: “Two beers, please.”
Waiter. “Large ones?”
Me: “Sure!”

Then I excused myself, and when I returned, two 1-l-steins were placed on the table. My brother didn’t complain as he hadn’t heard me order.

Me: “Sir? I don’t think I ordered a whole liter?”
Waiter: “Didn’t you order large beers? Our large beer is a litre. Have a look at the menue.”
Me: “No need, thanks.”

Now in Italy a regular beer is 0.25l or 0.33l and a large beer is 0.5l. So a litre was unexpected, but technically he was right.

My brother and I looked at each other, shrugged, enjoyed our very large beers. We marveled the Rialto bridge a little bit longer as we’d planned, but since we’d planned to have another beer anyway, no harm was done other then spending a few more euros on a beer than planned.

Moral of the story: If you try to rip people off by selling them unexpected large beers, you might have customers from Germany who in fact enjoy them.