Getting A Pizza My Wallet
This story reminded me of what happened to me recently but in reverse.
Some friends and I were touring the Lower East Side of Manhattan, visiting from the middle of the country. We all get a craving for pizza. We walked past a pizza place that smelled amazing. It was mouthwatering, so we went inside, and we started to look through the menu, which was extensive.
Friend #1: “Oh wow, they have a seafood section!”
Me: *Having forgotten my glasses.* “I love seafood! What are the options?”
Friend #2: “Oh woooow. They have a shrimp and lobster black truffle alfredo.”
Me: “On a pizza? That sounds amazing! How much is it?”
Friend #1: “$18.75.”
Me: “For real? They must be using fake truffle oil and the canned seafood or something, but I’m too hungry to argue. Sounds good to me!”
My friend orders and pays. We’re standing there, seeing these other huge pizzas come and go, and salivating at the prospect of biting into ours…
And then the guy working the counter hands us a single slice.
One single slice of amazing-looking and smelling pizza, but a single slice, nonetheless.
Me: “Uh… where’s the rest of it?”
Employee: “What rest of it? Your friend ordered a single slice.”
Friend #1: “No, I paid $18.75.”
Employee: “Yeah, that’s the price for a slice.”
Friend #1: “$18.75… for a slice?!”
Friend #2: “How… how much for a whole pie?”
Employee: “$112.50.”
We all stare at each other, half in shock and half laughing.
Me: “We’re not in Kansas anymore!”
My friends with the eyesight look at the menu, and then notice the two pricing columns, one for a slice and one for a whole pie. They both didn’t even look at the whole pie column because the assumption was that $18.75 couldn’t possibly be the price for a single slice.
Me: “Okay, let’s split this slice, but can we re-order a reasonably priced pie now?”
Friend #1: “Ooh! They also have lobster and crab black truffle alfredo!”
Friend #2: “Have you learned nothing?! We just got charged $18.75 for a slice of almost the same thing; you think they’d let you get a whole pie for $16.75? Dart your eyes literally inches to the right!”
Friend #1: “Oh… it’s $116.50.”
Then his eyes light up again.
Friend #1: “Oh… they have truffle and—”
Friend #2 & Me: “—Stop looking at the truffle!”
We ended up with another of their speciality pizzas, which was still amazing. Sweet chili oxtail, $12.50 a slice, or $75 for the whole pie. We were tourists; we enjoyed it, and we had a story to tell when we got home about how our friend accidentally ordered the triple-digit pizza.
