Are you Irish??

Adam

Interesting experience on Tuesday I think it was. I was in Dublin and coming home on the bus to Cavan that evening, in the bus station if anybody knows it, the little glass fronted shop tucked in the far corner of the building. I went in to get a bottle of water, and was havin a feel to try and find a cold one and the guy behind the counter says "There's a few cold ones on the bottom shelf in the back", which I took one of and put on the counter. He then says "5 euro please" and I looked at him funny as I reached for my wallet, thinking he was joking about the price for the cold bottle. As I reached for my wallet he says "Oh sorry, are you irish?" I replied yeah and he's says "Ah right, 1.30 please!"

Anybody else get this? He obviously assumed I was a Spanish student. He must be making a killing! :eek:

The Free Man

ahhh the celtic tigers mysteries...

Flukey

Report that incident to a consumers organisation. Rip-off Ireland at its worst. Even €1.30 was expensive enough without trying to rip off the visitors further. In the long run he and his ilk will be the losers as visitors go elsewhere.

Wertz

Nice work if you can get it.

EOA_Mushy

Guess its only fair.... Kind of pay back. If your a turist in spain and dont speak a lot of spanish you would recieve the same treatment.

Never came accross it my self, and the most commen question i get asked by strangers is what country i come from.... (I am irish, but tanned.. like many others... )

The_Minister

I think people will be turned off by the title, it sounds like one of those threads calling for the extermination of the poles from Ireland:D

Feral Mutant

Guy behind counter: You know we don't get many spanish students in here.
Spanish student: At these prices, I'm not surprised.

Bad joke but it seemed apt.

ferdi

report that cunt! that is scumbaggery of the highest order, he deserves to be put out of business and locked up:mad:

Adam

How would I go about reporting him? And would it actually make a difference tbh? It did piss me off...

GrumPy

ferdi wrote:

report that cunt! that is scumbaggery of the highest order, he deserves to be put out of business and locked up:mad:

I'd stick him a ZiZu tbh.

BlitzKrieg

funny story, looking for work around cambridge today (being a homeless irishman, i need to start working to pay for cardboard boxes) and went into the local cinema.

I asked if there is work going, guy behind the till looks at me, leans across and goes:

yeah there's work, but wont do you any good, They only seem to hiring foriegners here now, I'm the only Englishman left!

I couldnt help but Grin madly and reply 'Shouldnt be a problem for me' and walked off to get my CV.

Anto McC

Sorry about that but I'm trying to pay for a holiday

Flukey

EOA_Mushy wrote:

Guess its only fair.... Kind of pay back. If your a turist in spain and dont speak a lot of spanish you would recieve the same treatment.

Not necessarily so. Most Irish shopkeepers wouldn't do it anyway. Even if it was done to you in Spain, then even an increase on the base price they would be charging, would still be cheap.

Adam

By the way it was only a 500ml bottle too...

InFront

I dont look even remotely Irish and have never experienced this... a bottle of water does cost 5 euros though... doesnt it?:D

RuggieBear

more fool you for attempting to pay 5 euro for said bottle...;)

Adam

RuggieBear wrote:

more fool you for attempting to 5 euro for said bottle...;)

I presume thats meant to say "pay 5 euro"?

I wasn't going to, I thought he was just joking about charging more for a cold one.

Ruu_Old

"Ok heres the 5 euro but it better be the best water I ever tasted!"

Very cheeky indeed. O_o

Feral Mutant

fade_to_grey wrote:

I thought he was just joking about charging more for a cold one.

Is it possible that he was joking and the "are you Irish" thing was just making conversation?

Adam

Feral Mutant wrote:

Is it possible that he was joking and the "are you Irish" thing was just making conversation?

Oh no, definitely not! He seemed surprised I was irish, i'm quite tanned an had a bag slung over my shoulder, he was dead serious about the five euro, it was just my naivity(sp?) that made me think otherwise at first!

muckwarrior

EOA_Mushy wrote:

Guess its only fair.... Kind of pay back. If your a turist in spain and dont speak a lot of spanish you would recieve the same treatment.

Two wrongs don't make a right, yada yada...

Did the guy look like he owned the shop? He could just be some scumbag workin there pocketing the extra money.

Black Swan

On the flip side. Was in Paris and a store owner tried to overcharge me for a soft drink until I got in his face.

Adam

muckwarrior wrote:

Two wrongs don't make a right, yada yada...

Did the guy look like he owned the shop? He could just be some scumbag workin there pocketing the extra money.

I'm pretty sure he owns the place, he'd be late 30's early 40's, quite short, fat, not your typical shop assisstant lets say

RandolphEsq

Im irish but right now I dont look Irish,Ive gotten Swedish,Spanish and Dutch. It feels good not looking Irish, probably because Im ashamed

tbh

get someone to pretend they are foreign and buy a bottle of water, getting a receipt. Then buy one yourself and get a receipt. then send the receipts to the Consumer Affairs. And tell us what happens.

Adam

I dont think he'd chance it if someone asked for a receipt tbh...

tbh

wait till he's putting the money in the till, then it's too late to change his mind. Either way, his reaction should tell you a lot.

Adam

Right well I'll see what I can do but I dont have many spanish people in my pockets

murfie

Ya but hold on, its not as if there is an exchange rate that a European foreigner would not question the 5 euro bottle of water! thats why we changed currency in the first place so we could see exactly how much we are paying in different countries!
If a foreigner or an Irish person in fact is stupid enough to pay these prices than fair play to the guy!

Adam

murfie wrote:

Ya but hold on, its not as if there is an exchange rate that a European foreigner would not question the 5 euro bottle of water! thats why we changed currency in the first place so we could see exactly how much we are paying in different countries!
If a foreigner or an Irish person in fact is stupid enough to pay these prices than fair play to the guy!

Yeah I thought about that myself, but then I'd imagine its just the shop owners playing up the well known fact that Ireland is so expensive, a lot of europeans probably hear this but wouldn't necassarily know how extreme it was/is.

StickyMcGinty

fade_to_grey wrote:

Interesting experience on Tuesday I think it was. I was in Dublin and coming home on the bus to Cavan that evening, in the bus station if anybody knows it, the little glass fronted shop tucked in the far corner of the building. I went in to get a bottle of water, and was havin a feel to try and find a cold one and the guy behind the counter says "There's a few cold ones on the bottom shelf in the back", which I took one of and put on the counter. He then says "5 euro please" and I looked at him funny as I reached for my wallet, thinking he was joking about the price for the cold bottle. As I reached for my wallet he says "Oh sorry, are you irish?" I replied yeah and he's says "Ah right, 1.30 please!"

Anybody else get this? He obviously assumed I was a Spanish student. He must be making a killing! :eek:

what an arse of a shop owner, you wont sting a cavan man with a 5er for a bottle of water

Adam

VinnyL wrote:

what an arse of a shop owner, you wont sting a cavan man with a 5er for a bottle of water

Well actually I'm a Dub originally, Cavan hasn't gotten to me that much yet!

dazberry

fade_to_grey wrote:

I'm pretty sure he owns the place, he'd be late 30's early 40's, quite short, fat, not your typical shop assisstant lets say

Sure if he ever gives up the shop - I'm sure he'd be well versed in the skills to become an electrican, estate agent, mechanic, dentist, politican ... etc...

D.

crosstownk

I'm assuming you were in Busaras.

Most likely if the shop is in the station then he's renting it from Bus Eireann. Ring Busaras and complain about his over charging. Maybe they might look in to it.

Maybe I'm mad...............

kizzyr

Something like that happened to me last year in Malahide. I was jut back from my holidays and so was tanned and so not very Irish looking. Myself and my boyfriend had been out for lunch and a walk down the beach. I spotted an ice cream van and went over and asked for 2 cones. As he was handing them to me he said "that'll be € 7.00 please". I was so shocked I took off my sunglasses to make proper eye contact with him and asked what was he on about €7.00 for 2 ice creams. He then said, " oh sorry love I didn't realise you're Irish, its €2.00 so". I told him I didn't want them any more and walked away:mad:

robinph

BlitzKrieg wrote:

funny story, looking for work around cambridge today (being a homeless irishman, i need to start working to pay for cardboard boxes) and went into the local cinema.

I asked if there is work going, guy behind the till looks at me, leans across and goes:

yeah there's work, but wont do you any good, They only seem to hiring foriegners here now, I'm the only Englishman left!

I couldnt help but Grin madly and reply 'Shouldnt be a problem for me' and walked off to get my CV.

You might not be foreign enough for their needs though, sorry I meant wages.