This has gotten under my skin today so feel like a bit of a rant, or atleast someones opinion to realise if I should be annoyed about it or not.
I work for a print company, a designer sent me menu artwork last week to print for his customer, a Dublin city centre pub/restaurant. I get a call this morning asking if it had gone to print yet as his customer would like to change a price. I thought it could be 50 cent or there must be a typo or something. However I was surprised (fuming to be honest) when I saw there was a €5 increase in their steaks. I mentioned it to the designer in passing to double check it was right. He told me that his customer had been out for a meal over the weekend and had a similar steak to theirs, but it cost €5 more than theirs, so logically, they would get away with increasing their steak by €5, or probably a 25-30% increase. Rip-Off Republic is slowly creeping back.
This made me sad today. It reminded me of the start of the "boom" when I noticed I would get less change back after buying a couple of pints, a sandwich, or a lunch, yes we would have a quick moan about it, but then just moved on. To be straight, it was businesses taking advantage of everyone's supposed increase in wages. Yes, in the city centre and airports etc, businesses can take advantage of tourists and passing trade, its nothing new. But, this extortionate increase in pricing will only spread when other businesses realises they can get away with it. So the people that like to get out for a bite to eat on the odd occasion and may go slightly over their monthly budget doing so, will now be asked to dig deeper.
Rip-off Republic is slowly creeping back. The one thing I can't stand is getting ripped-off. Eventually we will all be looking for our wage increase and Ireland becomes un-competitive again. Have we learned nothing?
And before you ask, yes I do like steak
