The original post: /r/amitheasshole by /u/Mediocre_Theme_1375 on 2025-02-22 14:07:26.

A group of friends were coming to visit me (41F) and we decided to have lunch at a cafe that one of them had been wanting to go to for awhile (had tried before but it was closed). I live in a regional area and this cafe is about 30 mins from me and 1.5 hours from where my friends were coming from. My friend saw a post that said the cafe was closing and this would be their second last weekend, so we thought we better go for it.

Myself, my 5 year old son, and a friend got there first. We walked in, people were sitting around, no one behind the counter. We stood there awkwardly for awhile. We asked if they had a menu, “no, we’re closing, we only have what’s here.” Okay, limited options, that’s fine. I ordered an iced coffee, a sausage roll, a Danish, and a soft drink (soda). The man rang it up and it was $35.20. I was surprised and said, “okay, that’s the total for those items?” He said yes, so I paid and went to sit outside. My friend ordered the same thing minus the soft drink and it was $32. She came out looking confused and said she had paid what seemed like a lot. We thought maybe the sausage roll would with a salad - nope, just a single sausage roll on a plate. We asked the manager (who had taken the orders) if we could clarify the cost because it felt like there might have been an error. He said he would check.

He didn’t come back, so we went inside to ask him if he has worked it out. He was very defensive, saying " I’m not here to rip people off". I said I wasn’t saying that he was, I just wanted to know the cost.of the items because it seemed like we had paid more than we expected. For some reason, he was unable or unwilling to provide the cost of the items. He also said “there’s a surcharge today” (a normal Saturday, not a public holiday or even a Sunday so I’m not sure how a surcharge would be justified??) Then all of a sudden he banged open the cash register and yelled “YOU KNOW WHAT? TAKE FUCKING FIVE DOLLARS EACH AND GET OUT, YOU’RE THE REASON WHY CAFES CLOSE”. He then threw two five dollar bills at me. My 5 year old son was there with me. My friend and I were both shocked, we had been polite and just wanted to understand how the items had added up, he refused to give us the information and then that scene happened. I said something like “oh right, we’re the reason”.

We went back out and told our friends what had happened. They were finishing their food/drinks. A lady then came out (we thought maybe to apologise) and told us the manager has asked her to tell us we needed to leave.

We were stunned at how it played out. I am trying to justify his behaviour by considering that he is probably devastated, maybe in financial trouble and not in a good headspace.

Should I have left it alone and not questioned it? AITA?