While in Minnesota for Christmas, we stopped at the Angry Trout Café in Grand Marais. It was nice inside, but not what I’d consider a fancy restaurant by any means. Four of us ate there, ordering three meals total. Two were fish and chips, one was chicken and chips. Three of us had small mugs of hot/lukewarm chocolate.

I felt a pang of concern, even before we got the bill, just from glancing at the menu. It wasn’t just the sky high prices ($15.50 for chicken strips and fries?), but the very in-depth explanation of service charges instead of tips.

“That’s so that everyone gets an equal amount,” my mom said. And I understand that’s probably it, but the extreme clarification that it wasn’t a tip, but was instead a service charge had me wondering if there weren’t additional reasons (tax? bookkeeping? yet another brick in the crashing economic wall?).

When the bill arrived, it was $90.

$90.