"Does that LOOK right?" It's a question I always ask myself before I present a critical piece of information - such as a bill - to someone. The sanity checking in this was is something which was taught to me (and taught well, because it has stuck and is useful) many years ago when learning to use a slide rule, where you have to mentally calculate the order of magnitude of a result, although you read of the actual numbers to 2 or 3 decimal places.

But I think I'm unusual in asking "does that look right?". Out to lunch today - just myself and one delegate on the learning to program in Java day that precedes the Java Bootcamp course, I was taken aback to be charged over 18 pounds for a soft drink and a "lunch special" for two of us ... my estimate would have been (2 x lunch at five pounds, 2 drinks at two pounds) 14 pounds. However, in front of a delegate, I'm loathe to challenge a bill which could be right - and surely the barman would spot anything silly?

Anyway ... I looked at my receipt, a little shocked at the price, as we say down and noted three halves of lager shandy on my bill. Now that was the point at which I did take the bill back up, and ask if it was right; it wasn't, and the barman went away to correct it and brought back a new receipt and four pounds. He didn't seem surprised, and it was more of "yes, that's wrong, I'll correct it" rather than "I am SO sorry ..." ((At least it wasn't "You're too late - you paid it"))

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Perhaps, and perhaps I'm being unfair to the Xxxx's Xxxx, where the food was nice, the service fast enough for lunchtime, and the prices - including those in the extra menu that the barman helpfully (!) pressed on my delegate ("selling up") weren't out of the question for a lunch with more delegates on another date. But there's certainly a note of 'check the bill, expect to be sold up towards more expensive food' which leaves it as a less appropriate lunch place for us. For others - for example the three old ladies, sat in the window with their three halves of lager shandy for which I had unwittingly paid, it's probably ideal.

(written 2009-09-21)

 M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2502] Monday night, Tuesday night - (2009-11-13)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1525] Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory - (2008-01-31)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [693] The on line booking experience - (2006-04-21)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)

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Java Programming Fundamentals
Automating access to a page obscured behind a holding page
Variable names like i and j - why?
Hello World - a good traditional start to a Java course
Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income
Autumn Fruits and Bristol Old Station
Further North - long summer days and lovely countryside
Removal of technical resources from this site
TypeError: super() argument 1 must be type, not classobj (Python)
Robust user input (exception handling) example in Python