Check out the fine prints before committing yourself...

When I was in the Philippines, I got acquainted with an Arabic teacher from the Middle-east, who was obviously teaching Arabic Language in the Philippines. We often met and chatted at the hotel lobby. He was not good in English but was able to utter a few words here and there with lots of hand gestures trying to convey his message across to me. Of course, I responded to him the same way that he could understand.

The time eventually came when his job was done and he had to depart from the Philippines. The night before his departure, he asked for an interim bill from the hotel reception and was reading it at the lobby. He looked very puzzled over many items listed in the bill and he asked me to help him make sense of the bill. So, I went through and explained to him item by item. Hang on, this is where the real fun started....

First, the room rate was doubled what he read from the advertising banner hung on the front facade of the hotel. He was unhappy and claimed that the hotel cheated him. In actual fact, the advertisement read, "Php XXXX per person, twin-sharing room". The rate was in extra big fonts while the other wordings were finer in print. He occupied a twin-sharing room alone, so he was charged for two persons. He was very mad but was not able to express in English, I could see the deep frustrations in him. Now, that is not all.....

As I went down the list of items in the bill, I told him he had taken tit-bits and chocolates from the hotel room everyday and those were the charges. He was rudely shocked, he said, "What? Not FREE?". He said with his broken English, "Everyday, I eat, very nice. I finish, they put back, I eat somemore, I eat many, I become fat, I go beach walk everyday. This one NOT FREE?" I said, "NO, must pay money!". I could not control myself, I was laughing aloud.

I really empathised with him for not being able to read English well. Frankly, it is important to get the information right before committing to do anything that involves money, or else, we might end up like this Arabic friend of mine.