The string of bizarre receipts in Italy continues as the mayor of a small town shared how his wife was charged GBP 9 after asking to borrow a tool to free a dented bumper from rubbing on the wheel from a local petrol station.
Marco Della Pietra, the mayor of the municipality of Spresiano, in the north-eastern Treviso Province, expressed his disappointment in a Facebook post that began with the words: “Where are we headed?”
Pietra said his wife, Ale, got in a minor car accident on the morning of 25th August while returning home with their four-year-old daughter from a lab test.
The woman got rear-ended by another vehicle and stopped at a nearby petrol station while awaiting help.
Pietra’s 75-year-old father drove over to help her move the bumper so the woman could be on her way.
The mayor wrote: “Now, imagine the scene: a mother with her four-year-old daughter, just in a minor accident, still scared and upset, and my father, who isn’t in his 30s anymore, trying to manually fix the bumper.
“Coincidentally, there was a gas station nearby (not to mention just a few metres away), and my father asked a young man working there if he could lend him something to use as leverage to move the part away from the wheel.
“Without hesitation, the young man took the initiative and with a lever, he quickly moved the obstruction, freeing the wheel.
“In an act of kindness, my dad then asked if he owed anything, and the young man replied, ‘Of course not, we help each other in situations like these!'”
But, Pietra continued, the owner then decided to intervene and took up the old man on his offer.
He then asked them for EUR 10 (GBP 8.6), saying that “time is money” and he deserved compensation for the “inconvenience”.
Pietra went on: “At first, Ale and my father thought he was joking, but when they realised he was serious, taken aback, they handed over EUR 5 [GBP 4.3] each to the man (to the surprise of the employee and some people who had witnessed the scene) and left, almost without realising what had happened.
The mayor said he later expressed his strong disagreement with the owner’s behaviour that he deemed “unimaginably petty”.
Peitra then assured the man he was not there to get his money back but insisted on getting a receipt.
He said: “He immediately made it for me, not hiding a palpable embarrassment behind a feigned arrogance, claiming that I wasn’t present and didn’t know how much time he had wasted (in reality, I had practically provided a live phone update, and he, by the way, hadn’t lifted a finger…
“Two minutes. Total: EUR 10 [GBP 8.6].”
Pietra added: “For the record, as you can read, he issued a receipt for an exterior car wash (also because I don’t think there was a ‘lever assistance fee’ button among the preset options), but at least, he’ll pay taxes and VAT.
“I am well aware that the vast majority of gas station attendants would never behave like this guy, and I’m very sorry that within the category, there are people of this kind who, of course, also damage the reputation of those who behave correctly.
“And perhaps they always get away with it because no one says anything.
“Not this time.'”
