Lynsey Bennet from Belfast shared the tale on TikTok.
She is one of three Belfast sisters who developed the very successful luxury tanning brand, Lusso Tan.
They also run two busy beauty salons – The Secret Day Spa in east Belfast and Sistine Beauty in Holywood.
While on a trip to London in late December Lynsey and her husband went to the theatre and for dinner before returning to the hotel “a bit tipsy” where they decided to visit the bar.
“The guy behind the bar had just started, and he was from Toronto, and we had been there in the summer so we were having a great chat,” Ms Bennet said.
“I always drink Champagne, I rarely drink cocktails. And I thought ‘you know what? I’m gonna order something a little bit different, I’m gonna order a cocktail’.”
Bennet ordered a cocktail which was called 1890, which she thought was a nod to the price of £18.90.
“So the young chap brought out a bottle of Cristal, popped it open, gold leaf, 30-year-old Cognac, gave me this huge book to sign, and there we were just thinking we were the bee’s knees,” she explained.
“And then they presented the bill for £2,000, and I was like ‘uh oh, I can’t afford to pay that’.”
In a follow up TikTok, Bennet shared that her husband was “furious” at her for making the costly mistake and left the bar.
Bennet explained to the barman that she thought the gap between the 18 and 90 on the price was a decimal point.
The manager then said that the mistake would be sorted out and told her to enjoy the rest of her stay at the hotel.
Having avoided the bar for a few nights, on New Year’s she returned and, upon chatting with the manager, heard that the barman had been sacked for the error.
“So I burst into tears, I was so terribly, terribly upset,” she said.
It turned out the manager was joking and had not sacked the barman, though training had been provided to avoid a similar occurrence in future (as it had apparently happened in the past).
Bennet also shared that she “didn’t even enjoy the cocktail” because it was “whisky-based, and I don’t like whisky”.
“I will forever check the price of cocktails from now on,” she concluded.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
