ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Culture
MORE THAN THE BOTTLE ITSELF
Chris Gibbons clearly hasn’t been out in a while.
The 35 year-old from Christchurch, who was initially upbeat about going to a midweek birthday BYO, was in for a shock at how much corkage would be for the cheap bottle of wine he was bringing.
“I’m assuming corkage will be a couple of bucks, like back in 2010 when I was in Wellington,” explained Gibbons, who has struggled in recent years to get invites to such events.
Gibbons, who hadn’t set foot in a BYO since his early 20s, was blissfully unaware that the price of corkage had skyrocketed. Upon arrival at the authentic Thai restaurant where his mate had made a reservation, he was immediately confronted with a grim reality.
“The waitress just casually mentioned it—‘Corkage is $10 per bottle, sir’—as if she wasn’t basically robbing me at gunpoint.”
Despite his initial shock, Gibbons tried to keep his composure. After all, it was his friend’s birthday, and he didn’t want to be the guy who made a scene over a $10 corkage fee.
“I mean, we’re bringing the wine ourselves, right? Isn’t that supposed to save us money?” Gibbons ranted to our reporters.
“It’s not like they’re doing anything special with it! They just open the bottle and hand us some small cheap wine glasses! The corkage is literally more than the bottle itself! ”
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