How Much? Grrrrrrrrr!
aka ‘Waiter, Waiter, there is a vague, unidentified item on my bill in my soup’!
‘Sundries’ is a noun which only appears on invoices or bills.
It is used as a way of lumping together a collection of hidden extras rather than name them so the customer can question their appearance on said invoice or bill.
Like a garage saying you need an oil change, you paying for the new oil, paying the man to change the oil, paying to dump the oil somewhere and then an ‘environmental charge’ being included in ‘sundries’.
The greatest schmoozer in this kind of ‘make them pay twice’ line of business when I was a kid was our local Coalman.
‘Bill’ (very apt name) would charge people for his coal, then charge again to sweep the chimneys of soot his coal caused and then finally sell the soot he had removed from his customers chimneys to local farmers to spread as fertiliser on their fields. True! He therefore got three chances at getting money for the same piece of coal. Tight Git!
Every time I see the word ‘Sundries’ on a restaurant or hotel bill, I question it and ask for a breakdown of costs. Just to ensure they are not charging me for the launder of the tablecloth.
