Woman dines at STATS Charlotte and can’t finish her pasta. Then she finds out she is being charged $6 for a box: ‘God forbid a girl gets full’

It feels like you can be charged a fee for anything at any time, which is similar to the complaints about tipping culture, as more businesses ask customers to tip, even when service isn’t provided in the typical sense that would lead to tipping.

For Mace (@millionairemace_), an unexpected charge appeared on her receipt from STATS, and she shared a photo of her receipt on Threads. The receipt lists her pasta dish, a charge for the to-go box, and a service fee.

After initial commenters apparently believed that she was upset about the cost of STATS in general, Mace clarified that she knows what to expect for prices at STATS, and it was the extra charge for a box that left her angry.

Mace ended up being charged because she couldn’t finish her food

On the original photo of her receipt, Mace put in the comments, “Ya’ll they said that because it’s a special on the pasta; you have to pay to take it to go.” Basically, the charge on the to-go box made her pasta the price it would’ve been without the special.

As a concept, that’s not unheard of. Some restaurants will have specials, such as all-you-can-eat offers of a certain dish, and you wouldn’t be able to take anything to go in that case. That makes sense, considering what you’d be taking in a to-go box would be food that you were not able to eat.

However, for other kinds of specials, charging for a to-go box doesn’t make as much sense. Mace continued on the topic with, “I did not go in there with the intention of getting a to-go meal at a cheaper price. I did not finish my pasta. Because I didn’t finish my pasta, I got charged for a box or regular price; however, you want to look at it. God forbid a girl gets full.”

Part of the argument about this charge from Mace and commenters is that she claims she was at the restaurant and having drinks, which should make it clear that she wasn’t trying to get a discount on her meal through takeout. Instead, it’s likely that she spent more than she would have by trying that method if she had even one drink, as restaurants can average $10 or more for the price of a single drink.

STATS’ policy on the matter isn’t clear in publicly available info

Dexerto dug into the STATS public menu when covering Mace’s story, and they found that the menu confirms what the Charlotte location offers, but not that the charge Mace received for a to-go is standard policy or a mistake.

Commenters shared their thoughts on the charge. One person said, “To-go box, service fee, and gratuity? They lost their minds.”

Charlotte STATS’ owner posted on Facebook about the matter. One part of it reads, “If a guest chooses to take advantage of our takeout option instead, the regular menu price applies. The $6 difference reflected on the receipt circulating online is not a charge for a to-go box, it is the difference between our dine-in promotional price and our regular menu price.”

The statement also talks about the importance of clear communication, but the biggest question is still why Mace would be considered to be using the takeout option when she was a dine-in customer who just didn’t finish her pasta.

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