Bella Natural Food Co posts note saying customers will be charged for speaking on mobiles at counter

HE WAS sick and tired of people talking on their phone at the counter, so this Aussie cafe manager took things into his own hands.

EVERYONE thinks it, but few people say it.

Now Bella Natural Food Co has boldly gone where most don’t dare, posting a 50-cent surcharge to customers using their mobile phones at the counter.

“Fifty cent surcharge for being on the phone at the counter. It’s rude!” reads the note at the New South Wales central coast cafe.

“Everybody is loving it. Customers are going ‘I really love that’,” said manager Luke Proust, who made the snap decision to add a surcharge after serving his fifth customer for the day talking on his mobile.

“I just turned around and went ‘It’s a 50 cent surcharge’ and he said ‘Where’s the sign?’ and I said ‘There isn’t a sign, I just made it up’,” he said.

Cafe manager Luke Proust said he made a snap decision to post the sign one day. Pic: Facebook.

The Bella Natural Food Co has a reputation for great coffee and food on Facebook. Pic: Facebook.

“Without saying ‘Goodbye’ or ‘I’ll call you back’ he hung up and started yelling at me,” he said.

Although he doesn’t own the cafe, Mr Proust said his boss, who was standing right next to him making coffees at the time, was unfazed.

The sign has generated a huge response since it went up yesterday, gathering more than 160 Facebook likes (and counting) in a few hours online.

“It’s sensational,” said Mr Proust. “[It started] as something small and a bit of a joke.”

So far about 10 people have been hit with the surcharge, although most of them haven’t realised because they’ve been on the phone.

“I understand people are in a rush, it’s a busy world. [But] we’re asking them a lot of questions. ‘Do you have sugar? What’s your name? What’s going on? How’s the beach?’ You can’t do that with someone on the phone,” Mr Proust said.

It’s not the first time customers using mobile phones have come under the spotlight.

A London supermarket worker made headlines last July when she refused to serve a customer using a mobile phone.

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