History Main / ShockinglyExpensiveBill

* In an old Turkish folktale, a poor boy who asks for some food from an innkeeper, promising to pay him back when he can. The innkeeper gives him a bowl of boiled eggs, for which the boy is grateful. Many years later, the boy is now a rich merchant, and returns to the inn to ask how much he owes for the eggs. The innkeeper tries to charge him 10,000 akches, reasoning that the eggs would have hatched into hens and grown up to produce more eggs and more hens if they hadn't been eaten. When the merchant refuses, the innkeeper takes him to court. The folk hero, Nasreddin Hodja, comes along and promises to represent the merchant. At the trial, Hodja comes in late and declares that he's had a genius idea: instead of eating his boiled corn for breakfast, he planted it so he'll harvest it and get rich.

* An old Turkish folktale tells of a poor boy who asks for some food from an innkeeper, promising to pay him back when he can. The innkeeper gives him a bowl of boiled eggs, for which the boy is grateful. Many years later, the boy is now a rich merchant, and returns to the inn to ask how much he owes for the eggs. The innkeeper tries to charge him 10,000 akches, reasoning that the eggs would have hatched into hens and grown up to produce more eggs and more hens if they hadn't been eaten. When the merchant refuses, the innkeeper takes him to court. The folk hero, Nasreddin Hodja, comes along and promises to represent the merchant. At the trial, Hodja comes in late and declares that he's had a genius idea: instead of eating his boiled corn for breakfast, he planted it so he'll harvest it and get rich. The innkeeper scoffs, "That's ridiculous! You can't grow corn from boiled kernels!" Hodja then asks, "Oh? Then how could you hatch chickens from boiled eggs?" The court howls with laughter, and the judge not only rules in favor of the merchant, but fines the innkeeper for wasting his time.

* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'': A more justified use in the "Battle for Barthis" arc in that the bill in question covered both rebuilding the entire town of Barthis after it was destroyed and repaying Gregory's debt to the kingdom.

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[[quoteright:250:[[WebAnimation/KirbyShorts https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/painterseap_metaknight_bill.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Dark times are ahead for [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]].]]

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%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * Vonage commercials as well.

* A commercial for Golden Corral showcasing their low prices has a customer screaming upon seeing her bill at another restaurant.

-->'''Salesguy:''' Of course, you understand that this is just an ''estimate.''\\

** Used quite seriously in one story in which Reggie tells everyone about a phone service that you can call to hear jokes (from what we're shown, they're quite funny). What he ''doesn't'' tell anyone is that this service adds extra costs to the bill, and his friends and others rack up some serious bills. When Reggie is called out on his omission, [[NeverMyFault he says it's not his problem.]] For his part, Archie sells his comic collection to help pay the telephone bill, [[SoProudOfYou which impresses his father.]]

* ''Fanfic/OniGaShikuSeries'': Inko is such a BigEater than when Majima took her out to a fancy restaurant when she was a kid for her birthday, she ate so much that the bill came out to 200.000 yen. By today's conversion ratio, that's over 1.300 dollars. [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten He teasingly gives her crap about it almost twenty years later.]]

[''the scene cuts to Kevin outside'']\\
'''Peter:''' [''offscreen''] KEVIN! YOU SPENT $967 ON ROOM SERVICE?!?

* In ''D3: Film/TheMightyDucks'', The Eden Hall varsity hockey team invites the freshman hockey team to a fancy dinner and then sticks them with the bill. The freshman team ends up washing dishes, and they swear to get revenge on varsity, leading to a prank war.

-->'''Howard: '''[[DullSurprise How much is it *without* the buffering?]]

* Occurs in ''Film/NationalLampoonsEuropeanVacation'' when Audrey calls her boyfriend on a hotel phone from England. And decides to wait on hold while he goes to have dinner. The hotel stay itself is prepaid, so her father is first confused when told there's a bill to settle, then horrified.

---> Please do not take flash photographs. Kidzplay will be selling official photographs in the new term, at £28 per pack. Please note, it is not possible to split packs.

* In "Something for Nothing" by Creator/RobertSheckley a man finds what seems to be a wishing machine. Throughout the story, several people attempt to take it, and he barely fights them off. It turns out he should have let them take it - the machine was nothing but a device for ordering. In the end, he has to pay over 18 billion [[WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture credits]]. [[WorkOffTheDebt Working in marble mines]]. For 2-3 credits a day. The only thing given for free, apparently, is [[ImmortalityHurts immortality]], which he ordered just before being given the bill.

* Similarly, in the tv special, ''Franchise/TheMuppets: A Celebration of 30 Years'', the Muppets from all the various projects, from ''Sam and Friends'' to ''Series/FraggleRock'' are gathered together in a banquet hall. In the final scene, [[CreatorCameo Jim Henson]] is at a table and is given an absurdly large bill.

* ''Series/DeadRingers:'' A 2022 episode has ''Today'' reporting on a family who were alarmed when they received an energy bill of one ''million'' pounds. They complained to the energy company, who apologise for the mistake and send them the corrected bill... of ''two'' million pounds.

* Played for laughs in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' in the Hildibrand 3.3 quest, "The Gigi Situation." During one of his many poses, he knocks over an expensive vase and then gets the bill from a very angry shopkeeper.
-->'''Frine:''' "One hundred and twenty three million, five hundred and four thousand gil at last assessment. 'Twas over seven hundred years old and graced the homes of a dozen archbishops, eight counts, two lord commanders, and one ''duke.''"\\

* The premise of ''VideoGame/{{Recettear}}'' is Recett being left with such a debt after her father disappears, and having to open an item shop to earn enough money to pay it off. When Recett asks Tear (her fairy debt collector-turned-assistant) how much the total figure is, she refuses to say, for fear of provoking the fainting response[[note]]It's 820,000 pix[[/note]].

* The Zeekeeper's bill to help take down Bowser's Castle in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''. The mystical guardian figure actually treats the thing like a rockstar/actor's expenses bill, complete with hotel, dining, souvenirs, medical and insurance, ending up with a charge of 80 '''million''' coins. Mario's reaction when Prince Dreambert and Dreamy Luigi say he'll pay said bill is priceless (beforehand he even says Mario will hand over every single coin he's got).
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', Link has to threaten a certain character with one of these in order to get him to divulge some plot-important information. The description says that the total amount is 'astronomical'.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'', Renzo demands a full 5,000 rupees from Linebeck III in order to repair the BrokenBridge to the Ocean Realm. Linebeck himself decides that Link is paying for that, giving that he wants the bridge to be repaired.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'', Ludger is pinned with a massive bill by [[SmugSnake Rideaux]] for some medical treatment he gave him without consent, and proceeds to give him additional charges for keeping Elle in his custody (abusing his position in the local MegaCorp to do so). He ends up with a bill of twenty million gald in total, and you're required to pay it off little by little as you progress through the story.
* Near the end of the story mode of ''VideoGame/TonyHawksUnderground2'', Nigel Beaverhausen tells Tony and the rest of the skaters of the World Destruction Tour that he would promise to pay for the whole tour if they have him film the whole thing in video. Tony and Bam agree right after Phil shows them a bill to pay for the destruction they have caused during the tour ($21,117,55.84 to be exact).
* After ''VideoGame/StarFox64'''s credits, TheStinger is of General Pepper receiving an invoice for the Star Fox team's services rendered amounting to $64 per point of your final score. Score low enough and he won't care enough to comment, but if you hit a score of 780, he'll call the resulting bill for saving the system steep but WorthIt. If you've scored over 1094 points, Pepper will let out a BigWhat.
* The Druuge in ''VideoGame/StarControlII'' offer to buy a couple of your items for "all the fuel your ship can hold". Your flagship is fully customizable, so your fuel capacity can range anywhere from 10 (hardly any fuel at all) to 1610 (a massive amount of fuel, worth more than 10 of the most expensive escort ship in the game). If you are given very little fuel, the Druuge officer celebrates his amazing deal. If you are given a moderate amount of fuel, the Druuge officer comments that it's a fair trade. But if you are given a very large amount of fuel, the Druuge officer panics at the massive bill he faces.
--> Aieee! I am ruined! You have sucked my full tanks until they are dry! Cruel Monster! Bloated Villain! Slicer of innocent throats! What shall I tell the Manager?! My spouse?! I shall certainly be assigned to tend the furnaces. I shall burn in the atomic fires! Aieee!

* ''VideoGame/BattleChess'': In the event that a Pawn takes the King, the Pawn withdraws a tax statement and shows it to the King, whose eyes go wide, clutches at his chest, [[HollywoodHeartAttack and promptly dies from a heart-attack]].

* Partway through ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'', Kenshiro accidentally breaks an old woman's vase. He is then told it's worth ''one hundred million'' IDL. This leads to a chain of events that results in him becoming the manager of Eden's nightclub, opening up the "Manager Ken" minigame. And yes, the game expects you to pay it ''all'' back... if only to finish a SideQuest. Plotwise, you can ignore it completely after you unlock the minigame.
* One "Majima Everywhere" event in ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza1 Yakuza Kiwami]]'' has Majima disguise himself as a bartender, then offer Kiryu a variety of liquors. He then demands a ludicrous amount of money for it. This is done with the full expectation that Kiryu will refuse to pay and give Majima [[BloodKnight an excuse to fight him]] over it. After the fight, Majima is greatly amused that [[ExpensiveGlassOfCrap he managed to pawn off rotgut as top-shelf booze to Kiryu]].
* The entire plot of ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends The Misadventures Of Tron Bonne]]'' centers around paying off an absurdly expensive loan to a LoanShark which Tiesel took out to buy the Gesselschaft. Said loan shark, Lex Loathe, holds Tiesel hostage until Tron can scrounge up the money, which she does by raiding towns, stealing stuff, and even via a little bit of dungeon crawling. [[spoiler:When she gets enough, he points out that she also owes interest. When she gets enough for ''that'', he points out [[MovingTheGoalposts she owes interest on the interest]]. At this point she just [[TookAThirdOption goes in guns blazing and rescues Tiesel]].]]

* In ''A Film/DennisTheMenace Christmas'', [[BigBad David Bratcher]] is an insurance salesman who sells a special insurance called the Dennis Clause, where Henry and Alice have to pay for any damages caused by Dennis. When Dennis is chosen by the neighborhood to bring some Christmas cheer to Mr. Wilson, who hates Christmas, his misguided attempts result in Mr. Wilson being hospitalized, arrested, and having his house catch fire. As David had sold the Wilsons his Dennis Clause insurance, Alice and Henry end up having to pay for Dennis' damages. Mr. Wilson finds out the total is approximately $45,000.00 when Bob the Angel puts him through YetAnotherChristmasCarol, and if Mr. Wilson doesn't drop the charges, it will result in the Mitchells selling their house and Dennis becoming as bitter about Christmas as he is in the distant future. Fortunately for the Mitchells, Mr. Wilson does drop the charges.

* In possibly the most extreme case of this ''ever'', in terms of amount, [[http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/24/pennsylvania-woman-stunned-by-284-billion-electric-bill.html this story]] about a woman who received an electric bill for nearly 300 billion dollars, specifically $284,460,000,000. It was billed in December 2017 with an initial stated required payment of $28,156 and due in full by November 2018. After a call to the utility company from the son, it was discovered that somehow a decimal point had been put in the wrong spot and the real bill was $284.46.

** Becomes a great deal more extreme when a country has recently experienced a currency crisis. In the early years of this century, people used to joke that the quickest way to become a millionaire was to change one British pound into Turkish lira. [[note]]This wouldn't work in practice, due to commissions on foreign exchange - but the official exchange rate was indeed on the order of one British pound to one ''million'' Turkish lira.[[/note]] To continue the lira theme, Italians before the introduction of the euro would routinely expect to be paid multi-million-lira salaries, since the lira was worth so little - one or two ''thousand'' were equivalent to one dollar/ pound/ deutschmark.

* In one page of the French comic ''Comicbook/LesZappeurs'', the father is furious to discover a 18121F (about 2800�) phone bill. Turns out the grandfather had inadvertently bought a cell phone, which he'd been mistaking for a TV remote all this time (unwittingly making pointless calls with it).

* In the ''Rhapsodie in Blue'' segment of ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' a woman brings her HenpeckedHusband and [[MisterMuffykins fluffy little dog]] to "Le Pampered Pooch". After she buys a huge stack of items, the clerk presents her husband with a bill [[OverlyLongGag that unfolds multiple times until it reaches the floor]].