Concerning the recent demands of the Metropole and the Sheraton for me to wear shoes rather than sandals and pants rather than shorts to enter their respective establishments perhaps it's not just a recent trend as I suggested.

One Pittstop reader wrote to tell me of an incident concerning a dinner with some out of towners at the Emperor restaurant - a place you only take out-of-towners for a "safe" Spring Roll and Banana Flower Salad – a few years back.

His colleague, an English reporter, a man known to froth at the mouth at the sight or sound of injustice, was informed by the manager that he would have to wear trousers, rather than the shorts, to dine at the Emperor. An argument ensued. The reporter, perhaps only relenting because of the out of towners, stormed off to buy a pair of pants at a shop across the road for VND200,000. He returned, they all sat down, he grumbled a bit, they ordered and the evening resumed normal service...

...until a group of elderly German tourists arrived and were duly seated by the staff without a word despite the fact one of the German gents was clearly wearing shorts (with black socks and sandals) and violating the strict dress code that was applied to the reporter.

Now as I said he was not the sort to stand such an injustice and the manager was duly summoned and the argument re-started. The riled up reporter demanded that the manager ask the German OAP to be denied service or forced out to find some long strides of his own.

The embarrassed manager hummed, then he hawed, and rather than cause a scene with the Germans he acquiesced to the reporter's alternative demand - that the restaurant repay him the VND200,000 he just spent on a crappy pair of pants.

And that's how you stick it to the man!

Dank für die anekdote mein liebes Julian.