Swindled in a bar?

This story takes place in Belgium. Three Dutchmen entered a bar. Living up to their reputation, they ordered one Cola with three straws. Each of them contributed 10 francs, so they paid 30 francs.

As a Cola was only 25 francs, the barkeeper had a problem: the remaining five francs could not be split in three. So for a start, he gave each of them one franc, and the Dutchmen agreed to let the barman have the remaining two francs as payment for the straws.

Everything seemed OK, but after a while the Dutchmen started protesting accusing the barman of swindle:

Each of them had contributed 9 francs (10 - 1 = 9), resulting in a total of 27 francs (3 x 9 = 27). Plus the 2 francs of the barkeeper, which makes 29 francs.

So what happened to the last franc?


Think hard before looking at the solution here

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