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Original poster

Who was in the wrong - bakery or me?

291 replies

Doijb · 26/11/2024 11:56

I take my kids to a bakery after swimming. Most of the time they choose sausage rolls or similar. There is a tiny table with two chairs. I plop one of my kids on my lap and we eat our treat. I prefer this as otherwise the flakes would go everywhere.

Anyway, after going every week to this place for a year one of the staff members tells me we’re not really a sit down food place. I inquire about the chairs and she said it’s more for people who wait.

I just found this odd. My kids are brilliantly behaved and I make sure not loud. My oldest will wipe down the table with a serviette.

Who is being weird?

OP posts:
theilltemperedqueenofspacetime · 26/11/2024 14:05

WrongWrongWrongAgain · 26/11/2024 13:47

Eh? Why does serviettes being provided prove that they are sold hot and not cooling?

I used to work in a cafe which sold "cooling" sausage rolls. We had napkins!

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Did you charge VAT?

CharlotteLucas3 · 26/11/2024 14:04

Usually you'd just expect chairs if it was a waiting area, not a table.

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 26/11/2024 14:03

She’s politely asking you not to sit there.

Mrssmith3 · 26/11/2024 14:02

It’s a bit odd on their part to put out tables and chairs if they don’t expect people to eat in. Maybe she wants to save on the crumbs! A few branches of Greggs seem to have not many chairs/tables but you can definitely eat in!

LittleTwiggy · 26/11/2024 14:02

ZippidyDeeDoo · 26/11/2024 13:25

Now this thread has really become ridiculous 😂.

OP is now a rude, selfish, entitled person and she and her precious brats have been mistreating cancer sufferers.

OP, YANBU. They've been unreasonable to wait a year to tell you that the table is just for waiting at. Unless their sausages rolls are really out of this world, I'd just find somewhere else to go.

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Agreed. Some of the responses on this thread are just bizarre. You should never sit down anywhere just in case someone has an invisible disability. You should be ‘mortified’ at not asking if you’re allowed to sit down. MN is a strange place sometimes.

OolongTeaDrinker · 26/11/2024 14:01

Doijb · 26/11/2024 12:22

I’m not a rude arsehole. Obviously I would get one of the kids out of their seats if a disabled person or
elderly person came in. Never happened though.

Edited
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How do you know someone doesn't look through the window, see there is no where to sit so missed out on their bakery treat?

As a pp said, there are VAT implications for eating in vs takeaway. You didn't know, so they politely informed you. No-one is being unreasonable in this situation, so I wouldn't give it another thought..

ANonEMouseYouSir · 26/11/2024 13:59

LilacLilyBird · 26/11/2024 12:03

I'd be mortified that I'd never bothered to ask if it's ok to sit at the table all this time

Really? A bakery has a table and chairs and you think if it is available you should ask to use it?

The bakery is being weird and should remove the table if it doesnt want people to actually, you know, USE THE TABLE 😂

Which surely would give more room for chairs

SoupDragon · 26/11/2024 13:56

EauNeu · 26/11/2024 13:43

What's the table for? Decoration?

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Leaning on? Putting your shopping on? Resting a bag on whilst you put your purchase away?

ArminTamzerian · 26/11/2024 13:55

They are also very weird 🤨

EauNeu · 26/11/2024 13:55

KnopkaPixie · 26/11/2024 13:50

It could be for waiting customers as well, as in, "There’s a queue and can my mum sit down for two minutes" but I would bet a sausage roll on it being the owner's or staff's little table where they can have a rest and still keep an eye out for customers when the shop is empty, or sit their own children at it to do homework or something quiet if we're assuming that it's a small family business.

It's the staff table, it's a thing. I could go out now and take photos of these in about ten different shops food and non food related in this village. Admittedly not in the UK but my reasoning still stands.

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That's not a convention in the UK, so how would you know that the table is not for customers?

2boyzNosleep · 26/11/2024 13:54

I think PP are being unfair. I don't think either of you are in the wrong.

Whilst I noticed a lot of places charge more to eat in- I didn't know that it was specifically due to VAT etc. Tbh, I just thought it stemmed from corporate greed as the 1st places that I saw it were chains such as costa coffee, pret etc.

Although having 1 table and chair, if they don't want people sitting to eat, then why have the table at all? Why not just have the 2 chairs? I highly doubt OP is the only one who has eaten there.

WrongWrongWrongAgain · 26/11/2024 13:54

Walker1178 · 26/11/2024 13:11

This! I would have assumed a table and chairs is to sit and eat at, most takeaway places would just have the chairs for waiting customers

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There's quite a famous chippie in Southwold that has tables and chairs, but doesn't do service into that room - you have to walk outside to the takeaway counter around the corner and order there. Apparently it's for VAT, as they don't serve in, just offer some tables and chairs "for takeaway customers' convenience." I've no idea how that gets around the VAT law but they've been there for absolutely years, so I presume it does indeed comply.

There's a few chippies and kebab shops I can think of that have a single table and benches or chairs around it. I shouldn't think anybody wants to deal with charging VAT for a single table, so there must be ways to legally navigate it.

EauNeu · 26/11/2024 13:51

Cerealkiller4U · 26/11/2024 13:43

I’m so confused.

you thought the seats were for sitting in. They informed you they were not

jib done right? I mean I’m so confused as to what the problem is ?

What are the seats for then?

KnopkaPixie · 26/11/2024 13:50

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime · 26/11/2024 13:13

I think you've cracked it. Thank goodness. I was going to waste all day wondering what the point of the table was.

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It could be for waiting customers as well, as in, "There’s a queue and can my mum sit down for two minutes" but I would bet a sausage roll on it being the owner's or staff's little table where they can have a rest and still keep an eye out for customers when the shop is empty, or sit their own children at it to do homework or something quiet if we're assuming that it's a small family business.

It's the staff table, it's a thing. I could go out now and take photos of these in about ten different shops food and non food related in this village. Admittedly not in the UK but my reasoning still stands.

monkfruitmartini · 26/11/2024 13:49

ArminTamzerian · 26/11/2024 13:47

Wrong. It's totally weird to not say anything for an entire year.

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Yet on MN many many posters manage entire lifetimes unable to speak up.

WrongWrongWrongAgain · 26/11/2024 13:47

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime · 26/11/2024 13:23

The fact that serviettes are provided suggests that this is indeed the case and therefore all debate about VAT is moot.

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Eh? Why does serviettes being provided prove that they are sold hot and not cooling?

I used to work in a cafe which sold "cooling" sausage rolls. We had napkins!

ArminTamzerian · 26/11/2024 13:47

Wonderi · 26/11/2024 13:24

No one was wrong or weird (definitely not the bakery).

You we’re mistaken and thought it was a table to eat at.

They told you it was just for waiting customers.

Yes you were technically in the wrong but it was just a simple misunderstanding.
They weren’t being weird by telling you so.

If I was them I would remove the table and put a sign up saying it’s for waiting customers only.

There’s no harm done and now you know for next time.

Wrong. It's totally weird to not say anything for an entire year.

EauNeu · 26/11/2024 13:43

SereneFish · 26/11/2024 13:24

One tiny table does not suggest you can eat in, come on.

What's the table for? Decoration?

Cerealkiller4U · 26/11/2024 13:43

I’m so confused.

you thought the seats were for sitting in. They informed you they were not

jib done right? I mean I’m so confused as to what the problem is ?

Gettingbysomehow · 26/11/2024 13:37

They should put a sign up really.

SanctusInDistress · 26/11/2024 13:36

If you are in the uk, there are regulations depending on whether a place is registered as take away or eat-in. It’s to do with tax and insurance purposes. If they are registered as take away only, by you eating there they may be in breach of certain rules.

so the bakery is doing the right thing but it’s weird you were not told before. Probably the person behind the counter was not aware of the regulations so said nothing until probably one day the manager/owner became aware and told them not to let customers eat in.

JusteanBiscuits · 26/11/2024 13:31

Isn't it a VAT thing? They pay more if you sit inside and eat. Which is why Greggs asks you.

TheRibbonsMary · 26/11/2024 13:28

I would assume I could sit there because of the table. If it is for waiting customers why the fuck do they need the table? Surely they would just put another chair there.

I would probably now find a nice cafe to sit in and eat their baked goods and give them my custom if I wanted to continue to treat the children after swimming.

monkfruitmartini · 26/11/2024 13:28

How can the bakery be wrong as that is their policy?

You have said yourself it is a tiny little table.

Bogginsthe3rd · 26/11/2024 13:27

I mean... how can the bakery be wrong here ?