Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel miserly for asking for rap water in restaurants?

80 replies

ChaosTrulyReigns · 28/07/2011 21:57

I actually like water.

Shock

And, yes, there is a pecuniary reason too - when we all go out drinks can easily add an extra £large to the bill, I'd rather have something I enjoy for free and let the Chaotic4 have paid for drinks.

Smile

But I feel judged by waiting staff for ordering tap water.

Is my sense of entitlement too inflated to think I should be able to order a legimate drink without being given TheSneer?

OP posts:
nojustificationneeded · 28/07/2011 22:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

acatcalledfelix · 28/07/2011 22:21

Bottled water is an unecofriendly rip off, we have perfectly good tap water so we should use it! I ALWAYS ask for it, sod them if they think I'm being tight.

scottishmummy · 28/07/2011 22:22

i like carbonated mineral water,order that.and no it not like tap water.its nicer

HalbAndTwiceTheFun · 28/07/2011 22:25

YANBU, I like water, too. I always order a jug of tap water, especially if I'm buying wine as well. Our local restraunt knows this now and just gives it to us at the beginning :o

Original poster
ChaosTrulyReigns · 28/07/2011 22:31

bleurgh fizzy water sm.

Tastes salty and not in a good way.

OP posts:
DioneTheDiabolist · 28/07/2011 22:33

My bro, asks for a jug of squash with his dinner, wherever he goes. He will imbibe alcohol before and after meal but it has to be squash during. It makes him look like a tightwad bogman.

Woodlands · 28/07/2011 23:10

I think it's fine to ask for tap water if you're also having wine or whatever, but if I am just drinking water with my meal I'd probably order bottled (but then I like fizzy).

EcoLady · 29/07/2011 00:30

I work for a major water utility. We ALWAYS ask for tap water. It's entertaining at big corporate events watching the staff look puzzled as each table asks for the bottled water to be taken away ... 'tis a matter of principle!

makachu · 29/07/2011 00:43

I am a waitress and I don't think I've ever encountered snobbery over customers asking for tap water! I think it's strange to buy bottled water when you can have nice water for free, indeed when my customers tell me they don't want a drink I offer them a glass of water, they usually say yes. The only time I'd buy bottled water is in a hard water area where I can't abide the taste of it. I would much rather you spent the extra £2.00 on a tip than on contributing extra plastic to landfill.

Incidentally, where does this idea that waiters all look down their noses at everybody come from? It's strange knowing the power I seem to have over customers...waiters are humans who sometimes go out to dinner and drink tap water too. I'm not going to report you to the sodding Volvic police.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy · 29/07/2011 00:46

Like most things legit, tap water's soooo boring and only fit for washing IMO.

I'd go for Ice T anytime GreenEyes It's the lisp that does it for me but I'd pass on the rest of them - and pass them on to anyone who's up for a rapid rap with a rapper.

OrdinaryJo · 29/07/2011 00:48

Enjoying wondering what the sodden Volvic police might look like... Cutenyet wet?

midnightservant · 29/07/2011 00:52

I prefer tap water too. Without a slice of lemon - although I quite often forget to specify this.

22 years ago when BF, I was refused tap water in a pub Shock

ProcrastinatorGeneral · 29/07/2011 00:52

Water and coffee for e. Unless it's Nando's then I can't help myself and it's a bottomless fizzyBlush

PenguinArmy · 29/07/2011 00:57

That is a great thing about the US actually. Nearly all resturants have water, ice and cups ready for you to help yourself or jug is brought to the table when you arrive.

dreamingbohemian · 29/07/2011 01:12

this thread is hilarious Grin

OP I was also a waitress for many years and I would never sneer at someone for ordering tap water. It's just a given, some tables will order more, some less, all you can do is try to provide great service to everyone and hope they tip well.

TheFarSide · 29/07/2011 01:20

Waiters don't necessarily look down their noses when you ask for tap water, they just "forget" to bring it. I just keep asking until I get it. I always order wine and coffee too.

Any decent restaurant shouldn't want their customers to be thirsty and uncomfortable.

Restaurants in England aren't too bad, but we had terrible problems getting waiters to bring tap water in Italy this year. They pretended they didn't understand, kept "forgetting" and then ended up bringing one tiny jug for a table of five. It really pees me off.

burgerclub · 29/07/2011 02:40

I'm a waitress and I'm suppsed to specifically offer customers bottled water when they order their other drinks (I'm supposed to say "Would you like any mineral water?" to every single table I serve).

I refuse to do it because I think it's a load of crap, so I always either offer them a jug of tap water when I give them their menus or, if they ask for water themselves, I ask "Still, sparkling or tap?"

I don't think I've ever felt disapproval of anything that anyone's ever ordered from me. Partly because I carry plates for a living and earn minimum wage so who am I to sneer at anyone? But mainly because I just don't care what people want to eat and drink. As long as they're not dickheads, I don't care what they do.

wotabouttheworkers · 29/07/2011 02:59

Any restaurant or cafe worth its salt (!) will bring a jug of tap water as part of the service IMO. Like others, sneering at a request for tap water means I would revise my tip. However, I am lucky, eat out frequently and have not experienced such an attitude. The customer in a restaurant should be able to order what he/she likes from the menu and wash it down with tap water if preferred. Innit.

JamieAgain · 29/07/2011 04:36

I've never had a negative reaction to asking for tap water, although when I was younger I thought maybe people would judge me for being tight.

But actually, now I really feeling strongly against bottled water from an environmental point of view, and would have no problem asserting that.

I presume restaurants make a shed load on bottled water ......

MrsChemist · 29/07/2011 05:36

If it were up to me, every restaurant would automatically have jugs of tap water on every table. If you're intent on ordering a drink, being given tap water won't stop you.
Besides, when not pregnant, I'll have water and wine. I doubt I'm alone in that. Wine, however nice, isn't very thirst-quenching.

It did take a while to realise that some places you have to specify tap water, or they'll bring a bottle the cheeky bastards

Teaparty001 · 29/07/2011 08:03

I run a small business and I'm sick of people asking for tap water. I have people come in not ordering asking for it, which I feel mean to decline - I then have to wash the damn cups all day. I wish people would either bring there own or buy a bottle from me.

I supply bottled water for a mere 1.10, if every fucker in there paid for a bottle it would really help me pay all my many many overheads.

I know if I were to go to a restaurant/cafe and it was obviously new and independent and I liked it, I would try and support it.

springydaffs · 29/07/2011 08:21

Good point Tparty.

I went to quite a posh restaurant yesterday and asked for tap water to drink with our meal - asked for a jug. Waiter eventually slapped down on the table brought us glasses of tap water with no ice, on a very hot day (we were eating outside). Thouroughly unpleasant and I didn't tip. Mainly because we were being ignored most of the time anyway. I don't like not tipping, it seems so mean, but you have to make a point somehow. I don't think the restaurant I went to yesterday is 'struggling with overheads' Tparty but I take your point about a small business.

springydaffs · 29/07/2011 08:22

btw we did order drinks too but wanted tap water to eat with our food

BartletForAmerica · 29/07/2011 08:26

I'm not going to buy bottled water to subsidise a business (that's what menu prices are for). The environmental cost of bottling water when we have good tap water is huge and wasteful. As a result, I avoid and don't return to restaurants who don't use tap water.

wompoopigeon · 29/07/2011 08:40

I can honestly say that I have never been sneered at in the UK for ordering tap water with a meal in a restaurant. That applies in the high end places too.
I have been refused in a cafe, when buying sandwich, cake and a coke as well. Simply never went back.
I don't think businesses realise how much goodwill and return visits are made if tap water is available. Earlier this week I went to a shop, visibly pg on a hot day. Shop assistant offered me a glass of water. Cost to business about 2p for the cup. Benefit to business, I spent £98 that I probably otherwise wouldn't have.

Swipe left for the next trending thread