Waitrose

[donburi]

I am not sure whether I have reasonable grounds to complain about something that happened last week. Basically, it was half term and I had taken DS to the Edgware Road branch in London. It was quite blustery that day so we decided to go in for a hot chocolate (their cafe is at the front of the store as you walk in). DS looked at the limited range of cakes and biscuits and said that he wanted a gingerbread witch so we went to the instore bakery instead and paid over a pound for one measly biscuit (I could produce a box of them for the same price at home but I never made a fuss re extortionate price).

We returned to their cafe bit and began to order our drinks. At this point, the person serving saw DS swinging his biscuit about in his bag and talking about it excitedly. She clearly knew that there was only one biscuit in the bag and that it was just bought at their store etc. as she would have heard our conversation prior to going off and buying it. Bear in mind that there was hardly anyone else in the cafe and pouring down with rain outside.
"You'll have to have the drinks as take away as he is not allowed to eat that here' she said.
I explained the obvious and that I was not asking for a plate and that he would take the plastic bag away at the end.
However, she refused to allow it saying that it was their rule so I basically passed on the drinks and went back out in the rain with child and biscuit in tow!
AIBU to complain about this to customer services?

She was "fixated" on it because you aren't allowed to eat your own food in the cafe.

Simple.

Entitled? Much?

It was as though I could have offered to buy the equivalent of a hamper's worth of food but she would still have taken issue because of the fact that he had a biscuit in his bag and wanted that in particular. I take on board the point made about independent cafes and I prefer them myself. However, due to the weather, we just happened to be there at the time and I actually felt it was quite understanding on DS' part to agree to have his treat in an impersonal, clinical place like that

I may come across as sounding entitled but I spend loads at Waitrose every year and rec v little back in the way of discounts or coupons so I do perhaps feel a little entitled. Think about shops like Ikea offering family members unlimited free hot drinks

The other point is that she could see how bad the weather was as she was stationed directly opposite the window. She could also see that we had rushed in because we did not have an umbrella and the biscuit would not survive a journey through London intact. When she initially heard us talking about buying the biscuit after he had looked at the display and rejected it, that would have been a more appropriate point to point out their policy - not after I had incurred the expenditure. She was obv seeing it as an opportunity to make money. I would probably NOT have gone in and bought it if she had been upfront in the beginning.

Well.i dont think yabu and am suprised at the woman in waitrose tbh.

Every tues after dropping my elder boys off at school.i go to my.local waitrose, do a bit of shopping and then go ti the cafe for half an hour whilst waiting for yodfler group.to.open.

I get a hot chocolate and something yo eat. I give dd some of those toddler rice cakes or organix snack that i bought in waitrose before going into their cafe bit. They see me and other mums doing this every week and not once has anyone batted an eyelid!

I guess if they have a sign saying not to do it then i would understand but there is no such sign in my waitrose.

5mad, they probably don't sell the rice cakes in the cafe. Cafes are generally ok with baby food as they acknowledge it's not worth their while to stock a reasonable range compared to using that space for adult food.

Donburi if you genuinely think she was trying to make more money out of you rather than following a general policy, feel free to complain.

YANBU. My dd and I recently visited Waitrose in between school and drama. Instead of fish and chips I asked the staff if they could substitute the chips for mash. She doesn't like chips. I was told that substitutions were not allowed. I said I was happy to pay any extra for the mash. Was told if I wanted mash instead of chips I would have to pay for two meals ie. pay for fish and chips and sausage and mash.

. Was the gingerbread which decorated with chocolate? If so you would have paid VAT in store so it wouldnt make any difference. If not it would have been zero rated in the store but vatable in the cafe. The VAT on bakery goods is very complicated!

In what way would it be an insurance issue?

Leave the bastard

"I spend loads at your store so you should break the rules for my son"

Yep. Entitled. No "may" about it.

As an aside, I had an email today telling me that where a store offers hot drinks, you can claim one free hot drink per day with your My Waitrose card. So that argument doesn't hold any water really.

What is the cafe losing out on having a small child eat a biscuit BOUGHT IN THE SAME STORE exactly? If I were the worker I'd have looked the other way. Its hardly like OP was taking her full packed lunch in and just using the cafe for a place to sit.

OP did you have to wave the biscuit around under her nose? Couldn't you just stuff it in your pocket until the drinks were bought and you had sat down? Sneaky nibbling in the warm could easily have followed.