To have thought we should have been allowed another cup

[lakia]

Was in a restaurant today with my parents they wanted a cream tea we saw on the notice board that it came with a big pot of tea and two generous sized scones with cream and jam.
My parents seeing the size of it decided to order the one between them it wasn't stated as either been for one or two people.
Anyway so we ordered paid and one cup was put on the tray and of course we asked if we could have another cup and the guy who happened to be the manager refused we was bit taken back by this and thought maybe he had misunderstood so again we said we want another cup to which he refused again.
We asked why and he said this is a cream tea for one person and I said its too much for my parents and they want to share he replied that he is a business and that if we want another cup then we have to buy a separate cup of tea I said that's ridiculous and he said no it isn't and he would not budge. He then said that its like him giving one cream tea to a load of people to share and its not good for his business.
Just interested in your thoughts.

If the menu said it was only for 1 you should have bought an extra cup of tea. Don't see what all the fuss is about - why try and be awkward?

It is not about how many straws or cups, it is the strop and the whole 'i am a customer' blah blah and then the usual 'what an idiot, he lost a customer' and if you dont give me freebies and lick my arse i will leave bad reviews. This is what i find mean and childish and actually nasty!

Although AGnu if they had been bitesized then it would have solved the problem in the OP. Dd did make tiny ones and I think that is partly why they were so light as they cooked through well rather than stodgy in the middle. Besides if they are bitesized then no one really notices if you go back for another three one.

I've been deleted for calling people tight arses. Jesus wept!

Fucking hell BookSnark what a sweeping statement!

I am a independant business owner and We don't pull faces at prams, we encourange them, we don't pull faces at the noise, if anyone apologises we tell them to absolutely not!

We serve quickly and are welcoming to everyone.

However, in answer to the OP, i would expect two cups because there are two scones, i have never heard of a cream tea with two scones, i couldn't eat all that!

So I think they WNBU to ask for an extra cup, however the waiter was not unreasonable to say no if that is their policy. People do take the piss.

However if this had happened in my cafe, in this instance i would have given them a cup (no extra water or tea etc) because they would leave happy and tell their friends etc.
you have to make a call, but i am the owner, i can make that call, some of my staff would worry about bending the rules.

I think that customers who are rude and behave in an entitled way are very disappointing. Threatening to leave poor reviews over ridiculous things, so holding shop owners to ransom, is really poor behaviour.

However, there is a difference between such behaviour and a customer making a request for something that the owner wouldn't openly advocate, but can easily meet. I maintain that those in customer-facing roles need to be prepared to graciously accept a certain level of customer absurdity and accept it with a smile - people are strange, it is just a fact. Arguing with every customer who makes a slightly unusual request, pulling faces or gossiping with the other staff about them or past customers is all poor form. It sends out the message that the customer doesn't matter. Service with a smile is the thing wherever possible.

And yes there will be times where customers really are taking the piss and the owner will have to be firm but polite in saying no to a ridiculous and unreasonable request - still with a smile if possible.

However, asking for an extra empty cup, is not in this bracket. The owner should have just smiled nicely and handed over the cup and said 'enjoy your cream tea' - nothing was gained by not doing this, in this circumstance.

Instead,the owner clearly felt all indignant and self righteous and determined to assert HIS rights as the owner. Of course he was able to do that and did do so, but it makes me wonder how good any of his customer service is if he reacts like that to such a minor request - doesn't sound like a great cafe.

A lot of these things are not about 'rights' and those in customer facing roles know that in the long run, accepting the public do strange things and behave oddly, with a smile, is in all but the most extreme cases the best way to proceed.

Think of the best cafes and restaurants you know - you might not consider asking for a second cup in any of them, but if someone did, imagine their response. In the best customer service places, even the oddest request will be met with a warm smile and the customer allowed to leave feeling well-served, even if inwardly the server considers them a twat!

6 no

Wonder who reported you

Scoop It's pretty pathetic. Must have hit a nerve with some though

The moan scone rinse out the tea bag sharer brigade probably.

[Grin] [Grin] Scoop

I love the assumption here, by some, that the cafe owner was 'struggling'. As the OP said the cafe was busy. It is up to him to deny or allow an extra cup - considering the cost involved.

I know everyone likes to think they are a special little snowflake and 'why can't they make an exception for me as I have a genuine reason for needing to be an exception'. In hospitality you have many 'exceptions' every day if you made an exception for every person who thinks they deserve it the cost would spiral. Reading this thread I can see why so many amateurs who open cafes go out of business - every thing has a cost factor, even using a cup and saucer.

I once had a couple order a cafetiere for one with an extra cup (sat on a table for 5), they kept asking for more milk & hot water and in the end stayed for 4 hours in a packed bar area that served food. When I totaled up the lost revenue (including people we had to turn away based on average spend per head) it was over £300.

And don't get me started on 'the customer is always right' - a phrase coined by Harry Selfridge in the Victorian era used as a motto in a shop where the poor were serving their 'betters' doesn't strengthen your case. I know that sounds bitter but the general public has no idea how difficult it is to run a hospitality business at the moment.

Everybody on this thread is being MASSIVELY U because now I'm really craving a cream tea and I've got no chance of getting one any time soon :(

Shame on you all.

raawwhh I so agree with you!

We have a hotel here and someone has just asked me for the heating to be put on. It has been warm today too. It is June and the answer was no, please put another layer on and make yourself a hot drink.

Well it is 13 degrees here this evening - unusually cold for June.
I wouldn't usually have the heating on in June, but I did consider it today.

If I was in a hotel or a restaurant and felt cold, I think I would ask if anything could be done about it. It wouldn't feel an unreasonable request to me and tbh I would have been surprised at your response. Do you charge more in the winter when you have the heating on? Did you think the people were asking just to be awkward and cost you money? Did you really think they were making a totally ridiculous request?

Those people on this thread who have the appetites of birds and find portions too big, why don't you just choose something smaller from the menu? Or choose a different restaurant that has more appropriate choices?

Maybe the single scone cream team a London or urban phenomenon. Most places in the traditional tourist areas like the Cotswolds or the West Country serve 2, where people are going or the whole cream tea experience.

I wonder those who think it is perfectly acceptable to ask for a second cup would do so if they were having afternoon tea at Claridges. The mind boggles.

silver You do realise that as far as cakes and scones and pastries etc that many businesses use the same suppliers eg 3663 so the cakes would be all the same. large pre sliced portions brought in frozen.

going elsewhere may well be pointless

chocolate I have worked in 5 star hotels that wouldnt accoodate putting the heating on in June if it wad in a central system. No you dont charge less for rooms in summer however utility over heads are calculated for the year on to room rates.

Fair enough, but I would hope they treated the customer request politely and critically, making the customer feel at ease.
And I would expect a 5 star hotel to have some kind of suggestion they could offer a customer even if the heating could not be put on - perhaps a mobile heater or fan which also has a hot setting.
How many of us have suffered in cold hotels or restaurants - it's not pleasant, and people don't usually ask for heating just to be awkward. It seems an odd parallel to draw with the extra cup incident.
It is a shame if the hospitality industry see every customer and their request as a nuisance.

giles, I can't imagine why you would bother to go somewhere that doesn't serve "homemade" cakes

I was talking about people moaning about the size of a main meal, most places are happy to reduce the portion size if you ask, or you can say without chips or whatever.

If being served a cup of tea in a restaurant is worth so little to people why don't they just wait until they get home or drink tea from a flask.

I'd love to there's no where I know of near where I live

having served up half this stuff to others no where really holds any excitement fir me either.

People bang on about scrimping money and being tight yet seem oblivious to the cheap frozen shit they are being served at a huge mark up.

I had to buy fresh scones today because of this thread.
Purists, do not be alarmed, but there was no clotted cream at the Co-op.
My only option? Squirty cream!!
Only had one scone though.

If there were two scones I would have assumed it was a cream tea for 2! Plus a pot of tea to me also means multiple cups.

Who the hell snarfles 2 scones? Maybe they were mini scones? Tho mind you I'm not UK so cream tea not that familiar to me. We still eat loads of scones tho.

Seems to me he needs to rethink his offering. And his customer service. Don't think any business is going to go broke because two old people want to share a POT of tea. He made no more than if he'd been nice and now he's lost business and is being bad mouthed all over mn!

Also, people me often buy cake to share, is it really rude to ask for 2 forks?

What about some who sits down for a chat with you but doesn't buy anything?!!!! Kick em out?

It's gonna be murder in the cafe I tell ya!

If I was in a hotel or a restaurant and felt cold, I think I would ask if anything could be done about it.

This is where people's thinking is all skewed. Instead of thinking "I'm cold, better put more clothes on", it's "I'm cold, who is going to do something about it?". Because while you're sitting there cold, someone else might not be, and putting the heating on for one person means everyone else might be uncomfortable. Just put a bloody jumper on FGS. People have become such special little snowflakes now and can't take any responsibility for their own level of comfort.

depends doesn't it midnite

if your just a bit chilly then yeah put a jumper on.
but if your talking see your own breath, can't even face taking clothes off for a shower, shivering in bed cold then it's not U to ask surely?