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.

Two generous size scones is a lot to eat in one sitting. I would have had enough and be feeling a bit sick close to the end of the first one.

I love a good afternoon tea, but the sheer amount of food they serve you as a minimum is far too much. Sandwiches, scones and cakes and sometimes a savoury item as well. I would much prefer to have the choice to buy a smaller amount and pay less. Although in the OP, it wasn’t unreasonable to buy a second cup of tea, unless the pot of tea was also large (ie already enough for two cups each). Why should the viability of a business depend on forcing people to buy more than they want/need? People won’t return if they feel ripped off by having to buy things they don’t want.

And I disagree that the Costa carrot cake is small. The slice you get is quite big and is nearly 600 calories! .

Where is the OP?!

We need to know what she ordered!

Pom

I asked a couple of days ago but alas there has been no return.

We will never find out the full order of the Moaning Sconing tea sharers

I am laughing at people calling a couple wanting to share a large pot of tea 'mean' while obviously seeing nothing wrong in a manager refusing to give them a bloody extra cup.

Regardless of whether the cafe was busy or not, if it was in somewhere like the South West which survives on tourism, then a busy day at half term simply isn't enough. In fact, being continuously busy through high days and holidays will only just allow a cafe to get through the year.

WRT the hotel, I would put a jumper on and never go back.

If I pay to stay at a hotel I expect to be made to feel comfortable and welcome, being cold gives completely the opposite feeling. So nothing to do with customer service, I just wouldn't enjoy my stay.

scoop I know you did. But I am now overly invested in this thread and hoping she may return....

I can't believe trolls start threads about 'please define feminism' in FWR when all you reaally need to bring out the hoards of debating MNers is to start a thread about whether it's appropriate for two people to share a pot of tea for one

Pom

You're not wrong

I am laughing at people calling a couple wanting to share a large pot of tea 'mean' while obviously seeing nothing wrong in a manager refusing to give them a bloody extra cup.

I'm laughing at people failing to understand the nature of business. £2 for a pot of tea in a cafe. Of that 5p is the cost of the teabag and water. £1.95 is staff wages, rent, business expenses, equipment you bought and still paying back. Effectively, the existence of a cafe to provide that pot of tea. So to keep that cafe open, each occupied seat needs to make a certain amount of money. The people who want to sit in your cafe, taking up a seat probably for ages and buying nothing - are scroungers. Effectively they were saying, can I have a free cup of tea in your cafe? Which takes some cheek.

Sharing a piece of cake or making space for a small child is one thing, but some people will take the P everywhere they go and if it's the tenth scrounger of the day you might be feeling a bit uncharitable.

FWIW I could eat 2 scones, no problem. You'd expect to take a bit longer over afternoon tea than just a quick snack, which is why it's bigger.

Me too, RaisingSteam. And it's not just the free cup of tea that they are after, which after all is only 5p, it's the space and the heating and the staffing and everything else that makes up the £1.95.

My niece works in a touristy seaside cafe. They have several notices up asking people to be reasonable. They have a terrific problem with people asking for a pot of hot water and bringing their own tea bags and using two cups and saucers and taking the milk cartons. They don't seem to have any idea at all that they are basically stealing.

Pil were past masters at going to garden centres, ordering "a soup" and then asking for two rolls and two bowls. (They were loaded, btw.)

Brenda, that's very cheeky. But to be fair, it's not really comparable with the OP's scenario.

RaisingSteam They were both eating in the café. They wanted to have a scone each and a cup of tea each. They wanted an extra cup so they could share a pot of tea big enough for two.
If the Manager doesn't want people doing this perfectly reasonable action, they why not offer an alternative tea consisting of one scone and a cup of tea for those who don't want to pay for a tea for two?

I agree to differ! (Not really what you are meant to say on AIBU).

Who knows probably you could buy tea and scone separately.

Scenario as I imagine it: OP and elderly parents are out for walk, stroll past cafe. Conversation along lines of "Shall we pop in for a snack and a sit-down? Well, I'm not really hungry dear, but perhaps we'll just have a little something." They go in, events of opening post ensue.

Question: Has the cafe owner gained the sale of at least the cream tea from punters who might otherwise have not entered his shop? Or has he lost the use of a precious table to 3 tightwads when he might have enjoyed the patronage of a MN poster ordering 17 full roast dinners?

I've never run a cafe, so I'm not sure which is better - basically "a bird in the hand vs 2 in the bush"?

Also, IME those pots of tea "for one" are huge and contain way more tea than I would normally drink. If I were to drink the entire thing by myself, I'd probably be going to the loo several times, thereby using vital pence of loo roll and hand wash.

Perhaps the answer is to purchase said menu item, then not consume it and in fact, go home. Then the cafe owner gets the money and his table remains free for the next customer.

Disclaimer: We generally always order a thing per person in cafes, especially where scones or cakes are concerned. Because yum.

Fair enough Raising.

If I told a hotel manager I was cold and they told me to have a hot drink, I wouldn't be going back! Surely you have small heaters available for your guests? Everybody has a different temperature gauge, we've all been in situations where somebody is moaning that it's cold or hot and you're the opposite. It's really not unreasonable to want to be comfortable in a hotel.

Surely, at the end of the day, it's about using common sense.

A manager refusing a spare cup to an elderly couple who want to share a rather large cream tea is being silly.

A manager refusing to allow a big group of teenagers to share one can of coke and a packet of crisps while sprawling themselves across two or three tables is being sensible.

I agree, chalet (although in the interests of annoying right-on-ness I'll say that the scenario in your example could just as easily be a pair of teenagers and a big group of people of 70+ ). It's all about degree and context, I think.

Well that's fair enough OnlyLovers. I would equally agree that the local active retirement group shouldn't descent on a restaurant and order one slice of fruitcake and a pot of hot chocolate between 15 of them .

I want fruitcake and a pot of hot chocolate now, damn you!

Dsis's rambling group was banned from several country pubs for turning up at midday and ordering only a few coffees between 20 of them. You could tell the sort of people they were because one bloke asked my sister if she would like to have dinner with him. When dsis replied she would, he said, "Oh, I'll look out for a 2 for 1 special, then."

Wow, twenty tight people managed to find each other?!

Is your sister a coffee buyer?

Since walking is a free activity, I guess it attracts tightwads...

Dsis is very tight, but even she was embarrassed by their behaviour and left that group.

It's going to be my new collective noun - "a tightwad of ramblers"