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.

Can't believe some of the remarks on this thread. People sitting drinking tap water and nothing else. People buying food for one child and nothing for themselves. People wanting a to take a packed lunch to a cafe because they have allergies. It's a wonder any cafes are still in business. The sheer cheek of some folk beggars belief.

YABU - a cream tea for one always comes with two scones, jam and cream plus a pot of tea for one. Fine to share the food, as you might a slice of cake, but if you both want a drink then you both buy a drink

This reminds me a bit of when I was a waitress and the menu had tomato and red onion salad as a starter and also tomato and mozzerella as an option. I guy ordered the tomato and red onion salad and then asked if I could leave off the red onions and substitute it for mozzerella and was very pissy when I told him he would have to pay for a tomato and mozzerella starter which was more expensive.

Nowt so queer as folk

Cafes and restaurants are free to set their prices and serving sizes as they wish if people don't like it they should go elsewhere.

'People wanting a to take a packed lunch to a cafe because they have allergies. '

Oh, there was an enormous thread on here about that a few years ago, it actually maxed out. Several posters with 3+ children who all had allergies and they felt it was fine to take up several tables, for hours, if they came with friends, and just order a few drinks, people who felt they were entitled to a drink and a sit down as they were breastfeeding, all sorts.

Nowt so queer as folk.

The cafe owner was completely in the right. You bought one dish. If you wanted an extra cup of tea for another person, you need to buy it. Would you go to a restaurant, order one lasagne, cut it in half and ask for an extra plate? Of course you wouldn't. That's effectively what you did.

Source: Grew up in Devon, served (and ate!) shitloads of cream teas in my time (all of which had 2 scones).

Wetherspoons do a huge curry and pint for £7.99 - would anyone ask for that to be served with two forks and in two half pint glasses?

'Would you go to a restaurant, order one lasagne, cut it in half and ask for an extra plate?'

Plenty would. Ditto the curry and pint.

And hopefully be told no, you pay for two or not extra plate/cup.

While I think the cafe owner could have handled this in a more dignified fashion, it is good form to order an extra beverage when sharing a cream tea. Also, at only £4.99 it doesn't take super human powers of reasoning to work out that this is the price of a cream tea for one.

So yes, YABU. But I'd also not return to any catering establishment where rudeness is also so firmly on the menu.

I think you could probably grab an extra fork from the cutlery on the side but I suspect you'd get short shrift if you asked for an extra plate and to have the pint in two half pint glasses.

Ok off topic now but it's made think about all the knobby customers I served as a waitress. Family with two toddlers get seated, I go to take drinks orders and the mum says "The children are very hungry please bring out a basket of fresh bread straight away".

I tell her "Sorry we don't actually serve fresh bread is there anything of the starter or side menu I can get for you"

She barks "No they are hungry please bring fresh bread"

It took ages to convince her that short of driving over to tesco and buying a fresh baguette that we didn't actually have fresh bread. She was not happy and was generally a difficult arse for the remainder of the evening. Seriously don't wait for your toddlers to be feckin starving before you go to a restaurant.

I don't miss waitressing

It also reminds me of the colleague I had once who wanted to go to the staff Christmas meal and pay for one meal for him and his wife to share.

And we wonder why there's an obesity epidemic when one person expects to eat two generous sized scones in one sitting.

It's just miserable, measly, pedantic and plain awful customer service to simply ignore what the customer wants. If they want another cup, just give them another cup!

We're currently living in America and if I asked nicely for a dancing unicorn with a live mongoose riding side saddle with dessert (and two spoons), the staff in any number of local restaurants would do their best to comply. Seriously English cafes, get a grip.

I have seen this happen in a cafe, in a tourist town. I wonder if it was the same one

It totally baffled me - the wait staff were whispering "Have you seen what they're doing?" "They're sharing it!" so ominously that I at first thought they had mistakenly served alcohol to a just-turned 18 year old who was sharing it with their friends. But no, they were incensed at the idea of three middle aged women sharing a pot of tea for two.

Now, sure, you should pay for extra tea if you want more tea. But I fail to see the issue with sharing out a smaller amount of tea between more people. I mean, they wouldn't kick a third person out if only two of them ordered. I've often been skint and sat alongside others who were eating/drinking when I wasn't.

Plus, the cafe was mostly empty at the time I saw this happen!

But it's not about the food it's about the drink and I do think there is a difference

with potterwolfe been in the states and now live in Japan. It is totally normal here in a lot of places to order food and ask for extra plates. People here like to share food.

Exactly. Nothing wrong with sharing the scones but I think expecting another cup to share the tea is another matter.

and the reason I think there is a difference is that it is perfectly acceptable to go to a cafe and just order teas and coffees, there is no obligation to buy food so if only one cake or sandwich gets ordered and shared whilst everyone buys a drink that is fine.

Yy cuntycowface

Cafes are going to disappear if people keep up this expectation that they can take up a table for hours on end and barely buy anything. All you'll be able to do is buy a takeaway because it's not worth it for business owners to pay for the overheads to provide somewhere for people to sit around for nothing.

Just buy a second pot of tea FGS. Tightarses.

I love some people's self-importanceon these kind of threads.
And i love even more the bussiness advice from people who have no clueabout bussiness or about catering.

'I would rather sell one tea than none'.
It doesn't work like this, not in a busy place with people waiting for a table. OP's group: 3 people and one tea.
Another group could have sat on thattable: 4 or 5 teas. Thats 20-25 pounds loss.
If Op's group sat for double time (which is often the case with this type of customers) then it is 50 pounds loss.

Believe it or not sometimes they might, ...how can i say this?... they might not actually want your custom or want you to return.

If you really are on tight budget then the trick is to go during not busy times. You can not do this on rush hour and then throw a strop because you didnt feel important enough and then post bad reviews. This kind of thing really annoys me.

Someone once said to me about an elderly very very posh and self-entitled customer: "the last time anyone told her what to do was in 1945 when Nanny told her she couldn't have another slice of cake, and Mummy sacked the Nanny".

They ordered a pot of tea, not a cup. If they'd wanted to share one cup between them, then perhaps the cafe owner might've had good reason to grumble. But it was a pot, which you can commonly squeeze two good cups out of. Maybe they only actually wanted one cup each!

What sort of stingy cream tea would only allow one scone per person?!?

Everyone one I have ever had in independent tea rooms in Essex, Norfolk, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling or Falkirk. Everyone I have ever had at any M&S or John Lewis tea room.

Mind, they were BIG scones, unless they were part of an afternoon tea, with the sandwiches and a pastry or cake too. Maybe the scones are smaller were those expecting two come from? I am shocked at the idea of two scones for one person!

Laquitar has it absolutely right. 3 People, one table, elderly people can sometimes be slow eaters and really only want a sit down.

Not all customers are good customers. I am sure you would all be lovely to customers that cost you money, and delighted not to be able to pay the staff on a Saturday because you had served only 3 people (under £5) in an hour at a busy preiod.

A huge corporation like Macdonalds can absorb the occasional loss like that but they compensate for it by reducing the staff's hours to balance the books. They have uncomfortable seats and bright lights and a level of noise which means people don't stay long. (They used to aim for twently minutes - and if staff talked too long or made people feel too cosy they were reprimanded).

I have sometimes worked for days for no pay at all in the name of customer service. and then the "client" drives by in his 4x4 while I can't afford to get my dents reparied in my car.

Customer service works both ways. Customers respect the provider of the product or service and pay for it.