AIBU to pissed off I was charged for hot water?

[AprilDHarvey]

I've recently started taking my own lunch to university in a bid to save money and in the cafeteria there's a machine that gives out boiling water. I used it today to make one of those mug shots and when I went to leave one of the employees (rude at the best of times) screamed at me it costs 20p for hot water.
I was so taken aback and embarrassed that I didn't question it but is it just me that thinks it's totally outrageous to charge for hot water our of a self-service machine? I know 20p isn't a lot of money.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

"For the record, there was no sign."
In which case I would be insisting that a sign was put up. But I am a bitch when it comes to dealing with people who scream at me.

[HPsauciness]

Our uni canteens aren't just canteens, they are social meeting places, places people go for work meetings, do course-work together, they are deliberately designed not to just be accessible for those paying to eat/drink at that time, but as multipurpose work spaces. As such they provide free water anyway, ours do, so frequently students sit there drinking water or filling bottles and doing their work. Perhaps yours is more of a cafe cafe in which only people eating would be in there, hard to say without knowing the design.

I think for hot water, a small charge of 20p is actually fine, given they do have to heat it and provide the cup/wash it afterwards (not like the cold water dispenser which is free standing and you can use plastic cups or your own bottle).

Apparently only licensed premises have to provide free water, cafes can do so at their discretion- which you have found out!

[Mamadothehump]

I think you are getting a bit of a hard time here op!
Another way round it us to make up your mug shot at home in a thermos. It will have soaked up all the water by lunch, meaning you have lovely big bits of pasta and it will still be warm. My DH is an outdoor worker and regularly does this.

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

yabu

[leelu66]

OH MY GOD

OP - WIBU?
Folk - Yes
OP - I see that, thank you.
Folk - YABU, YABU, YABU

She gets it.

RTFT some of you!

[expatinscotland]

'Amazed the amount of people that think it's fine for a UNI canteen to be profiteering on students getting mugs of hot water.

Values sure have changed a lot.'

So because it's a uni, the cafe should be giving away products for free? It's still a business. Poor students, being the targets of ruthless profiteering.

[cheapandcheerful]

YABU to expect free use of a hot drinks machine.
YANBU to expect courtesy from the person explaining your error.

[ovenchips]

I think it could so easily be either way - the water could be free or there could be a small charge for it. Either seems reasonable to me.

It isn't nice having a member of staff tell you like that though. If there isn't a sign or whatever, what you did wasn't actually unreasonable and if someone shouted at me about it, it would feel embarrassing and a bit mean.

[BikeRunSki]

Massive X post birchy!

[BikeRunSki]

Here

[AprilDHarvey]

"You are essentially paying a very low price to sit in the canteen"

I didn't sit in the canteen, my lecturer allows to remain in the class over lunch and eat while we do work if we have a lot of big assignments due.

[birchygoo]

bikerun - crossed posts

[birchygoo]

Im with you OP - I understand the valid points of electricity and staffing costs (google cafe charged for water and lemon or this is link www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12099760/TripAdvisor-York-Bennetts-cafe-owner-leaves-brilliant-response-to-one-star-review.html) - however I would only expect this in a cafe/restaurant. I would not expect it from a uni canteen. Plus they are normally subsidised or at least much cheaper than elsewhere (well mine was anyway). I think 20p is steep for hot water from a self serving machine which will already have hot water in it! (its not like they had to go and boil the kettle for you)

Just to add my uni horror story ... I went to a student bar (so not union or part of the university)for an evening meal and got a burger and as it came plain I ordered onion for it as well. I got one small ring of an onion (I had to hunt for it under my bap) and they charged me 80p!!! That was 12 years ago as well - fuming I was! Never ate or drank there again!

[BikeRunSki]

There was a TripAdvisor review doing the rounds of social media a few months ago, where a customer had left a bad review for being charged for hot water. The restaurant manager responded with a break down of his overheads, and demonstrated that he was still selling hot water at a loss at about £1/cup.

As well as all the costs of providing and heating the water, you are essentially paying a very low price to sit in the canteen.

[MySordidCakeSecret]

YABU to expect there to be no charge.

[WeAllHaveWings]

I wouldn't walk into a business premises (which is what the canteen is in a Uni) and just take hot water without asking if it was ok first. Nothing to do with intelligence, just manners.

[chemenger]

At the university I work for you can get free hot water, but only in a covered cup, for perfectly legitimate safety reasons.

[diddl]

Well if there wasn't a sign & there was no slot to put money in, I'd also have thought it was free.

To whom do I return my degree?

[Lanark2]

Seeing as the uni makes money from the presence of students, and there are zillions of free services for students, and plenty of unused hit water urns around and I bet said canteen lady has all her tea and coffee at home from leftover catering, I don't think it's unreasonable either to think hot water could be free, or to try to get away with it even if it isn't. Is it displayed on any price list, or is this canteen lady's little power flipout? The question should always be, would she have yelled it at a professor?

Getting hot water for baby milk free lots of places also.. So not unreasonable.

[wiltingfast]

It's pretty cheeky. Bottom of the barrel stuff. The cost for them is absolutely minimal, certainly nothing like 20p. Probably fractions of a p.

Restaurants have given me MILK for free (for baby/toddler) never mind a UNI canteen looking to charge you for hot water.

My uni did not charge for hot water. Mind you that was an awfully long time ago alas.

Amazed the amount of people that think it's fine for a UNI canteen to be profiteering on students getting mugs of hot water.

Values sure have changed a lot.

[NNalreadyinuse]

No excuse for the staff screaming at you - that is bloody rude and wouls result in a complaint from me. If there was no sign then yanbu.

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

And i bet they are a business paying stupidly high rent for the pleasure