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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that my local cafe is a bit of a joke

76 replies

FlowersAndShit · 20/03/2016 08:43

I've been wanting to go to my local cafe for months - but whenever I walk past it's always full of huns and 4x4 pushchairs. It's a small place with about 10 tables, it's closed every Tuesday and now and again they will close it for private functions.

I just want to try their amazing looking cake and have a coffee with my mum, but I have to book a table, even at non peak times. Their Facebook page is full of comments from friends of the owner asking for the owner to 'save me a table hun' and 'save me a slice of that galaxy cake hun' so that ordinary customers rarely get a look in.

AIBU?

OP posts:

OldFarticus · 20/03/2016 10:29

Going against the grain to say YANBU purely because we have a cafe like this near us and I always grumble self-indulgently at DH when we got there for brekkie because there is one lovely, cosy table by the fire that is always reserved for friends of the owner i.e. 4x4 huns Amazingly it's never available when anyone who is not in their clique does try to book it. I hate it people run businesses like a fecking popularity contest.

I feel better now I have left a shitty review on TripAdvisor go elsewhere for brekkie and cake

curren · 20/03/2016 10:33

Curren Thanks for the psychoanalysis

have a read. It wasn't me that's suggested it may be triggering something. Only responding so someone who did suggest it.

What would be your answer to this op.

You have a way around it, book. If it's that important to you. Plan in advance. Just as a one off.

You don't want to do that so, should they turn regular customers away so you can get in? What if they do that and other people walk in anyway and you still can't get it?

NoahVale · 20/03/2016 10:35

let a field mouse loose in their,
watch them run,
then you can sit and eat cake

ElementaryMyDear · 20/03/2016 10:39

Clearly if it's as successful as that it's anything but "a bit of a joke".

Oysterbabe · 20/03/2016 10:40

I don't really understand what you expect them to do. Turn away customers in case a local comes in?

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 20/03/2016 10:42

I have a vision of you walking past and feeling like your missing out on the lively party going on at your local cafe. It's probably not that fun. I doubt if you could hear anything your mum was saying if you went in there.

DrAmandaBentley · 20/03/2016 10:44

I live in a 'gritty' part of London that has recently become fashionable. As a result the local cafes which have popped up are full of the types who don't actually come from the area and seem to travel in. It's nearly always filled with people just sitting there occupying space with laptops and mums having a natter but not actually eating anything.

When I want a seat I just push my way in, zero fucks given really! I want nice cake for extortionate prices too every now and then. Staring into the window longingly and complaining on Mumsnet won't get you anywhere.

PovertyPain · 20/03/2016 10:46

It's also derogatory name for Protestants in N.I.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 20/03/2016 10:55

I like the idea of rampaging warriors in funny hats hogging the local cafe

Newes · 20/03/2016 10:56

Lol at field mouse.

PovertyPain · 20/03/2016 11:15

Protestant warriors rocking field mice in strollers, while loudly arguing with other mums.

I think I need to come off MN for a while.

honkinghaddock · 20/03/2016 11:39

I would love to be able to book tables at the cafes we go to for cakes. Ds can only cope with sitting at certain tables so there is always the worry that we can't get a seat he can cope with sitting in.

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 20/03/2016 12:25

people the Huns thing also makes me laugh. I imagine a cafe rammed with orangemen spreading their flutes and sashes all over the place.

DiscoGlitter · 20/03/2016 12:42

This thread's weird. You say the FB page is full of "save me a seat" type posts.
Well, it bloody would be, wouldn't it, if you have to book!
What's to stop you doing the same?!
Or is it the irritating use of "hun talk" that's getting your back up?
You see that on FB sometimes. Very annoying.
How do you know that they they're friends of the owner if you've never been in?
so confused

cuntycowfacemonkey · 20/03/2016 12:48

Wow, honestly way to get all het up over a complete non issue!

sparechange · 20/03/2016 12:58

I've always dreamed of running a little cafe/deli type place but the main thing putting me off is having to deal with the general public.

This sounds like a dream come true. All the fun of having a cake shop, but only having people you actually know and like as customers.
If I owned it, I'd be doing everything in my power to keep whingers away things the way they are

Zucker · 20/03/2016 13:03

Is the cafe open long? I say this as friends and family tend to rally round at the beginning but soon aren't seen for dust.

YouAndMeAreGoingToFallOut · 20/03/2016 13:24

I live very near an incredibly popular cafe and cake shop that seems to be permanently heaving and where you are expected to book in advance if you want to go for a bit of cake.

I was a bit put off them when I was first looking round the area and I tried to stop in, and was treated like the stupidest person alive for not realising I should have booked.

I can't really be arsed with all the faff, and I don't want to decide three days in advance if and when I might want a coffee, so I just go elsewhere. Doesn't seem to have done them or me any harm!

FayKorgasm · 20/03/2016 13:50

Thanks to this thread I am hiding and eating Galaxy cake in the cash office.

MitzyLeFrouf · 20/03/2016 14:14

What is galaxy cake? Do I need it in my life?

PurpleDaisies · 20/03/2016 14:20

I don't get it. The cafe has annoyed you. Why do you want to give them your business?

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 20/03/2016 14:31

Isn't Galaxy cake those cake bars in Tesco with a bit of caramel on top?
FayKorgasm brilliant name!

FayKorgasm · 20/03/2016 14:36

Mitzy if you like galaxy chocolate you need galaxy cake. ilost they do big proper cakes not just those bars. Fucking near impossible to smuggle past the hungover floor staff.

Thank you re name

LogicalThinking · 20/03/2016 14:36

So you want them to turn away regular customers so there is always a table free on the off chance that you decide to pop in.
That's perfectly reasonable, just have a quick word with them and I'm sure they'd oblige.

JolseBaby · 20/03/2016 15:13

I am baffled and confused.

You think it's ridiculous that your local cafe is always busy, meaning that you have to book in advance - but you don't want to do this yet still whine that you can't get in there?

It's irrelevant if the customers are friends and family of the owner - if they are paying then a customer is a customer. You should be pleased that there is a thriving business there - if they were empty then the cafe wouldn't last very long, would it?

There is a local cafe near me which is always rammed. Unless you are prepared to eat very early or very late, you simply cannot get in unless you've booked. The staff are lovely, the owner's great, the food is brilliant and it's a local gem. I don't particularly like booking in advance but I accept that if I want to eat there, then that's what I have to do.

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