To think you don't bring your own tea to a coffee shop

[baristagirl]

AIBU to think that you have to be a CF to ask for a teapot of boiling water and a glass as you've brought your own teabag with you in a coffee shop.
Not to drip feed, 3 of CF's friends did buy drinks.
To me this is like taking your own booze into a pub and asking them for a glass with ice for it.

Having done my research on Sainsburys website, the dearest teabags I can see on there work out at 34p each . I'm guessing you will be buying teabags in bulk so yours will be cheaper but even if you were using expensive bags which cost this much I guess you charge more for a pot of tea for one so shes not saving you much by only providing the bag. If she comes in again I would suggest she sucks on her teabag to get her caffine fix.

A friend did this when she was drinking some herbal breastfeeding tea. She did ask for a regular cup of tea with the bag on the side then subbed in her own tea instead

This is what I would do ^

I have sometimes asked for a hot water at the end of a meal, no idea if it was charged for or not, and wouldn't have complained if it had been but to ask for it and expect it to be free is not on.

I actually only order tea in places where I know it is decent tea and not cheap catering stuff because I want to be able to actually drink it, and cup of floor sweepings with the taste of cardboard doesn't do it for me, so might start taking my own and just asking for hot water, and paying for it rather than go without or end up with a coffee that is always too strong so either way I don't get a drink.

If they brought their own tea I'd charge as you're not there to provide service, table space, hot water and crockery for free.

I did take my salt and pepper grinders to a cafe recently when I ordered a meal (as theirs are rubbish) but just paid for the meal so in effect it saved them money.

It was quite hot one day last week so I ordered an iced soda water with slice of lime in a takeaway coffee cup and felt a little nervous whilst waiting as I was hoping they would charge me (they did, 80p).

I think if you're paying for service/crockery etc it's only fair to charge something even if it isn't at the full rate

Utter bullshit.

You sit, you pay.

I own a coffee shop and recently clocked that a fairly regular customer who only asks for hot water joins her friend then uses her friends teabag and milk! Between them they pay £1.50 for cup of tea each. CFs but locals so not worth any bad feedback into the community. They did used to take the kids by staying past closing but they're chased out on the dot now!

Dn was working in a seaside cafe in a picturesque location, so very popular. Due to endless couples coming in and asking for hot water and taking cups and saucers, the owner was forced to put up a large sign explaining his costs.

Are people really thick or just really cheeky?

I'm a fusspot with tea so tend to pay for a cup of tea but ask them not to put their teabag in as I've got my own, but I've paid!!!

People are thick unfortunately. I was advertising my homemade cheesecakes starting at £20, really popular and I sell lots...anyway someone posted "are you having a laugh, they cost a fiver to make"! She couldn't seem to grasp the concept of overheads and the fact that, being in business, I'm supposed to be making a profit

Of course YANBU.
the tea bag is only a tiny fraction of what you are paying for, as everyone has said. You pay for the service - the washing up, the clearing the table afterwards, the member of staff's time, and your portion of the set up costs (buying the teapot and the cup and saucer and spoon etc. , the business rates, the rent or mortgage, the cost of staff doing hygiene training, the cost of the fire extinguisher, the toilet rolls, the electricity, having the advertising done, having the sign made outside the shop, the window cleaner, etc.etc,etc. That is why a hot drink out, costs between £1.20 and £3 odd, and not just the sum total of ingredients.

Some people are just very cheeky. Just look at the cat and mouse games people play with Waitrose to get their free coffees.

There's whole discussions on the internet about the cheapest thing you can buy like a single banana to get your free drink. And they're scaling back the offer again, due to piss taking.

I think cafe drinks are expensive, which is why I don't have as many as I would like. But I don't expect to take up cafe space and drink hot water without paying and fully supposrt the stance of the OP and that Trip Advisor review setting out the costs of running a cafe, with the costs of the actual drinks being a tiny fraction.

I think you need to say, if you need a cup of free hot water you better go home and boil the kettle.

Amazing how many people don't understand overheads.

It's a pot of tea with your own special teabag and should be charged at the rate for tea.

Charging for extra hot water is probably a result of so many people coming in and eking out one pot between two. (PILs have form for this).

Possibly different for a lemsip.

The Pil used to ask in NT properties for one soup, with an extra bowl, an extra spoon... and an extra roll !!

Surely if the establishment want paying for it they will say?? A friend of mine has either tap water or hot water when we go out - sometimes places charge, sometimes they don't. It isn't cheeky to request it! It would be cheeky to cause a fuss at having to pay for it tho

It's not all that uncommon for people to just want hot water - got plenty of that when I was waitress as a student. I charged the cost of a cup of tea for anyone who asked for hot water and lemon (most common thing they wanted). A depressing number complained about that but honestly the cost of a few slices of lemon probably cost us more than the teabag does cause it's not bought in bulk or as cheaply!

Must admit, I'm a CF.
I buy a take out coffee from my favourite independent coffee shop then meet up with friends at the local hotel for mid morning beverages once a week but I only occasionally order a coffee at the hotel. I really can't stand the coffee the hotel sells as they dispense it from one of those filter coffee pots sat on a warmer for ages so it always tastes stewed and they charge more than my favourite coffee place does for the pleasure.
My friends don't seem to mind the crap coffee so they happily buy it plus tea and scones.
The independent coffee shop is very small and doesn't have enough seating for the group as they only have a few tables to seat 2 or 4 people on and there is usually about 10 of us.

I have to admit at the end of a night drinking if I have had enough but the people I'm with haven't I will often switch to tap water. I feel it evens it self out though as other times in the same pub I will be drinking.

I can't actually believe how cheap people are. Taking their own friggin tea bags out with them and then asking for hot feckin water and a cup?!

I've known restaurants to say they won't serve tap water to customers unless/until they've ordered food. Presumably they've had too many CFs asking for free drinks of water then going away without paying for anything.

The water may be free, but they're taking up a table and chairs and staff time serving them, then the carafe and glasses have to be washed.

I often drink tap water when I go out for a meal because I can't afford food and drinks too. I feel like a right bastard now so won't take my kids out for meals again, isn't there some legislation though that says they have to provide water free of charge? Lots of places have jugs of water for you to help yourself. M&S do, a national trust place I went to recently to name two and nowhere has ever objected to me ordering either a glass for myself or a jug for the table. Some people are "cheap" because they have to be.

Thank you for all the replies, I questioned myself when they sat there laughing.
If they come in again I will charge the price of a tea and offer her a takeaway bag for the teabag if she doesn't want to use it.

Thats how we the viewers were introduced to Kerry Bishop in neighbours in about 1988!

Anyone else remember that?!

I often drink tap water when I go out for a meal

^

Not the same thing Devil. You are paying for the food! Its fine.

I carry decaf teabags with me because most places don't serve it (and lots of people don't have it at home) and I'm avoiding caffeine during pregnancy. However I wouldn't ever expect not to pay for a drink in a cafe, I'd just order a tea and ask them to leave the bag out of the cup or pot so I could use my own!

I do this on the cross channel ferry as they have changed their tea and coffee supplier and there is now an oily film on my tongue and a horrible aftertaste for days when I've drunk theri tea. I buy a full breakfast but take a mug of hot water and some little milk cartons and point out that their tea is undrinkable. So far in a year, I haven't been charged.