To be a bit annoyed at this cafe's treatment of us

[womenspeakout]

So, there's a local cafe we go to. Sometimes we'll eat there but a lot of the time we'll have some drinks as a stop. (The food isn't very nice, it's basic catering sausages/burgers, but they charge quite a lot for the food).

Also, if we have drinks, we never have one drink and stay for hours and use the wifi or anything, if w only have one lot of drinks we won't be long in there.

Anyway, we go in a lot and have for years. Yesterday it was me my mother and grandmother, and we needed a drink and a sit dow.

We go into the cafe and there are a lot of empty tables, over 12. So we go in and the waitress asks us if we are going to eat, it was early so we said no we just wanted some coffees. She said if we weren't going to eat we couldn't sit inside and had to sit outside.
I have severe asthma triggered by cigarettes, and the people sitting outside were all pretty much smoking. I said this to her, but she said no, so we walked out and went to Costa.

We was a little put out really, AIBU to not bother going back to them?

I think they only have to cater for dietary requirements but still terrible customer service

YANBU. No loss not going back there if the food is not very nice.

Lord, YANBU at all! I’d have done the same, and never gone back.

If there is Costa down the road go there . Cafe make their money from drinks not food . Try out any other cafes

There must be a nicer cafe, I wouldn't go back.

Its their loss as they have now have some frequent customers that will not go in there anymore. I know I wouldn't bother.
If it's an independent place they will feel the hit on profits more than a chain would as well.
You were still going to buy hot drinks and spend money : all sounds a bit ludicrous to turn you away.

Did you ask why? That's really strange

Cafe make their money from drinks not food

Well, that's what I thought, and for three hot drinks in there it's usually in excess of £12 or so, it's not like we were all going in for a glass of tap water and a three hour stay. It would have been 20 minutes or so.

Me and my grandmother both have disabilities, so we often go in there for a rest and coffee and it's in a convenient place.

WTF? Name and shame them, or call them out on Twitter. That's a shitty business model.

Name and shame them, or call them out on Twitter.
Don't. For all you know it was just one member of staff having a bad day / being a twat / trying to piss off customers to get back at her boss. If you want to complain do it in writing to the owner. See what they say. If they don't handle it to your satisfaction then don't go there again. But don't be that tosser who takes it public just to get your picture in the paper or the 'you go girl' comments on FB. Be professional, like they should have been, or you're lowering yourself to below their level.

Did you ask why? That's really strange

They said the tables inside were only for people who would be eating, if you weren't eating you had to sit outside with the smokers.

It didn't appear to be someone having a bad day, she didn't seem to be in any mood, just said that's what they were doing.

I can't get past the over £12 go 3 hot drinks 😮

Don't go there again.
There is no way I would sit amongst smokers and I'll choose where I sit.

For, not go.
So shocked that I can't type.

If it’s never happened before, maybe they were expecting a group in or something and were asked to keep seats free as much as they could? Though she could have said that. Bit strange to otherwise implement the new ‘rule’ out of nowhere.

I can't understand why you go there in the first place if the food is shit and the drinks cost £4 each.

What happens if it is pouring with rain - as it seems to have been doing a lot of lately?

Was it soon to be a lunchtime or prime foodie time? I can understand a cafe getting a bit pissed off if people who would be eating can't find a seat because it is full of people just having coffee. Bit like when larger tables are occupied by just two people. If you didn't recognise the waitress then she wouldn't know that you were just bobbing in for coffee. Still, with 12 tables free it does seem a bit odd.

A lot of cafes have a "food only" policy at lunch time.

If the drinks really are £12 for 3 drinks I'd head to Costa instead anyway. Especially if the food isn't great in the cafe. Very poor customer service. I'm a smoker but I wouldn't want to sit outside surrounded by smokers either if I was trying to relax & enjoy a drink (even less inclined to sit outside with my toddler being blown smoke all over).

YANBU I wouldn't go back. I can understand them not wanting someone nursing a cup of tea for two hours during the lunch time rush but they should have had some consideration for their regular customers especially since they weren't even busy.

Was it lunchtime?

If it’s never happened before, maybe they were expecting a group in or something and were asked to keep seats free as much as they could?

I don't think so. The way it's set out, there are two sides to it, and there were a lot of tables on both sides, so there was a lot of options of places where we could have sat, and if it was a group, we could have gone on the other side.

Also, the way the seats are set up, there's a lot of smaller tables, if you know what I mean.

Sounds like they don't want to stay in business. Really poor.

I can't get past the over £12 go 3 hot drinks

Yes, for three large, it usually comes out to about that. It's not very cheap, so the you can imagine how they charge for food, and I wouldn't mind for good quality, but it's the cheapest of things they use and then charge far too much for it!

It's quite expensive here on the whole.