"You can't have it for free",aibu?

[imacccu]

So I'm at Manchester for the Christmas markets.
Spent £20 on a Greek sharing box to eat for lunch.
I ask for two forks and she tells me they've ran out and to get them from the Brazilian stand opposite.
So off I go and say "can I have two of the plastic forks please as the Greek stand have ran out"

She says "no I'm not allowed as you didn't buy food here,you can't expect them for free"
I said okay il buy a drink
She said no only food
The cheapest thing was £10
So I sad no
Aibu to think she could of gave me a plastic fork
Is this what the worlds came too?
She had a huge and I mean huge tub of cutlery

So we had to eat with our hands which was near impossible as it was coated in sauces etc

I'm miffed at the attitudes of both. Don't see why it has to be one or the other. It's not a competition for worst market stall.

I run a small craft business, I sell at Christmas markets and I can pretty much guarantee that at every market I go to I'll be asked have I a got a carrier bag by someone who hasn't bought anything from me. I use twisted handle bags which cost 34p for a medium sized one. I know 34p doesn't sound much but in this economic climate we find ourselves the 34p's mount up and margins are tight. I usually decline to provide.

The food stallholder who sold you the food should have approached the other stall themselves and made an arrangement, not placed you, and probably others, in the embarrassing position of asking and being refused.

Good! Can’t believe they have the nerve to ask.

Don’t you have to legally charge for plastic bags now anyway?

The Brazilian stall missed a trick. They should have accepted your offer to buy a drink and throw in a fork. If they did that every time a Greek food customer needed a fork, they would be making a nice little profit.

But people are saying about how vital goodwill is to the Brazilian stall. Once word gets out that 'they refuse to give you a fork unless you buy a drink' - with no mention of the fact that it's for use with food sold by somebody else and that they are reluctantly responding to a cheeky request, rather than proactively trying to cash in, that could massively backfire on them.

0.00019p

Where is this figure coming from repeatedly? The forks work out to about 2p each; if they were that price, you would get 100 for 2p! They're cheap, but not that cheap!

What if someone had then offered to buy an item 100x the price of the carrier bag then. £34. Would you have told them they had to buy an £100 item which fits in a carrier bag instead?

Also had they explained another stallholder sent them over wouldn't you have said they shouldn't have sent you over instead of talking about how you don't give out free stuff as if the OP is some kind of chancer?

Op didn't say she told them greeks told her to go over as well. Just an fyi

Stop trying to make small businesses feel bad for not giving free things to randoms when they are not in positions to do so

You wouldn't believe what the buying public will ask ! Whole different thread....

Re plastic bags

charging is based on the size / turnover of the seller I believe. I buy in twisted handle paper bags - I could make them myself, but I'm a potter not a bag maker!

Oh I see the Brazilians wouldn't have know that from what the OP said, but the OP would have totally understood the Brazillians had a limited number of forks from what they said? I guess perfect communication only works one way in this case.

And nobody is expecting them to give out free stuff. Once again you are constructing a strawman argument. They were either rude, incapable of making enough profit on a £3 item to give a 2p discount, or like the Greeks they didn't have enough forks with them. Which is it?

Hotchocs
What if someone had then offered to buy an item 100x the price of the carrier bag then. £34. Would you have told them they had to buy an £100 item which fits in a carrier bag instead?

I factor in the cost of bags into the prices of my work, so little pots have 34p factored in, and larger items have 45p factored in. So if someone bought a pot for £100 it would be large and have a 45p bag linked to it. If another stallholder had sent a customer over to ask for a bag I still would have said no, because they hadn't bought anything from me and I carry a limited number of bags according to the stock I have with me, ie 100 pots of various sizes, I have 100 bags of various sizes. Sadly Christmas fairs, craft fairs are not run on a collective basis, we each have to pay our own way. there is a degree of co-operation, but favours have to be requested and paid for, in cash or kind!

Ps I would be mightily miffed if another stallholder sent over a customer to ask for a bag. Usually People ask because they have bought several smaller items, each with their own bag and they realise it would be easier to carry them all in one bag. If another stallholder had suggested to a customer to ask me for a bag as they had run out, I would be having words with that stallholder.

I see.
So if they offered to buy a £34 item would you refuse to give them a 45p bag?

They aren’t going to know for sure, in advance, which Greek stall customer they gave a fork to was the one that was one free fork giveaway too many.

We have no idea if OP was the first customer to ever approach them, or if the Greek stall has been sending customers over for years and after realising they’ve been spending hundreds a year on forks for some other owner’s business, the Brazilian stall finally brought in a policy to protect their interests.

But regardless, the primary fault is with the Greek stall who

a) Did not bring the equipment their customers needed and
b) Deceived the OP by giving her the false impression a cooperative relationship with the other stall existed and that she could expect to get what she needed there. And so they got her to stop hassling them for something they ought to provide and transferred her ire onto the other stall.

Hotchocs

They were either rude, incapable of making enough profit on a £3 item to give a 2p discount

Just so you know Hotchocs - I never discount

Oh ok lets put it another way
They were either rude, incapable of making enough profit on a £3.02 item from explicitly including the cost of the fork in the price of the drink, incapable of negotiating the sale of a fork on at a 2500% markup, or like the Greeks didn't bring enough forks with them.

Seeing as you wouldn't sell for a 2p discount on a £3 item I assume that a 2500% markup on a 2p item would be something you would keenly negotiate as a business person who see an opportunity to make money.

So which is it?

Really just stop it.

Business don't own random people free stuff nor do they owe them some explanations of their finances and stocking because that is what would happen.
"My apologies, but we cannot as we don't have too many ourselves"
"I can see loads behind you"
"Yes, that's for our service today"
"But you got loads. Just give me some"
And so on.
(Sounds exaggerated? Had very similar discussions about goods and inventory)

They also don't have to give forks with drinks. It is simple as that.

So if they offered to buy a £34 item would you refuse to give them a 45p bag?

Yes, especially if it was at the beginning of the day. I may have 3 large pots as part of my stock needing large bags so would only bring 3 large bags with me so I need to reserve the large bags for the larger items. Stallholders have to carry every single piece of stock and display equipment with them and the only storage we have is behind the stall. We don't have the luxury of a store cupboard like a shop, where extra packaging can be stored just in case.

I see, so you don't bring enough spare 45p bags with you that if someone wanted one with a £34 item you would not sell the item.

Thanks for clarifying.

I guess then, the Greeks must have dropped a couple of forks or something and being market traders with these kind of margins, continued to sell the food. Perfectly understandable given this is the attitude towards customers right?

You are being a twat Chox now

I see so I'm leaning towards just plain rude then.

Seeing as you wouldn't sell for a 2p discount on a £3 item I assume that a 2500% markup on a 2p item would be something you would keenly negotiate as a business person who see an opportunity to make money

It isn't just about the 'discount' to one customer. It's about being able to provide a bag / fork / spoon to my future customers. I'm not going to compromise on the quality of service I provide to full paying customers. I don't discount as if you do, you run the risk of having to discount for a whole swathe of people, not just the first person to ask. I've seen traders fall foul of this and it gets ugly pretty quickly if you refuse a discount to someone whose friend has been in receipt of one, when discounts are not on general offer. As I say margins are tight and I don't price to include a % for a discount.

In this case, yes, I got there.

Mainly because I think that you are either entitled with no understanding of pricing (which doesn't require more than basic math skills and common sense when someone said "it's all in the price together") and logistic such as "I can only carry as much", or you are now simply on a wind up.

Well thanks for clarifying once again that you bring a limited amount of bags with you.

Which begs the question what happens if one of your 45p bag splits. Do you refuse to sell a £100 item to a customer?

Well the Greeks seem to understand it don't they? They didn't even have to include a fork with their sale 😅

I see so I'm leaning towards just plain rude then

I didn't perceive the conversation as reported by the OP to be rude. Unsatisfying for the OP yes, rude to her no.

Which begs the question what happens if one of your 45p bag splits. Do you refuse to sell a £100 item to a customer?

That would be up to the customer

So basically you're at the mercy of a limited amount of 45p bags as to whether your business is viable or not.

Just as a food stall is at the mercy of a limited amount of 2p forks as to whether their business is viable or not.

Which essentially means that the Greeks may have been in a position whereby something went wrong with the forks that day and from what I'm hearing margins are so tight in this business they could have gone under if they told the customers there were no forks left.

So why are they being criticised for being put in a position where they have a limited amount of something and can't afford to lose custom if something goes wrong?