"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

We are in agreeement! 😊

Also to add.

The brazilian stall might be shitty not just because of money but because it's busy market and they also don't want to run out because they stocked for one stall not 2

It would have been nice, I agree, but businesses aren't obliged to be nice.

It's a bit like when parents bring their toddlers into cafês, have them take up a paying seat, and then bring in (for example) crisps or a sandwich for them instead of buying off the menu.

As a one-off on a quiet morning is it an issue? No, probably not, but do it all the time, to every person who asks, and soon your profits are impacted. Word then gets around that "X cafê lets you do ABC", everyone starts asking and it just gets silly.

It's much easier (from a customer service/business POV) to have one rule for everyone - it's fair, leaves no room for misunderstanding and means everyone does the same thing, all the time.

The cheapest box of 100 plastic disposable forks on Amazon are £1.99. That’s 0.0199p per fork.

er.....1.9p per fork

I would like to see more '50p discount if you bring your own spork' or, frankly, you buy the meal & cutlery is also available but charged for.

Maybe a deposit system for actual metal cutlery could work - £2 & it's all yours, or bring it back for £1 back.

What isn't working well is binloads of disposable forks ending in landfill. 'Go buy more disposables from Poundland, Greek stall!' is not the answer.

But shitty for not explaining this & bad business, for all Brazillian food stands in Manchester markets

What isn't working well is binloads of disposable forks ending in landfill. 'Go buy more disposables from Poundland, Greek stall!' is not the answer.

Agree. Those little wooden ones are probably more sustainable. But proper cutlery (on deposit as a PP has suggested) better again. Of course, this then has to be washed . . .

I’d have been incredulous at the Greeks expecting me to be so cheeky as to go ask the Brazilians for free cutlery. The Greeks should have done their own dirty business, - not expect their customers to do it as well as pay them for cutlery.

They do that with the cups. The only issue might be under 18's and someone getting stabbed with the cutlery provided.

The stall should have said that they'd ran out of cutlery on ordering.

They really don't owe explanation to non customers. Really. I am pretty sure OP wasn't first few customers that greek place sent... Who owed the customers proper apology was the greek stall.

Go to chippy then to next door subway that the chippy run out of lettuce and said you can have bit of theirs... Costs pennies too.
Who is the bad business? The unprepared one who dealt with it badly. Things happen, but you can't just keep sending people to different businesses when the businesses themselves then might end up with stock issue. Just go to nearest shop and take the hit on more expensive disposable cutlery🤷🏻

I get that, but that poster had just spent a fiver. Giving her a cup at cost price would have bought them cheap goodwill and lost them no money.

Anyway, I don’t work in the trade so appreciate it may not be as simple as that.

Technically the Greek stall are at fault and should plan better.

I assume the Brazilians get asked this all the time and are tired of it.

But it does seem incredibly petty to me to mither people over a few plastic forks.

Then you tell people if there’s no give and take, don’t you? In a nice way. Otherwise you just make yourself look mean, which is terrible PR for your own business.

How does it create business in this sort of situation? OP and various other Greek stall customers feel grateful to the Brazilian stall, but they've already bought their meal so they're not going to buy from the Brazilian stall, and they're highly unlikely to come back to the market and will forget about that Brazilian place within a couple of days.

I've not been to this particular one, but most Christmas markets and fairs are very busy indeed, with no time for any niceties, as they have a constant stream of customers to serve.

If you're the 100th person to ask for a free fork, and people are expecting them to take the time to politely explain why they can't/won't give free forks to everybody who asks, you're obviously expecting them to do that 100 times - whilst they have actual customers waiting. These places don't spend that much time on their own customers' needs for forks/condiments/serviettes etc. - they just leave you to help yourself after they've handed over the food and taken your money - let alone having the spare time for all the randomers who come to them.

I think the U18s would struggle to commit Lord of the Flies style murder with a spork!

Which is all you need for street food. It's designed to be eaten standing up, so no steak knives required.

I'd just sell optional metal sporks on my stall - priced dependent on market - & with an option to bring it back for a quid return, whereupon they'd all be boil washed & available for my next trading spot.

Obviously it isn't that easy - if the stall opposite give out free plastic forks then a) they're possibly cheaper overall & more popular than me & b) CFers are going to buy my food, balk at the cost of metal cutlery & then try to blag freebies of said stall opposite.

It would need to be holistic across the event or indeed the country - no more free plastic forks!

But it was do-able with carrier bags.

Oh God.....

No, technically they don’t owe non-customers an explanation. But giving one costs nothing, helps the customer feel let down gently and prevents their business from getting a bad rap.

Again, I feel we’re back to the steam off your piss analogy.

Maybe it’s a case of the world being divided into those who’ll help others out if they can and those who won’t, even if it doesn’t cost much/anything. Like, why should they help if there isn’t anything in it for them 🤷‍♀️

Clearly, I’m BU to expect niceties.

Yes, it would have been cheap goodwill, but you need to treat all your customers in the same way in retail/hospitality - you shouldn't really give people preferential treatment.

Otherwise you end up in this scenario:

Customer: I want x.
Cashier: No, sorry we don't do X.
Customer: Well, last time I was here, John did it for me - why won't you do it?"

It's just not worth the hassle. Yes, this scenario is unlikely at a Christmas market but the easiest way to run a business is to make sure all customers are treated in the same way.

Then you tell people if there’s no give and take, don’t you? In a nice way. Otherwise you just make yourself look mean, which is terrible PR for your own business.

Explain that countless times, whilst you have a stream of your own customers to serve? The problem is, if you're 'too' nice and polite to people, they will try to persuade you and take even more of your time. A quick "Sorry, customers only" before you move on to the next actual customer in the queue gives them the message without engaging and opening yourself up to further dialogue that you just don't have time for.

This is like the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, advanced 2,000 years!

If it’s a case of no repeat business, then I guess you’re right and there’s nothing in it for the caterer to be kind, so why bother? Maybe that’s it.

I guess many people are only nice if there’s something in it for them.

This is totally down to the Greek stall owners.

Firstly they should've bought cutlery from another stall and secondly they shouldn't have sold you food without telling you they didn't have any cutlery.

Businesses exist to make profit, they're not there to "be nice".

Also, if you give some customers an inch, they'll take a mile. It's easier to just say no.

I think she should have let you have one with a drink or maybe a token 50p or something. Seems like she wa being a little difficult!