To expect a restaurant to be able to do a pint of milk?

[YourAgileBiscuit]

My autistic DD (13) will normally only drink milk when we are out in restaurants etc.

Some restaurants (including chain restaurants and pubs/carvery places) get a bit funny about it when she orders/asks for milk though. Even though they already have milk for the kitchen and for teas/coffees. We’ve had some restaurants outright refuse as well even though they have milk in the building.

Is it unreasonable to expect restaurants to be able to serve milk for a paying customer? Of course we pay for her milk, we are not asking for it for free!

I would say about 50% of places we go to get funny about it which I don’t understand as they already have milk in the building.

The point you’re missing is that the staff find this as annoying as you do. It isn’t their fault. Chains can be exceptionally rigid about this kind of thing. Blame their head office, but don’t blame the staff who have no choice.

FWIW, when I was younger I worked in a place where shortfalls of cash against stock had a financial penalty for managers. Crappy stocktake meant our manager lost his bonus, and he was paid a shitty enough wage even with the bonus, so we weren’t going to shaft him for the sake of customers demanding off-menu stuff.

Again, if a restaurant only has Coke, not Pepsi, of course it can’t sell you Pepsi - it doesn’t have any to sell. This is very different to having milk but refusing to sell it, because you only usually use it as an ingredient. For your Coke/Pepsi scenario to make sense, it would have to be a case of saying “We have Pepsi for the Pepsi Floats on the children’s menu, but we can’t sell you an actual Pepsi.”

Well, my point is that they can't sell something that isn't available to sell. They may have milk as an ingredient, but that doesn't mean they can just sell a glass of milk. Just like they'll have cheese and bread in the fridge, but can't necessarily make cheese on toast and sell it off-menu.

For one extra Coke or coffee?

An automated stock system is designed to pick up significant issues with theft or similar. It’s not going to go into meltdown over one extra soft drink. Otherwise there would be complete panic every time there was a spillage or breakage!

Yes, exactly. It's often a Head Office "issue" rather than something an individual shop has any control over.

What no tea/coffee at the end of the meal? I'd be so sad!

This would have been totally fine in any place I’ve worked in. Obviously they couldn’t bring in a drink that we sold, but we’d have happily given them a glass to pour their own milk into if we couldn’t sell them any.

But there are options there. You could charge someone for a sandwich instead of cheese on toast, for example. Whether you are prepared to is a separate issue. With your Pepsi and Coke example, there simply isn’t an option for flexibility.

I never said it would go into meltdown, just that when things don't tally up, they have to be explained. Yes, some will be written off due to breakages or accidents, but if people regularly put milk through as coke (or coffee) it will start to cause issues and ultimately it's the manager who will be investigated for it.

At the end of the day, the till has to tally up. You can't just have staff putting through milk as coke, or coke as sprite, or whatever. It just doesn't work like that.

You're missing the point, which is that in many companies, you're not allowed to make someone cheese on toast (or a glass of milk) and sell it through the till as something else.

It's got nothing to do with whether someone is "prepared to do it" or not. They just won't be allowed.

But accommodation of a small need for what may turn out to be a regular customer who will then possibly recommend your business to others is surely beneficial not detrimental ?

That is a choice entirely for the particular business who will make that decision based on their own set of circumstances. Which will differ widely. Small independent community cafe with a Tesco express round the corner? Sure. Big pub chain that doesn't have much milk requirements, no excess staff and no Tesco round the corner? Not so much.

Surely it’s precisely because they order in bulk that their stock planning won’t be thrown into chaos by a pint either way?

What on earth would they do if one of the bags burst?

Most restaurants only sell things on their menu. A bakery is likely to have flour but that is not what their selling. Unreasonable to expect it.

I haven’t said otherwise. But you’re making comparisons that aren’t really comparisons at all.

No, you're just taking things incredibly literally.

Exactly. You wouldn't go to McDonald's and ask for raw potatoes.

I never said it would go into meltdown, just that when things don't tally up, they have to be explained. Yes, some will be written off due to breakages or accidents, but if people regularly put milk through as coke (or coffee) it will start to cause issues and ultimately it's the manager who will be investigated for it.

How often is it likely to happen though? Are they going to have a sudden influx of milk drinkers? And if so, why not just put it on the menu?

Actually, McDonalds ran a national advertising campaign where a man went to one of their restaurants and ordered a box full of pickle slices for his pregnant wife 😁

If it was an independent place, that's a fair question, but for chains - it's something you'd have to take up with head office - individual stores typically have no say over what goes on the menu and what swaps/alterations they can do.

That’s rich for someone who thinks restaurants are planning their milk order to the single drop.

How would it be discrimination?
Many places understandably say only food and drink bought on the premises to be consumed ?
I have my own autistic child but I'm not understanding the discrimination bit?

I have never once said that though, have I? What I have said is that, in most places, you can't just sell milk through the till as something else, so if the till doesn't have a "glass of milk" option then it's not something that can be done, however simple it might seem to the customer.

Would it not be a reasonable adjustment to allow it ?

A its a one off visit to a restaurant im not sure they have to provide reasonable adjustments?as reasonable adjustments are for when it's reasonable and
Potentially they could end up losing money.
If it was a school canteen where the child went daily that might be more appropriate to ask for reasonable adjustments, because they could order in and estimate how much they needed.

No different to ordering anything else that's not on the menu

You can't do that as it affects the stock take!