Would you give me the replacement chips?

[Houseofdrums]

Im with a group of mum friends at a food court. We all go off to different kiosks. Order our food. We find an available table.

I order from a Thai cuisine, a noodle dish and some chips for the little one.

I pick up the food, put toddler in highchair, put the chips infront of her. I’m about to take my first serving of noodles and baby kicks the chips all over the floor.

The chips cost £5. One of the mums says that it’s been less than 5 mins and they didn’t touch the chips, I should be able to ask for a replacement.

So I go to the kiosk, politely explain that I was just here and the baby annoyingly dropped all the chips. I show them the picture (we are sitting on the other end of the food court).

They say no. But I plead a little bit - I do have a soft voice so I’m being nice. Then they go on and on about how every mum will be asking for freebies. I should pay for another one. And I should go to another one of their stores who would provide me free chips.

Turns out she was also the manager.

I worked in waitressing many years ago, and honestly, we would have just given a portion of chips. Id be hesitant if it was the whole meal - but a couple of chips for a baby?

Was I being unreasonable?

Took a picture of the mess they'd made in the restaurant that a member of staff has to go and clear up!

And then "plead" for free food!

Your friend lives in laa laa land.

There’s a seaside cafe near us that now has clear signage saying they won’t replace dropped ice creams. Same principle applies here. Your fault and annoying, but these things happen and they are a business.

YABU , how embarrassing even asking

Reminds me of when I was in an airport and a drunk couple with a toddler had bought two massive bottles of vodka from duty free. They hung the plastic bag with them in on the back of the buggy and when the woman lifted the toddler out, the buggy tipped back and both bottles smashed on the hard floor. The man was going mad at her and saying she had to go back to the duty free with the bag full of smashed glass and vodka and demand they replace them as the bottles must have been faulty and they were obliged to give them more. Needless to say they were refused. All while the toddler screamed and the man shouted and the woman was kicking off. Thank god they weren’t on my flight.

Neck

This is so strange.

Once you've bought the food, it's your responsibility. You could eat it, throw it, whatever, but no way should they have to replace it! If I buy a can of coke, but drop it, should I expect a replacement? Absolutely not!

They shouldn’t have been allowed on any flight

Of COURSE you were being unreasonable!

It's not their fault that your child dropped them! If their server had dropped them, they'd have replaced them. They did nothing wrong, you were being extremely entitled to have expected the replacement.

Any business that does replace in this situation is doing it purely out of goodwill. They would be going over and above the call of duty, and a business that declines to do so is not being unreasonable. You should have said "Okay fair enough can I order and pay for another portion." That's exactly how it should have ended.

It's not a couple of chips though. It's £5 worth

I get it!

Example, you’re in a supermarket grab a jar of pickles and drop them on the floor. You know you just inform a member of staff and they clean the pickles up and you take another jar (after apologising profusely of course.) Just an accident, you won’t be expected to pay for the smashed pickles in a big supermarket like Sainsbury’s etc.

I might because of that think a similar approach may be taken in some establishments that absorb these costs like McDonald’s… or other big chains.

So whilst YANBU to ask, they’re also NBU to say no… I imagine it literally comes down to the managers personality.

Reminds me of when my friend bought her dd (around 11) a double ice cream. As her dd was walking away from the ice cream kiosk, the first ball of ice cream fell to the ground, followed closely by the 2nd ball. Her dd started crying. She was brave enough to go back & explain what happened & was given a (free) single one. My friend couldn't stop laughing

Gosh, you're a cheeky one aren't you OP.
Did you clean up the spilt chips?

Jeez op how bloody entitled are you? Of course YABU to ask for a free replacement. If you'd dropped them on the way back to your table that would have been on you too.

As an aside I read the other day about a seaside cafe/takeaway that offers 'seagull insurance' for a quid so if one nicks your sarnie they'll replace it. Genius idea.

I would have been prepared to buy another order and said, My little one just spilled the lot. Can I have another order of chips, please?
If they offered to comp the order, great.
But, there's zero obligation as they've done nothing wrong.
I wouldn't be a CFer and ask for the freebie or expect it.

If you’d already paid for the pickles and were heading out the door with them when you dropped them, they certainly wouldn’t be replaced.

This is really unreasonable entitled behaviour, they can't replace every piece of food a kid throws on the floor, they'd be out of business

I had many replacements but I think only drinks and when I am literally there, in plain sight to the bar

I kind of get what you mean. I’ve had a soft drink replaced when I knocked it over at the bar.

But no i wouldn’t ask for something for free. You needed to buy more.

Here in Scotland we take our plates o chips very seriously. I was in a cafe in Arran once and the portion of chips my kid received with his scampi was undersized. I knew this had to be an error because what kind of animals would serve a shite plate o chips? I asked the waitress if she could get him more and she did not hesitate, rushing back with a massive plate and sincere apologies.

Little Rock cafe, you are Scotland's finest!

Did you ask for a free drink?

No it was offered. I think if it had happened at the counter and they offer great. But I wouldn’t ask.

Don't be daft OP.

Am I the only one that thinks buying chips for a baby is a bit crap?

Missing point.

But yes, you were a cheeky mare.

I knocked over my glass of wine in a bar. It went to the floor and smashed. I had to buy a new one and pay for the glass.
I had not even managed to get a sip of it.
Was a wedding held in a private school.