Patrons with lattes

[cathrynapple]

I don't think anyone at Applebee's or chili's has ever noticed me dunking my own tea bag into the hot water i paid for.

I've walked into similar places or bars with a paper cup of coffee, but only if I was walking around downtown with it beforehand. Again, no one notices.

[Beanie]

I don't think anyone at Applebee's or chili's has ever noticed me dunking my own tea bag into the hot water i paid for.

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I have no problem with a customer using his/her own tea bag if the cup of hot water is paid for. I have a serious problem with a customer walking into my store, teabag in hand, taking a paper coffee cup from the self-serve station, asking me to fill it up with hot water and turning around to walk out without even asking if there's a charge, then ranting and raving when told it is not free. Believe it or not, this has happened. Never saw the customer before or after. Good thing.

[JasonTrue]

I've been to that crumpet shop... since many patrons sit down and order tea and crumpets there, they were likely operating under the assumption that the coffee was lost revenue for them. But considering they have 6 packs of crumpets to go, it seems a bit disingenuous to assume the worst, since they instantly lost the intended transaction.

Since I don't drink coffee, I hadn't thought about this at all, but the last time my husband and I were at Pike Place, he bought a cup of coffee and we were walking through the market.  We stopped at the crumpet shop to pick up a bag to take home and get a few to eat on the way.  They wouldn't let him come in the door with his coffee.  We weren't trying to make them lose money by buying a beverage elsewhere; we were just walking around.  Even though I can see not taking a coffee into a restaurant, are you just supposed to dump your pricey coffee every time you go into another place?  It irritated me.

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There are a number of shopkeepers who request that patrons do not bring food and drink into the store. Could it be that in a small space, a cup of coffee (or a soda or ice cream) would constitute a hazard for other patrons?

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Edited April 3, 2008 by JasonTrue (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Actually, nothing's to stop him finishing the coffee, then going into the shop. But if you value the coffee for reasons of price, taste or whatever, how about respecting it instead of taking it shopping with you?

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I'm thinking that paying for the coffee was showing it as much respect as is possible.

[Peter B Wolf]

Bringing your own Latte, Tea or other, except Wine where it is even recommended, is completely rude, ignorant, no respect, selfish and I can not htink of better words.

Next we will see people bringing their home movies to Theaters..

The only place people should bring their own to are toilets

[heidih]

I see that $bucks firmly attached to hand alot here in Southern California along with the mini dogs in the handbag in places like the Post Office and the Farmers market! So wrong. Today while walking past the seafood market that sells fresh seafood as well as prepared items, I saw a sign that said no outside food or drink was allowed in their seating area. Not surprisingly my eye was drawn to a big fuzzy logic rice cooker in the middle of a group's table. The place sells white rice. People are amazing.

[Ohba]

Actually, nothing's to stop him finishing the coffee, then going into the shop. But if you value the coffee for reasons of price, taste or whatever, how about respecting it instead of taking it shopping with you?

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I'm thinking that paying for the coffee was showing it as much respect as is possible.

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No doubt, but it's no reason why another shop has to let people come in with hot drinks - or concern themselves with what was paid for them. I wasn't sure if this coffee was being carried to the car with a detour or two, or drunk on the hoof, but if it was my shop, it would make no difference and I'd have done the same.

[sugarseattle]

we get people bringing their s***bucks cups into our shop, and we usually point out that we serve fabulous coffee and espresso drinks, and then say jokingly "for next time you come in". it is hard to break people of habits. One barista I was thinking of hiring said when people did that in her shop, she would give them one of her coffees, saying "you should taste our coffee...it's so much better" I thought that was a great idea. I should have hired her!

[onocoffee]

Years ago, I was taking my niece out for the day and we ended up getting smoothies while strolling along the mall. After a while, we decided we were hungry and I took her to the restaurant Mariposa inside Neiman Marcus, with our smoothies in hand.

I hadn't even thought about it but the staff welcomed us and asked if they could take our smoothies and transfer them to glassware. No muss, no fuss, no attitude - just hospitality.

That was the best way to handle the situation. They kept their customers and I ended up spending freely after being so graciously accommodated.

Now that I run my own place, I try to keep this in mind when accommodating our clientele.

[Tess]

I like multitasking myself, but if you drink your coffee while doing other things, you should be careful. That includes driving, shopping and walking in crowds. Where I live, you get people who buy their humungous Starbucks, walk across the street to the specialty food shop and eat free samples while putting their drink down on glass top of the deli or on the sample table. (Those people also tend to block everyone else's movement because they are so busy wrangling a large hot drink, some food and some shopping bags, and probably a cell phone too. I recently heard someone requested not to put her drink down on a tray of food that was for sale. Health reasons were cited but she just explained patiently that she didn't have enough hands to carry everything. Because I guess someone put a gun to her head and made her walk around with all that stuff.)

[phlox]

I solve the bad coffee at restaurants problem by downing my two shots of (good) espresso before I eat breakfast.

This puts me in a better mood should my eggs take longer than usual