When people baulk at paying for...

[Ty Korrigan]

the "Whilst your here just can you"

 

I actually found this on FB and it refers to a woman who complained online about being charged £2 for a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon when she visited a cafe but was skint.

 

Now, you probably think that's a pretty fair complaint, right? Well, here's the manager's response:

 

I'm sorry that you feel that you were ripped off and Ill try to explain why you weren't. You entered the cafe and the waiter showed you to your seat, gave you a menu, waited for a time and then took your order.

 

He entered it into the till, collected a cup, saucer and spoon and took them into the kitchen. There, he selected a knife, chopping board, got a lemon from the fridge, cut off a slice and put it in the cup. Then, he returned to the dining room, drew off the necessary hot water and carried the cup to your table.

 

When you were leaving, he printed off your bill, took it to you, processed your credit card payment and cashed off the till.

 

After you left, he cleared away your cup, saucer and spoon, took them into the kitchen, washed and dried them, along with the chopping board and knife and put away the lemon.

 

Then, returning to the dining room he restacked the cup, saucer and spoon, wiped down your table and replaced the menu, awaiting the next customer. That's at least 2-3 minutes work for the waiter.

 

The cost of overheads for the business, i.e rent, business rates, electricity costs, bank charges, etc works out at £27.50 per hour of trading. I pay my colleagues a decent living wage and after taking into account holiday pay, national insurance and non-productive time prior to opening and after closing, the waiter who served you costs me £12.50 per hour.

 

Therefore, together the cost is £40 per hour or 67p per minute, meaning that the cost of providing you with 2-3 minutes of service was £1.34 £2.00. Then the government add on VAT at 20% which takes the cost of that cup of fruit infusion to between £1.60 and £2.40 irrespective of whether you had a teabag costing one and a half pence or a slice of lemon costing five pence.

 

I have to pay my suppliers otherwise the facilities wont be available to other people who use them in the future. I accept that it makes the price of a cuppa in a city centre cafe look expensive compared to the one you make at home but unfortunately that's the cruel reality of life.

 

It's actually the facilities that cost the money, far more so than the ingredients.

 

Perhaps, the rudeness that you perceived in me was triggered by the disrespect that I perceived in you by your presumption that you could use our facilities and be waited on for free.

 

 

Ty

[Steve Bullman]

brilliant. I bet he enjoyed writing that

[Lowestoft Firewood]

Brilliant response, must have cost a few minutes of his time

[agrimog]

that, Ty, puts things into perspective, it can be difficult trying to get laymen to understand the hidden overheads involved in costing jobs, they dont see behind the face of whats going on

[Johny Walker]

brilliant. I bet he enjoyed writing that

 

i enjoyed reading it

[Ty Korrigan]

I used much this same arguement when todays client called me about the extra 150euros I told his wife we are charging for this that and the other requested on top of the agreed work. I charged 'pro-rata' in tandem with the original quote. No-one has been diddled.

As it was, the client almost refused to pay for ALL of the work as 'apparantly' we have left some drag marks from branches on a wall.

So tomorrow/today now I will go back with a brush and bleach and clean the wall and take my cheque with a smile.

Ty

[mendiplogs]

brilliant. I bet he enjoyed writing that

 

Hi STEVE we had a Woman last week at our local village pub they sell mineral water there at 1:40 for half a litre but she didn't want mineral water she wanted tapwater free taking the Mickey and she were there are using the free Wi-Fi thanks John

[difflock]

My Wife never left the house last week, how very dare make such accusations Sir!

[NFG]

Hi Ty

 

Good dit, there are too many freeloaders who take the piss

 

Thanks for posting

 

N

[Treemoose]

I get this, but sometimes you just have to do a thing. It's a small task and it's not the job your going to be making your money on.

Your going to get a bad reputation if you charge for tap water with a slice of lemon however unfair it might be.

If it's a free loader that makes a habit of it then fair enough. If it's more like a one off I think I'd have the mind to let it slide in the hope they will come back with the family for breakfast one day.

 

If I get asked to do something extra and i have plenty of time an extra 10-15 mins keeps the customer happy and it's no real sweat. If it's more time than that or I don't have the time that day and I need to come back then I would charge the extra.

However the manager isn't wrong with the maths.