Cheap and rude

[pimping]

I was speaking to a local cafe owner who I am quite friendly with the other day and he told me what this local 'character' had been up to lately in his cafe.
First off the cafe owner said when the guy had received his soft drink he asked the price and then replied that he could buy it cheaper down the road at the supermarket. Well yes the cafe owner replied but explained by the tiny margin that is how he tries to turn a profit and run his business.
Secondly this cheap and rude guy struck up a conversation about the food served and complained about the lack of some food choices on the menu. The owner whom I know to be a polite and helpful guy said apologies but some items are not worth doing for just the odd customer. I have no idea of the item requested. But anyway the guy then asked the cafe owner if he could drive him to the local supermarket on a weekly basis to purchase items from the supermarket and have the cafe owner cook them for him.
The cafe owner relayed this story to me and asked if he was being unreasonable. I told him he should tell this guy to take a running jump off something high! I've met this local 'character' before and can confirm he is a tool first hand, all he spoke about was how by travelling 60 billion years to some obscure place he can save 0.11% on an item.
It has got me thinking how many other businesses get stupid requests? Don't people realise others are running a business to put food on the table and not just satisfy the local mentals.

[dmulally]

Don't waste your time thinking about stupid people. If you want to conduct an experiment try selling a car on ebay. The stupid requests come through even from the buyer weeks after they have picked up the car.

It's what happens when everyone is told they are special and hard done by. They begin to believe it and expect to be treated as such.

[PHmember]

The bloke may have 'issues' we don't know about. I work with people who have autism/aspergers & have a client that would more than likely ask those same questions & not have any idea that he was being rude or unreasonable - all he sees are his needs & wants.

ETA: On the other hand he could just be a world class bellend (the cafe bloke, not my client).

Edited by PHmember on Tuesday 25th September 08:08

[Grenoble]

I think you covered it:

"not worth doing for just the odd customer"

With odd being the operative.

[Vieste]

But anyway the guy then asked the cafe owner if he could drive him to the local supermarket on a weekly basis to purchase items from the supermarket and have the cafe owner cook them for him.

I would tell him to fek off and use another cafe.

[blindswelledrat]

pimping said:

Don't people realise others are running a business to put food on the table and not just satisfy the local mentals.

Something I have noticed too, and it's universally true and not just of thick people.
My wife is forever saying "THat's just a license to print money" or similar, at loads of stuff, purely because perhaps an apple has a 100% mark up.
People honestly just dont have the first idea about the realities of running a business

[Landlord]

These types of customer are relatively common in the service industry. I'm still aghast at how people expect places to be run the way they want it to, and are happy to tell you what's wrong and what you should be doing. "I tell you what you should do..." is a phrase that instantly makes me switch off, smile politely and say "good idea!" when the sound stops long enough for me to assume they've finished talking. Note; this is different to feedback/complaints/whatever, to which we listen carefully and care very much about.

I can't think of many other businesses where customers feel so free to tell you how to run them - in spite of having absolutely no experience of doing it themselves. I've never walked in to John Lewis and suggested that they move the home-wares section back a few feet and bring the confectionery section to the front as that's the one I want to use.

[James P]

Landlord said:

I've never walked in to John Lewis and suggested that they move the home-wares section back a few feet and bring the confectionery section to the front as that's the one I want to use.

It wasn't John Lewis but an old colleague of mine did have a habit of writing/ sending faxes to shops telling them exactly how their shop should be re-organised to suit her. Normally this involved shortening the walk to where the wine was kept

[Landlord]

James P said:

It wasn't John Lewis but an old colleague of mine did have a habit of writing/ sending faxes to shops telling them exactly how their shop should be re-organised to suit her. Normally this involved shortening the walk to where the wine was kept

I stand corrected!

[nickg123]

I've had people ask if I can quickly respray parts of their car before while I've got it with me for a day detailing it, (usual full machine polishing etc) - I've done the odd bit of touching in stone chips but some people seem to think you could actually just respray one whole part of a car or all the wheels "while you're at it"....

[Happy82]

When I worked in the pub trade we had a call from a local business requesting us to have 50(ish) meals ready for when they arrived with their staff for a meeting (marketing group). I said that it would not be a problem as long as they paid up front and the lady told me "I don't want to pay up-front as we're not sure if we'll 100% be coming to your pub because we may go elsewhere, but could you prepare the food just in case as we don't want to arrive and have to wait"

[MartynVRS]

Shop I work in gets this on almost a daily basis now. Every customer it seems expects you to order on hoodie or baselayer or whatever from a supplier just so they can buy one. Clothes from major brands are ordered months in advance and once they're gone they're gone. Some stuff can be ordered quickly but most suppliers insist on minimum value orders so while it's ok if we are due to reorder stuff but not so if they want us to order one Headguard in an extra small just to see if it fits. You can only be so accommodating and in the last two shops I've worked in I've noticed that the more choice you give, the customer will always want more choice.

[GreenDog]

blindswelledrat said:

pimping said:

Don't people realise others are running a business to put food on the table and not just satisfy the local mentals.

Something I have noticed too, and it's universally true and not just of thick people.
My wife is forever saying "THat's just a license to print money" or similar, at loads of stuff, purely because perhaps an apple has a 100% mark up.
People honestly just dont have the first idea about the realities of running a business

So it's not just my wife who does this then. I've given up trying to reason with her.

[PHmember]

I've also had the reverse from a shop as a customer. Went into a local chandlers looking to pay cash there & then for a Musto jacket, asked to try on the one I liked & was met with the reply 'Are you going to buy it?' - 'Er, well I don't know until I've tried it on', 'You can only try it on if you're going to buy it..', 'See ya...'. Idiot - he went out of business shortly after that.

[Pablo Escobar]

At the moment I work in a pub/restaurant that has won lots of awards for its food, the chef really knows his stuff.
We regularly get people who'll come in and either decide that they don't like anything on the menu and say things like "could you just do us beans and chips" or people who'll disregard the menu or specials altogether and just decide what they want to eat and expect it to be done for them, and then they kick off when you have to explain to them that they need to order something that's actually being offered, what with it being a restaurant and not their house.

The sooner my application to Sandhurst is processed the better. wkers the lot of them.

[James P]

Landlord said:

James P said:

It wasn't John Lewis but an old colleague of mine did have a habit of writing/ sending faxes to shops telling them exactly how their shop should be re-organised to suit her. Normally this involved shortening the walk to where the wine was kept

I stand corrected!

Another gem was bookng a coach trip from the back of the local paper. She demanded to know which hotel she would be staying at then sent a fax to the hotel telling them what view she wanted from her room and which TV channels she required in the room.

A shame she retired really as all this was done in a single word document that could be relied on to cheer up a Friday afternoon

[Pork]

With the subject title, I thought this was going to be about my first ever girlfriend.

[TonyHetherington]

blindswelledrat said:

pimping said:

Don't people realise others are running a business to put food on the table and not just satisfy the local mentals.

Something I have noticed too, and it's universally true and not just of thick people.
My wife is forever saying "THat's just a license to print money" or similar, at loads of stuff, purely because perhaps an apple has a 100% mark up.
People honestly just dont have the first idea about the realities of running a business

My boss is very much like this too. My friend runs a local bike shop, and so we often pop in there for a browse at lunch time (my boss is a cyclist also).

He'll look around at everything and, without fail, say "you can get this X pounds cheaper on ebay". Well yes you can, but because I come in here so much he always knocks money off at the till anyway, and I get to come and handle it, and try it on, and talk to people, and get advice and and and.

It's very frustrating; many people want the service of someone to try things on but the pricing of the internet. Completely ignoring any and all costs associated with having a shop and all it entails.