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El Juno ([info]eljuno) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2007-04-02 13:57:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
If milk is rape, does that make this prostitution?
The question:

Is it fair/right for a customer to order what we, at my store, call a "ghetto-latte"?

The "ghetto-latte" is ordering any size Iced Americano, with no water and half ice (This lady's drink is an Iced Venti, no water, half ice, Americano). She then takes the drink and goes to the condiments bar and adds her own half and half.


Seems reasonably simple, right?

Not something you'd expect to cause, say, a three-month, several-hundred comment long flamewar which would eventually get heated enough that comments would be closed?

Apparently, none of us know Starbucks that well.


(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]eilan
2007-04-02 06:35 pm UTC (link)
and then it would be in the realm of "People who order lemon and water so they don't have to tip for a drink because they're asses," sort of thing

Unrelated to this wank, but it came up before and I never really asked: Does water come free of charge in American restaurants? Is that what this whole lemon and water thing is about?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]eljuno
2007-04-02 06:38 pm UTC (link)
Generally, yes.

In general, in a sit-down restaurant, you're going to expect to get water and something bread-like (bread, tortilla chips, popadom, whatever's appropriate for the food-type you're having.) for free.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]eilan
2007-04-02 06:40 pm UTC (link)
Wow, how cool.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]kadath
2007-04-02 07:00 pm UTC (link)
It's just water from the tap, though. Not bottled.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]eilan
2007-04-02 07:02 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I was informed. Ah well, I don't like to drink water anyway, so that's not the way I can be a total sucky cusomer when in the US.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]kadath
2007-04-02 07:04 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I noticed that farther down, sorry.

Ordering water isn't sucky, and waitstaff that say otherwise are asses. Now, ordering water and a bowl of lemon slices on the side so you can make your own faux-lemonade? That's sucky.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]eilan, 2007-04-02 07:06 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]queencallipygos, 2007-04-02 07:43 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]brown_betty, 2007-04-04 02:59 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]hurricane, 2007-04-02 09:13 pm UTC

[info]starkeymonster
2007-04-02 06:39 pm UTC (link)
Water is indeed free in American restaurants. Some people I guess think you're cheap to not order a "real" drink, like soda or booze, that they can charge you for. I have to say as someone who always orders water with meals (sometimes I get other beverages, sometimes I don't) I've rarely had a server be pissy at me about it.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]eilan
2007-04-02 06:41 pm UTC (link)
So, water is free and usually refills are free, too, right? I'll take this opportunity to get myself a bit educated before the next tipping wank...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]shaysdays
2007-04-02 07:05 pm UTC (link)
Refills are free on my fountain drinks like Coke, Sprite, and ginger ale. Not on fresh juices or bottled water, etc.

They're free on regular coffee & iced tea but not hot tea, usually.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]julesnoctambule
2007-04-02 07:13 pm UTC (link)
There's a restaurant near where I live that does free refils of their fresh, homemade lemonade.

The food's great, but the chance to drink all the marvellous lemonade my little heart desires is enough on its own to make me love the place.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]issendai
2007-04-03 02:06 am UTC (link)
But be careful to check the menu before asking for refills, because some places still charge by the cup.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]pyrrah
2007-04-02 06:42 pm UTC (link)
When I first moved here, I had to order water with my meal since I had a scratchy throat at the time. I received a decidedly dirty look from my waitress, and I didn't figure out why until reading this D:

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]ladyvorkosigan
2007-04-02 11:54 pm UTC (link)
I never have either, and I'm not sure quite why I would. Honestly, is the 20 cent tip you'd get on a soda worth it?

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]shaysdays
2007-04-02 06:45 pm UTC (link)
Having been to Europe, I'll say yes, but with a caveat-

Sure, get all the free water you like! But you'll be surprised- it's tap water, right out of the soda machine. Usually it's the water they use to make concentrated cranberry juice into 'juice.'

Some places are now offering bottled still and bubbly bottled for about twice what you'd pay for the same bottle of Perrier/Evian/whatever in a store. Which is usually the case with wine, too. A bottle of wine that costs me $9 to buy is going to cost $4 a glass if I'm eating out. (And there's no standard 'glass' size, if you want to be further horrified- it's whatever the place decides is a 'glass' of wine.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]eilan
2007-04-02 06:47 pm UTC (link)
Some places are now offering bottled still and bubbly bottled for about twice what you'd pay for the same bottle of Perrier/Evian/whatever in a store.

Well, that's, ergh, normal, isn't it? At least in all restaurants I've been.

I suppose you could get tap water here if you asked nicely, but would receive very strange looks. Because if you order water, you get bottled water. And that costs you something like 2+€ a glass.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]shaysdays
2007-04-02 06:55 pm UTC (link)
suppose you could get tap water here if you asked nicely, but would receive very strange looks.

Yes- that was a bit of a shock to me when I ordered water for the first time in Germany and a HUGE bottle of Perrier came out. With my (very) limited German, and my (fluent) husband in the bathroom, I kept trying to explain I just wanted a glass of water to go with my wine, I was thirsty. The waiter kept trying to tell me what I guess were different bottled water names. And I'd come back with, "Glas ob Wasser? Mit der Wein? Durstig? Um... Wasser Ublich?*" Poor guy.

It was a nice little moment of farce resolved by my dearest coming back and explaining things to me (and the waiter) and we were all happy and I felt silly.

*Yes, that is seriously about the limit of my German after simeple conversational things like How are you, Where is the bathroom, please, and the monkey is riding a bicycle. But I try!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]ladysorka
2007-04-02 11:40 pm UTC (link)
As someone who hates anything that bubbles, I hate trying to order a beverage in Europe.

No, I want flat water. WATER. Out of the bloody tap. God damnit.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]brown_betty, 2007-04-04 03:01 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]damien, 2007-04-04 03:32 am UTC

[info]dragonfangirl
2007-04-03 10:28 am UTC (link)
Sure, get all the free water you like! But you'll be surprised- it's tap water, right out of the soda machine.

Am I the only person on the face of the planet who thinks that ordinary tap water tastes 10x better than bottled water?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]slavekitty
2007-04-03 11:52 am UTC (link)
Nope, I don't like bottled water either. It tastes weird. I need my minerals and pollutants, darn it!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]felinephoenix
2007-04-03 08:57 pm UTC (link)
Thirded. I think this means my water will kill me.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]rimrunner
2007-04-04 02:22 am UTC (link)
It really depends on the source, I've found. Seattle tap water tastes fine, but I've been in cities where I thought the water tasted awful (Houston, for example).

And I've recently been to countries where drinking the tap water could turn out to be a really bad idea. Though in Thailand, nicer hotels with lots of foreign guests offer two kinds of bottles: the hotel brand, which is free, and the name brand, for which a charge of about $4 appears on your room bill.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]lindentreeisle
2007-04-04 02:45 am UTC (link)
Actually, I was reading an article recently (forget where or I'd source it) that was about how, in the US at least, bottled water isn't regulated as strictly as tap water; the end result being, while tap water in most places is very safe, bottled water companies are sucking water from under industrial parking lots and shit and calling it "pure spring water" or whatever. Classy! Even more hilarious- a lot of these companies are getting their $1+/bottle fancy water from multiple sources including (zaaa!) tap water.

(I couldn't find the article I wanted but here's another that mentions a lot of the stuff I'm talking about. Or you can find more if you google +tap +bottled +water.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]the_clichemoth
2007-04-05 01:40 am UTC (link)
At least Wal-Mart admits it. Go read any label on their bottled water. It's tap water from somewhere in Tennessee and they don't even try to hide it.

One of my coworkers is fond of Fiji, so I just had to tell her that scientific tests proved that her fancy bottled water contained more arsenic than Cleveland tap water.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]mistressrenet
2007-04-07 03:57 am UTC (link)
It depends on the quality of the tap water and bottled water. I'll pay extra to not drink chlorine taste.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]suzycat
2007-04-08 10:18 am UTC (link)
Nope. Mind you, the tap water in my town is artesian water that pretty much came straight from mountaintops through some ground, so it's as good as Evian and Perrier anyway, apart from not being fizzy.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


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