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Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man

I visited a coffee outlet, no prices were displayed.
I asked where are your prices? Response was, "What would you like"?
"I would like to see a price list"
"I can tell you what the price is if you tell me what you want"
"Why do you not have a price list displayed? Then we would not be having this conversation. Do you actually have a price list?"
She started to show signs of distress and started hurrying around the place looking for a price list.
"I do not understand why businesses have taken to not having prices displayed"
She eventually finds one under the counter and places it in front of me.
"This store used to have prices displayed on a board on the wall. That has been removed. I do not understand this business model."
Anyway, I ordered and paid, she went over to the "Barista"? they exchanged a few words whilst eyeballing this grumpy old man. 😄

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SW-User

I slammed the door on an exterminator salesman today when he wouldn't take no for an answer and I've felt guilty about it ever since.

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cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@SW-User there is a company that sends out very aggressive salespeople here who won’t stop talking and offering deals. They start out saying that a lot of my neighbors have signed up with them and then start talking about the bugs they are seeing around the houses inside and out. I haven’t slammed a door yet but let them know I got something cooking on the stove and need to get back in the kitchen. They usually come around 5 pm or so.

SW-User

@cherokeepatti that's exactly how it was and i was having none of it but after i was thinking about how young he was and maybe i could have been a little more tactful

Oster1 · M

@SW-User What a Roach, he was!

ArishMell · 70-79, M

I have not encountered a cafe that does not display prices, but I am at a loss to think why they should not.

It is hardly difficult and looking at the responses so far it's clear this is by some policy invented and ordained by remote pseuds-in-suits working in cabals with "Pseuds'-Corner"* titles like "Display Committee".

Which suggests to me, these outlets are in major chains run by mere spreadsheet-jockeys with "ologies" in "Business Studies" but not how to run a business, let alone how to treat customers.

I do not use the chains. I much prefer independent tea-rooms and coffee-shops, for individuality and better value. (I do not know which are the cheaper, but that's a different matter.) They also display their menus and prices.

I do though think it very pretentious having to speak in England what American "Display Committee" types think is Italian just by adding the letter 'o', just to ask for an ordinary cup of a beverage that was never North American, Italian or English until its imports started in the 18C.

'

*"Pseuds' Corner" is one of two similar pretension-puncturing columns in the British satirical magazine, Private Eye, and mainly drawing on business and the arts. Both work simply by quoting their victims' actual spoken or written words, no comment necessary. The other column, called 'Colemanballs' after a famous football commentator, is dedicated to the rhubarb spouted by over-excited sports-people, especially footballers, showing themselves no cleverer than they should be.

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

I won’t order if they don’t display prices.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@cherokeepatti That is my normal response as well.
This time I simply wanted a coffee, knowing that the price would be under $5.

TwiddlerofThumbs · F

keep being the grumpy old man!!
no prices is a shit way to do business.

checkoutanytime · M

I agree with the frustration, its comforting to know. I assume with the rate of inflation, theyd have to make no price sheets, every week or two.

Blackboards are used in many of the village stores my work travels bring me.

Spoiledbrat · F

No, I would be annoyed to. That's dishonest. I wouldn't like that.

Gusman · 61-69, M

@Spoiledbrat There was one cafe I visited which sold food and coffee.
The only price displayed was - Coffee from $4.20.
I spoke with the server and he told me he is a franchisee to the company and it was the companies policy to not display prices.
We spoke at length and one of my observations was that there was very little through traffic. People were looking, maybe because there were no prices displayed they moved on.
He said that one time he put up some makeshift prices but the owner came around one day and told him to remove them.
I went back there near closing time and saw how much produce was left over and I asked him what happens to all that food.
He said we take some home and the rest is thrown in the bin at a loss to our bottom line.

I wrote to the head office and relayed my observations. The reply was, Thank you for your feedback, we will pass it on the our Display Committee.
After a couple of months there were still no prices displayed so I wrote them again. No response this time.
That was over two years ago and there are still no prices displayed.
I sometimes have a coffee there because I know the price.
In talking to other customers, many of them tell me they will not order food because there are no prices displayed.
What a ridiculous business model. A model that is stopping the franchisee from reaching their full potential.

Spoiledbrat · F

I think it's manipulative. @Gusman

AnthonyJ · 61-69, M

"And that, kids, is how you get spit in your latte..." 😂

Gusman · 61-69, M

@AnthonyJ If I did get spit in my coffee it was nice spit because the coffee tasted great 😋

Mindful · 56-60, F

Mmmm that would bother me too

SW-User

Maybe

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