Profiteering from heat waves? Fast-food places sometimes refuse WATER to custome

[Freeper]

ProgressiveEconomist  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Tue Jul-20-10 09:26 PM
Original message
Profiteering from heat waves? Fast-food places sometimes refuse WATER to customers who ask for it,
   
requiring instead that they buy highly marked-up soft drinks or even more exorbitantly-priced bottled water.

Health officials in this month of record-high temperatures across the country advise people who've been outside to drink plenty of liquids to avoid heat prostration and heatstroke.

(1) Are some fast-food restaurants profiteering from the hot weather?
(2) Should restaurants be required to serve water on demand to food customers?
(3) Does the retail food code in your jurisdiction mandate that they do so?

Has this ever happened to you? It happened to me today, until I told a Maconald's manager he was trying to profiteer from the hot weather and could get negative publicity for his establishment. Surprisingly, my google search turned up only one on-point article, more than a year old.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?

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From http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies... :

'Restaurant says no to water cups for teen customers By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen, Times-Herald, Vallejo, Calif.

Publication: Times-Herald, Vallejo (California) Date: Wednesday, June 24 2009

Jun. 24--Laverne Casey of Vallejo said she was shocked when she took her family to the McDonald's restaurant on Springs Road and was refused a glass of water. ... "I took my children there, and ordered food, and we didn't want soda or anything, so I asked for water and they didn't want to serve it," Casey said. Bottled water is available for sale at the store, but signs are posted advising customers that water cups are not available.

Restaurants are not required by law to serve water, said spokespeople for the state Department of Alcoholic and Beverage Control and the Solano County Department of Health/Resource Management. "There is no law. It's a courtesy," Solano County's Pat Rodruiguez said. "There's nothing in the California retail food code dealing with the issue."

The policy is not a McDonald's corporate decision but one made by the owners of this particular Vallejo location, manager Manuel "Alex" Mejia said. Store officials decided several years ago to discontinue providing cups of water to unaccompanied teens, though others can get water on request, Mejia said. It's a judgment call, he said. "Sometimes groups of teens come in, and they don't necessarily behave by the rules, and they dump the water and fill the cup up with free soda," Mejia said.

Nevertheless, Casey said the policy is basically heartless. And there's a principle involved, she said. ...'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8783758

Yep dummies upset that businesses actually charge people for things. 
Most fast food joints give out free water because they are being nice.

Systematic Chaos  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Tue Jul-20-10 09:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. Simple solution: Bring in concealed cups and get what you want from the self-serve fountain
   
when nobody's looking. If there are two other customers in the place that should be enough to score emergency hydration after you've taken your food and sat down. Would I pull that on a cool day? No. But if I'm half dehydrated in summer heat then screw 'em.

Greedy effing pigs.

You won't shell out a buck for the small cup to use their ice and their water and you call them greedy?

ProgressiveEconomist  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Tue Jul-20-10 10:41 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Thanks for reminding me about the environmental angle. It likely WOULD waste
   
water for restaurants to pour a glass for every guest without asking whether the guest wants water. But wouldn't it be hard for restaurant managers to argue they're being environmentalists for REFUSING water to customers who come in our of 100 degree heat and ASK for it?

IMO, retail food codes should require that clean free drinking water be served to every food customer who ASKS for water.

What if they are hungry as well should we mandate that they get a free meal too?

kestrel91316  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Tue Jul-20-10 10:00 PM
Response to Original message
3. Any restaurant, fast food or not, that refused to serve a glass of FREE
   
water to a customer would not see one red cent in business from me from that point until the policy was rescinded.

I'm sure all the restaurants in your area are shaking in their boots knowing a freeloader like you won't stop by.

nadinbrzezinski  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Tue Jul-20-10 10:44 PM
Response to Original message
5. Sadly this will not change   Updated at 4:24 PM
   
until somebody ends up in the ER or dead, and there is a lawsuit.

And yes, they are profeteering.

You know what people can either pay up the dollar for the cup or go across the street to another restaurant who will hand out free water. If worse comes to worse you could go to the john and drink out of the sink.

[Airwolf]

I found myself in this same situation a few years ago except I was working for the place that refused to let me get water when the temps on the parking lot to the business was around 120-130 easy. The stupid bitch bartender said I was spending to much time getting water and not enough on watching the lot. The frackin glass only held maybe 12-16 oz of whater and it was styrofoam. Sorry but the heat was repressive and felt like I was baking on the outside. They were not about to let me stay inside where the AC was either. So I went to the far side of their so called lot and stayed there for another 3 hours when finally someone came out with a warm glass of water and apologized after I called the boss and told her I was going to leave the job site.

[thundley4]

Poor planning on their part does not mean that restaurants are responsible for giving them water.

[Carl]

GIMME WHAT I WANT FOR FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Normal DUmmy talk.

[Freeper]

I found myself in this same situation a few years ago except I was working for the place that refused to let me get water when the temps on the parking lot to the business was around 120-130 easy. The stupid bitch bartender said I was spending to much time getting water and not enough on watching the lot. The frackin glass only held maybe 12-16 oz of whater and it was styrofoam. Sorry but the heat was repressive and felt like I was baking on the outside. They were not about to let me stay inside where the AC was either. So I went to the far side of their so called lot and stayed there for another 3 hours when finally someone came out with a warm glass of water and apologized after I called the boss and told her I was going to leave the job site.

If you are working for the place that is different.
Just walking off the street and expecting free water is another matter. If they are kind enough to give it to you then that's fine. they also have the right to refuse service to non paying customers.

[Freeper]

GIMME WHAT I WANT FOR FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Normal DUmmy talk.

Yep typical of dummies. If someone does something as a courtesy then they expect legislation forcing everyone to follow suit.

[Chris_]

Restaurants has been doing that for years.  I've lost count of the number of times I've asked for a large cup of water and the employee at the counter tried to charge me full price for a drink.  This was before they started putting their drink fountains in the dining room where you could get whatever you wanted.

[dandi]

Geezly crow, if you're that desperate walk around the outside of the building. There's bound to be an exterior spigot there somewhere. It ain't the fricken Mojave desert.

Or you can do what we used to do in my hippy days - go from car to car in the drive-thru asking for spare change.

 

[debk]

All the fast food restaurants and quick shops (the ones that sell gas) all charge the same for pop or for water and/or ice.

I've asked why, and was told they calculate for ordering quantity based on the number of cups sold. Don't know if that's true or not, but I've been told that at Wendy's and Arby's recently, when I wanted plain water. And I've been told the same, when I've bought pop in a bottle and asked for a cup of ice in a quick shop.

In the summertime, lots of the quick shops will sell the giant cups of pop for 99cents. In the winter, they do it with coffee. Pilot started it, and most of the rest followed it, cause they were losing business to Pilot.

[Chris_]

Before McDonald's started using plastic cups, you used to be able to buy a large paper cup of ice for a quarter.  Not anymore.

[Chris_]

Those DUmmies would NEVER survive in Arizona or Nevada. 

I drink so much water a day to make sure I am hydrated... even while in my air conditioned office, car, and home.  I bought this really nice water bottle from Kohl's and it's always full of water.  If you ask nicely, businesses have no problem giving you a tiny plastic cup to get a drink of water.  When I was 18 and manager at the BK.... I gave free water to all of the homeless that came into the store to cool down for a little bit in the summer. 

That's just a personal thing though.  What other people do or do not do is their business.

[Chris_]

You realize, the cups, lids, and straws all cost money?

[diesel driver]

When I worked as a delivery driver, I carried a 2 gallon Igloo water cooler with me in the truck.  I had a friend of mine that ran a convenience store who would let me fill it with ice.  When I started running out of water during the day, I got a 3 gallon one.  Some days, it was so hot in the truck (box van), that the soles of my shoes would start to melt and stick to the floorboard....

I preferred the heat to the cold, though.  In the winter, those vans would have frost on the walls inside the cargo area....

[JohnnyReb]

Hey DUmmie as soon as 'cap & trade' is passed they're gonna start charging for air.

[HACKSAW]

Whay are they bitching about? Al Gore has been profiteering from heat waves for years and he is one of their heros!

[franksolich]

You realize, the cups, lids, and straws all cost money?

Right on, sir.

Around here, water and ice are free to whoever wishes it, provided they come in with their own container.

If one has no container, the cup costs twenty-five cents.

That's the charge for the cup, not for the water or ice.

Cups are expensive; it's not like a business can just give them away.

[Karin]

The Las Vegas Leviathan advocates out-and-out stealing?  Sneak a cup in, and surreptitiously fill it with "whatever you want" at the fountain?  Skip the water, have a Coke.  Why not?  And then he calls THEM "greedy f-ing pigs." 

I hope he tries that, and has an embarrassing run-in with the law. 

[Ralph Wiggum]

You realize, the cups, lids, and straws all cost money?

And that's pretty much the extent of the cost of any fountain drink.  The pop/soda/coke whatever costs them next to nothing.  I have no problem with some fast-food joint charging me a quarter for a glass of water.  Of course I don't choose to frequent them often.

[Karin]

But if David Patterson gets his way, sugar soft drinks will have a big freakin tax on it, on a per-ounce basis.  It starts costing more than next to nothing.  Freakin New York. 

[Ralph Wiggum]

But if David Patterson gets his way, sugar soft drinks will have a big freakin tax on it, on a per-ounce basis.  It starts costing more than next to nothing.  Freakin New York. 

Yeah, and it obviously shouldn't be the government's role to do such a thing.

Since I drink almost exclusively diet drinks and don't live in NY state, I don't really have to worry.  But it is still ridiculous.

[jukin]

ZERO Bong.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

It's a crowd control provision. I knew it before I got to the paragraph where they interviewed the manager.

But leave it to the DUmbasses to claim somebody will die.

[NHSparky]

I've been under the impression that fast food places, etc., ALWAYS charge for cups, even if it's only 10-15 cents.

Then again, when I was out in the field working, I always took a 2 1/2 gallon water jug with me.  Ice water, and if I was feeling particularly nice to myself, I'd stick a plastic jug of iced tea inside.

[USA4ME]

Systematic Chaos

1. Simple solution: Steal it!!

There.  I just shortened your post and said exactly what you did.

If worse comes to worse you could go to the john and drink out of the toilet.

Primitives aren't worthy of sink water. 

.

[DumbAss Tanker]

You realize, the cups, lids, and straws all cost money?

Works out to be similar to the seller's cost on the beverage, actually.