'AITA for not paying for my drinks in a restaurant?' 'I would have gone to the supermarket.'
"AITA for not paying for my drinks in a restaurant?"
Myself and a few family members went to a local restaurant for the first time. We made our food order and then were asked if we wanted drinks - we are all non alcohol drinkers so each ordered a soft drink. We were waiting a fairly long time for the food...
At the 30 minute point, we were informed something was wrong with certain machinery in the kitchen and they are trying to fix it. Another 15 minutes later we were told it couldn't be fixed and therefore the food we wanted couldn't be made. Some limited items could be made but none of what we ordered was possible.
We told them we would leave then and then we are asked to pay for the drinks we had ordered - at this point each person had half consumed their glass of soft drink due to the long wait.
I refused to pay this as we had visited for the food, not the drinks and had we known no food would be served, we wouldn't have ordered drinks. If I wanted a night out purely to consume soft drinks I would have gone to the supermarket where it would have cost me a fifth of the price.
The best the restaurant said they could offer me was 10% off the next visit but I simply told them I wasn't going to pay a penny and they eventually gave up debating and just told us to go. So...AITA? Or was I justified in not paying?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Happy-go-luckyAlways said:
NTA - restaurant manager here....they should have comped you the drinks for your inconvenience for your party to come back.
pwolf1771 said:
NTA that place must be headed out of business if they’re that worried about soft drinks.
MEBLTLJ said:
No you’re not an AH. Management should’ve come to the table, apologized and offered a free or reduced future meal. Your experience sucks.
cchillur said:
NTA. They should never have asked for drink payment. They should be embarrassed. I can only assume based on everything you said that this place will not be open for very long.
No_Good_Turn said:
NTA. The manager should have comped the value of the drinks because of your inconvenience. You were not asking for much after their having wasted an hour of your time.
lilmanfromtheD said:
NTA: What a cheap restaurant - I would not be returning ever.