Saturday I Saw The Cheapest Food Customers Ever

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

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I'm not sure of this story belongs here or off-topic but here it goes.

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I was at the Albion flea market Saturday afternoon. It was near 5:00pm and the flea market was about to close, I was trying to get a plate of food. This woman approached this Hindu-Punjabi food stall and cutted in front of me. She then asked the owner of the place she wanted 6 plates of chicken curry with rice. Each plate was $5.99. The husband, this short fat guy about 50 years old, told his wife that he did not want any food so the woman then says she wants 5 plates. Remember they are $5.99 each. So the owner starts to prepare their food and accomodate the salads and bags them. She then says "It's $30 dollars". The woman then produces just $20 and says that is all "I have". The owner says "no way" and puts the bag aside. The woman talks to the owner and the owner nods "no".

The woman than produces a $5 bill and says that is all she has in her pockets. The owner was maybe trying to get rid of the food and tells her it's okay, she can take the food even though she is $5 short. Now get this: the woman has the balls to ask if the drinks are included with the food even though she is getting the food at a $5 discount, the owner tells her "no". They again argue back and forth, the owner then does something stupid. She throws in 2 free Cokes just to get rid of her. The woman then goes to a table and seats down to chomp on the food with her 4 kids. The husband grabs crumbs of food from the kids and the woman and decides that he also wants a plate of food. He ordered the same curry dish and then only wanted to pay $5 and not $5.99 and get this, he also wanted a free drink.

At this point the owner has had enough and tells him "no more food sale, I'm closing" and starts to take out the metal square pots from the counter. The guy cusses a lot and walks to the next stall and buys a jamaican patty, takes it to the table and sips from his wife's Coca-Cola which neither of them paid for. The man keeps cussing and annoying the Punjabi owner of the stall even after he gave his ungrateful family a HUGE discount and 2 free drinks.

This made me angry and I wanted to tell the guy where to go but it wasn't any of my business. The food stall owner was the stupid one here for giving this family a hand and this is how they paid him back. Why do we have people like this on this planet?
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[Phuman]

wow...if i was the owner id already explain to them that they already got a discount and drinks woulda been extra :mad: Greedy ppl these days..

[ggs]

probably an rfd'er.. :D

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

probably an rfd'er.. :D

:razz: So eerily true........

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[Dr Butcher]

I have been reading a lot from guys who cater BBQ and their first rule is to never budge on your price. As soon as you, do you become known as the guy who gives discounts and every cheapskate in the area will come out to beat you down on your prices.

This is a bit different as they probably didn't mind because they were closing and wanted to get rid of some of the food rather than packing it up. Still, now it's out there that they gave a discount and I'm sure friends and family will be out trying to pull the same tactics.

[Grassgreen]

What a joke.

There is bargain hunting and then there is acting like a freakin jerk.

I defintely would have given those folks my two cents worth....maybe not rudely since they had kids with them, but those kids are also being taught that type of behavior is acceptable.

[eelfliw]

Post some pictures of this family.

[Mei Yee]

Well, I have two completely different thoughts:

1. Maybe they were just people on welfare - and wanted a meal out. The fact that the Mrs. ordered and then short changed the vendor is pathetic though.

2. With parents like that, I wonder what the kids will grow up to be like. Also, I wonder if the kids will soon feel embarrassed by their parents' behaviour and rebel.

I wish people would "grow up"!!

[kuqdew]

:cheesygri

[onehaehyuk]

Post some pictures of this family.

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/gallery/britneykevinsplit/britney_spears11.jpg

[cipher]

If I was the vendor...I would've flat out refused and thrown the food into the trash in front of them...

[thegazelle]

I don't have much patience for this type of behaviour. I sell stuff on Craigslist regularly and I get severely lowball offers on a regular basis. Even though at times I need the money, I simply refuse, since I find it insulting that people would be so cheap. There is negotiation and there is flexiblity, but then there is unreasonableness. My wife had a garage sale a few years back, and you wouldn't believe how many cheapskates showed up at the door. We ended up simply telling some customers to get lost (yes, I realized that it wasn't the best customer service tactic) but when people are not serious about doing business, that's what you have to do sometimes in order to take a stand and not be bullied monetarily. I realize that sometimes you need to use some common sense and discretion (some people are honestly short on cash and don't know it), but most of us smell a rat from a mile away.

In this case, if I was the owner, I would have probably done the following: refuse to sell her the food if she is asking for extra (drinks), even though she already got a discount. Then offer the food for free to anyone else who wants it. That way, it doesn't waste the food, but it also makes a clear point that her actions and attitude were not welcome, and that I'd rather lose a sale and stand on principle, rather than give in to ultra-cheapskates.

Thanks for sharing the story.

[santas_slayer]

the simple answer here... as russell peters says himself. Indian people are cheap.

and no, i'm not being racist, i'm from the same area... my dad is cheap too... although i don't think he would go to that extent...

in fact... who bargains for food... my dad will try and get some money off a tv or something he's paying for... but... food?

geez

[jandumm]

the simple answer here... as russell peters says himself. Indian people are cheap.

and no, i'm not being racist, i'm from the same area... my dad is cheap too... although i don't think he would go to that extent...

in fact... who bargains for food... my dad will try and get some money off a tv or something he's paying for... but... food?

geez


ehn its definitely a cultural thing - i'm indian and there's this mindset that if ur buying something from another brown person, there's definitely negotiating room no matter WHAT it is.

In india, ur most probably getting ripped off if you pay the first price the shopowner asks unless its one of those new "fixed price" stores. The same sort of thing exists here with all sorts of merchandise when going "indian shopping". Personally, i find it real irritating having to negotiate when buying anything.

That being said, this family definitely took it too far.

[spamblockers]

Wow do those parents ever have a nerve I tell you. I would be so pissed just seeing that. If they sat by me I would have picked up my stuff and walked out. Damn people! And worst thing of all the husband starts cussing!! Grrrrrr *@&@*! I wish you could slap people across the head for acting as ******** as they did. :evil:

[tataynik]

In india, ur most probably getting ripped off if you pay the first price the shopowner asks unless its one of those new "fixed price" stores. The same sort of thing exists here with all sorts of merchandise when going "indian shopping". Personally, i find it real irritating having to negotiate when buying anything.


I guess the most important part of your post is "In India".

[spamblockers]

I guess the most important part of your post is "In India".

So true! And I might be getting a lil carried away but for the simple reason of that Canada in some fashion has cut particular services they used to offer Canadians for similar types of behaviour... :cry:

[prying eyes]

????? where did Op mention that the customers were Indian or from anywhere near.....

The only definite info is about the restaurant...not even about the owner...the simple answer here... as russell peters says himself. Indian people are cheap.

and no, i'm not being racist, i'm from the same area... my dad is cheap too... although i don't think he would go to that extent...

in fact... who bargains for food... my dad will try and get some money off a tv or something he's paying for... but... food?

geez

[tataynik]

ehn its definitely a cultural thing - i'm indian and there's this mindset that if ur buying something from another brown person, there's definitely negotiating room no matter WHAT it is.

In india, ur most probably getting ripped off if you pay the first price the shopowner asks unless its one of those new "fixed price" stores. The same sort of thing exists here with all sorts of merchandise when going "indian shopping". Personally, i find it real irritating having to negotiate when buying anything.

That being said, this family definitely took it too far.

????? where did Op mention that the customers were Indian or from anywhere near.....

The only definite info is about the restaurant...not even about the owner...

I guess we have expanded the discussion not only about the OP but including other comments like jandumms'

[jandumm]

I guess we have expanded the discussion not only about the OP but including other comments like jandumms'

fair enough, I assumed their race based on the previous post. my bad.

[jandumm]

????? where did Op mention that the customers were Indian or from anywhere near.....

The only definite info is about the restaurant...not even about the owner...

actually the OP stated that the person operating the food stall was punjabi.

[Kasakato]

This happens more than you would think. I worked as a food vendor this summer, and we got 3-5 people a day who would try to short change us. It would most commonly happen if their tab was ~$20, and then they hand over $15. After asking for the rest of it, most would simply walk away. One women had to nerve to tell me to "take it out of the tip jar!"

[DJ Trance AZ]

I guess if you've the guts, then do it, LoL!

Anyway, like others have said, it really depends on how you're brought up. However, cultural appropriation is also vital if you are living in a new place...

.Eric

[ShadowVlican]

????? where did Op mention that the customers were Indian or from anywhere near.....

The only definite info is about the restaurant...not even about the owner...
+1

though i'm having a hard time picturing any other race doing the same thing ;)

[CHINAdeals]

This happens more than you would think. I worked as a food vendor this summer, and we got 3-5 people a day who would try to short change us. It would most commonly happen if their tab was ~$20, and then they hand over $15. After asking for the rest of it, most would simply walk away. One women had to nerve to tell me to "take it out of the tip jar!"


wher'ed you work?

gosh some ppl

[prying eyes]

Never knew "Hindu-punjabi food stall" meant a race/person....
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I'm not sure of this story belongs here or off-topic but here it goes.

I was at the Albion flea market Saturday afternoon. It was near 5:00pm and the flea market was about to close, I was trying to get a plate of food. This woman approached this Hindu-Punjabi food stall and cutted in front of me. She then asked the owner of the place

This made me angry and I wanted to tell the guy where to go but it wasn't any of my business. The food stall owner was the stupid one here for giving this family a hand and this is how they paid him back. Why do we have people like this on this planet?
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actually the OP stated that the person operating the food stall was punjabi.

[ZenOps]

Hey, you can haggle for food anytime.

As an asian kid going to a asian take out place even in north america, its almost expected. I mean really, they always have some sort of a deal on (usually with coupon) like by two dishes, get a appetizer of dry ribs or some won-ton wrappers (or the worst, a consume soup) They almost never care if you have the coupon or not.

There was a sushi place I would always hit up after 1pm (after the lunch rush) the lady who owned the lunch counter would always have a couple bucks off or even a two-fer. A lot of this stuff they have to throw out if they don't sell it by a certain time. (Just make sure to get the cooked or cucumber rolls, lol)

At the high end restaurants, celebrities eat free... Heck some will pay you to show up, lol.

[Steeve Urkel]

Hey, you can haggle for food anytime.

As an asian kid going to a asian take out place even in north america, its almost expected. I mean really, they always have some sort of a deal on (usually with coupon) like by two dishes, get a appetizer of dry ribs or some won-ton wrappers (or the worst, a consume soup) They almost never care if you have the coupon or not.

There was a sushi place I would always hit up after 1pm (after the lunch rush) the lady who owned the lunch counter would always have a couple bucks off or even a two-fer. A lot of this stuff they have to throw out if they don't sell it by a certain time. (Just make sure to get the cooked or cucumber rolls, lol)

At the high end restaurants, celebrities eat free... Heck some will pay you to show up, lol.

Lol,
I do know some bakeries even will give you a discount if they are about to close and just want to get rid of something.
I was buying some bread rolls and there were 3 left, I only wanted 1 as they were sold by the piece and the lady ended up giving me them for 1/2 price almost $1 about.....I did spend $14 on other stuff there though and do shop there every week...so I'm sure it's not a big deal for that.

But that is embarassing to try and shortchange a food place like that, esp if it might even be a family place too.....

If the family was that poor maybe they should just pack a lunch...

I also had a few garage sales before I moved and I found that quite a few people, esp from other countries they were always trying to really lowball on furniture...like wanting $2 for a solid wood table and $1 for an office chair.
I actually ended up not selling most of my items as I got sick of lowball people and sold stuff another way or gave it to family instead....

[jandumm]

Never knew "Hindu-punjabi food stall" meant a race/person....

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The guy cusses a lot and walks to the next stall and buys a jamaican patty, takes it to the table and sips from his wife's Coca-Cola which neither of them paid for. The man keeps cussing and annoying the Punjabi owner of the stall even after he gave his ungrateful family a HUGE discount and 2 free drinks.

T
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ur obviously mistaken.

[prying eyes]

ur obviously mistaken.

Well, I still think, OP meant the Punjabi stall owner... (Its obvious, otherwise this can easily be pointed to a race and the original poster would want to avoid that).
I can be wrong tho...

So is the owner a he or she then, ?? ;)
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I'm not sure of this story belongs here or off-topic but here it goes.

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I was at the Albion flea market Saturday afternoon. It was near 5:00pm and the flea market was about to close, I was trying to get a plate of food. This woman approached this Hindu-Punjabi food stall and cutted in front of me. She then asked the owner of the place she wanted 6 plates of chicken curry with rice. Each plate was $5.99. The husband, this short fat guy about 50 years old, told his wife that he did not want any food so the woman then says she wants 5 plates. Remember they are $5.99 each. So the owner starts to prepare their food and accomodate the salads and bags them. She then says "It's $30 dollars". The woman then produces just $20 and says that is all "I have". The owner says "no way" and puts the bag aside. The woman talks to the owner and the owner nods "no".

The woman than produces a $5 bill and says that is all she has in her pockets. The owner was maybe trying to get rid of the food and tells her it's okay, she can take the food even though she is $5 short. Now get this: the woman has the balls to ask if the drinks are included with the food even though she is getting the food at a $5 discount, the owner tells her "no". They again argue back and forth, the owner then does something stupid. She throws in 2 free Cokes just to get rid of her. The woman then goes to a table and seats down to chomp on the food with her 4 kids. The husband grabs crumbs of food from the kids and the woman and decides that he also wants a plate of food. He ordered the same curry dish and then only wanted to pay $5 and not $5.99 and get this, he also wanted a free drink.

At this point the owner has had enough and tells him "no more food sale, I'm closing" and starts to take out the metal square pots from the counter. The guy cusses a lot and walks to the next stall and buys a jamaican patty, takes it to the table and sips from his wife's Coca-Cola which neither of them paid for. The man keeps cussing and annoying the Punjabi owner of the stall even after he gave his ungrateful family a HUGE discount and 2 free drinks.

This made me angry and I wanted to tell the guy where to go but it wasn't any of my business. The food stall owner was the stupid one here for giving this family a hand and this is how they paid him back. Why do we have people like this on this planet?
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[hordosr]

Money first food second = no haggling, no problems

[yao416]

LOL :cheesygri :cheesygri

[SirAlain]

Wow, that's really uncouth. They have outdone me as the Cheapskate God.

Love,
Fu Manchu

[gherikill]

If it was the end of the day the owner was probably going to throw the food out anyway - why not give a discount. Though I guess it was a Punjabi restauraunt ... jking

[Acrossenger]

Sounds like typical RFDers.

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I'm not sure of this story belongs here or off-topic but here it goes.

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I was at the Albion flea market Saturday afternoon. It was near 5:00pm and the flea market was about to close, I was trying to get a plate of food. This woman approached this Hindu-Punjabi food stall and cutted in front of me. She then asked the owner of the place she wanted 6 plates of chicken curry with rice. Each plate was $5.99. The husband, this short fat guy about 50 years old, told his wife that he did not want any food so the woman then says she wants 5 plates. Remember they are $5.99 each. So the owner starts to prepare their food and accomodate the salads and bags them. She then says "It's $30 dollars". The woman then produces just $20 and says that is all "I have". The owner says "no way" and puts the bag aside. The woman talks to the owner and the owner nods "no".

The woman than produces a $5 bill and says that is all she has in her pockets. The owner was maybe trying to get rid of the food and tells her it's okay, she can take the food even though she is $5 short. Now get this: the woman has the balls to ask if the drinks are included with the food even though she is getting the food at a $5 discount, the owner tells her "no". They again argue back and forth, the owner then does something stupid. She throws in 2 free Cokes just to get rid of her. The woman then goes to a table and seats down to chomp on the food with her 4 kids. The husband grabs crumbs of food from the kids and the woman and decides that he also wants a plate of food. He ordered the same curry dish and then only wanted to pay $5 and not $5.99 and get this, he also wanted a free drink.

At this point the owner has had enough and tells him "no more food sale, I'm closing" and starts to take out the metal square pots from the counter. The guy cusses a lot and walks to the next stall and buys a jamaican patty, takes it to the table and sips from his wife's Coca-Cola which neither of them paid for. The man keeps cussing and annoying the Punjabi owner of the stall even after he gave his ungrateful family a HUGE discount and 2 free drinks.

This made me angry and I wanted to tell the guy where to go but it wasn't any of my business. The food stall owner was the stupid one here for giving this family a hand and this is how they paid him back. Why do we have people like this on this planet?
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[rayner55]

I wanna see that cheap ass family go to Yang's Kitchen. Bound to be an interesting story there. Maybe a full out fight between the owner/waiters and the family :lol:

[reptar]

I wanna see that cheap ass family go to Yang's Kitchen. Bound to be an interesting story there. Maybe a full out fight between the owner/waiters and the family :lol:

apparently they've already been there and considered filing a police report over $3

[Amuthini]

so were they Indian or Jamaican?

[rosebud]

Post some pictures of this family.

No need.

I already pictured those people in my mind... :D

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

so were they Indian or Jamaican?

They were Indian/Punjabi. The owner of the stall was a woman, sorry for mistakingly saying "him" in my original post.

God I hate cheapskates. There are frugal people, I am one, I don't buy designer clothes just to show some gullible idiot that I'm as stupid like him to have expensive clothes, I buy cheap, reliable clothing. But God I hate cheapskates, those people that have money in their pockets and want to buy $6 food plates for $5 and have the galls to ask for a free soft drink too.

I used to work at a gas station and one night I almost punched out this trash that came up to the pumps at 11:00pm and asked for a $10 dollar fill-up. After finishing putting the gas he then tells me he has "no money" but that he would come at 8:00am the next morning to pay me. I had his car keys because I needed it to open his gas cap and I refused to give it to him until he paid me. The guy whined, at first he tried to intimidate me into giving him the keys back but when he saw I was ready to fight him for them he backed down and gave me his wallet with his OHIP health card and some pictures of cute blonde kids he claimed were his kids. Only then I gave him his keys back. This loser never came back for his health card or his pictures, the wallet was inside the office for more than 3 weeks until it disappeared.
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[Steeve Urkel]

They were Indian/Punjabi. The owner of the stall was a woman, sorry for mistakingly saying "him" in my original post.

God I hate cheapskates. There are frugal people, I am one, I don't buy designer clothes just to show some gullible idiot that I'm as stupid like him to have expensive clothes, I buy cheap, reliable clothing. But God I hate cheapskates, those people that have money in their pockets and want to buy $6 food plates for $5 and have the galls to ask for a free soft drink too.

I used to work at a gas station and one night I almost punched out this trash that came up to the pumps at 11:00pm and asked for a $10 dollar fill-up. After finishing putting the gas he then tells me he has "no money" but that he would come at 8:00am the next morning to pay me. I had his car keys because I needed it to open his gas cap and I refused to give it to him until he paid me. The guy whined, at first he tried to intimidate me into giving him the keys back but when he saw I was ready to fight him for them he backed down and gave me his wallet with his OHIP health card and some pictures of cute blonde kids he claimed were his kids. Only then I gave him his keys back. This loser never came back for his health card or his pictures, the wallet was inside the office for more than 3 weeks until it disappeared.
-

That is pretty lame of the guy.

Wouldn't you get in trouble from your work for fighting w a customer? since it is not your station?

Anyway, if someone doesn't have money for food they should go to a food stall to try and buy stuff...

But that being said I have gone to a Japanese restaurant/store and then my bank card wasn't working....so they let me come back the next day to pay the $12 or whatever I spent.
But the people that work at the store and the manager knows me, so it is not just random and I do shop at that store every week almost.

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

STEVE, there's this Korean convenience store owner who is da bomb, if I'm short on change he lets me come back later to pay him, he also gives me credit if I only have $2 but need to buy milk for example. But his wife is a little mistrustful b*tch, one time I was short .06 cents and she held my things and made me go to my house to get the nickle. I wonder why this nice man married that bitter, wrinkled, skinny swank.
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[afici0nad0]

the simple answer here... as russell peters says himself. Indian people are cheap.

and no, i'm not being racist, i'm from the same area... my dad is cheap too... although i don't think he would go to that extent...

in fact... who bargains for food... my dad will try and get some money off a tv or something he's paying for... but... food?

geez

don't remember the OP stating the customer was indian...

This woman approached this Hindu-Punjabi food stall and cutted in front of me.

everyone likes a deal. but, like you, i realize there are limits. after all, it's just business.

[afici0nad0]

If it was the end of the day the owner was probably going to throw the food out anyway - why not give a discount. Though I guess it was a Punjabi restauraunt ... jking

i believe the stall owner did give the customers the discount, but, still asked for free drinks.

like a previous post, there is an underlying principle here.

[scan]

thanks for the story OP but what did you expect? Has Russell Peters taught us nothing?

[Bullseye]

I don't see what the big deal is here? The stall owner obviously didn't mind that much giving the 'discount', he could have easily just not given them the food or drinks, so he's happy, the cheap bastards are happy, what's the problem?

I also sell stuff on Craigslist and the like fairly regularly. I can almost instantly spot what I call a 'problem buyer', and I usually do my best to make them go away as quickly as possible. I know I'll never sell for a fair price with these people, so I don't want to waste my time with them.

I had one guy this past spring who was interested in my Corolla I was selling. He slipped past my cheapo-radar defenses and actually came to see the vehicle. It wasn't until then that I realized this person was an undesirable, but I had time that day, and I had some fun haggling with him. I knew he liked the car and knew it was in great shape, but he wouldn't even come anywhere close to a fair price. He threatened to leave twice, I told him to go ahead. Finally, he did, but then he calls 5 minutes later to keep trying me. Then he calls me 2-3 times over the next 24 hours, every time with more haggling. He was a cheap bastard, but he was funny as hell, and very entertaining to haggle with. He was adamant that no one would pay anywhere near my price. The next day, some other guy came and bought the car, paying more than I even expected to get for it, and was happy to get such a good deal.

El Cheapo calls again afterwards, I tell him it's sold, car is gone, but he doesn't believe me! He thinks it's just a ploy on my part, and he keeps haggling! 'Come on, my friend, tell me your best price'. I'm laughing my a** off now, trying to convince the guy the car is GONE, no longer for sale, and he's having none of it. I tell him I'm hanging up now, and he can't believe I'll do it, but I do. He calls back, but I don't answer, I've had enough, my belly is hurting from laughing so hard.

Lots of fun!

[thegazelle]

Ain't that the truth. The amount of people who try to haggle using, "well, I can get this cheaper somewhere else" line...I say to them, "then do it! Why are you bothering me about this?" I never get a response back to that one.

Haggling is OK, but there is a semblance of reasonableness that has to go with it.

[deacharm]

i had fun reading the whole story and replies....
the family is really poor or really really cheap...

[m4gician]

the simple answer here... as russell peters says himself. Indian people are cheap.

and no, i'm not being racist, i'm from the same area... my dad is cheap too... although i don't think he would go to that extent...

in fact... who bargains for food... my dad will try and get some money off a tv or something he's paying for... but... food?

geez

I don't think in the story the people buying food was INDIAN, but I may have read it wrong.

[aimfox]

the owner is somewhat stupid... shouldnt have given free drinks..

[bembol]

I find this sad.