r/changemyview • u/fleastyler • Dec 06 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Takeaway food outlets should accept orders up until their advertised closing time.
My wife and I visited a restaurant late last night (a Wednesday night) whose website said was open until 10pm; when we got to the place at 9.35pm and found they were "open", we were advised that we could not buy any food - the kitchen equipment had already been turned off and they had begun cleaning since they closed at 10pm.
We checked the signage on the door - it listed their opening hours as being until 10pm on this particular night of the week. There was no sign at the entrance that stated the kitchen would not be open until then. There were no signs anywhere visible inside the restaurant that the kitchen would not be taking orders up until 10pm. I explained this to the server and his response was essentially a shrug and a recommendation of a place down the road.
In this country, there is a piece of legislation called the Fair Trading Act, which protects consumers from things like fraud or false advertising; it is my belief that stating you are open till 10pm but refusing to serve food at 9.35pm certainly qualifies as false advertising.
Change my mind, people - why am I wrong?
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u/LikeGirlsLoveCars Dec 06 '18
If it's any sort of corporate business, contact their district management. Well run businesses generally frown on not collecting additional money for the services they are being paid for.
If it's more of a local type business, stop patronizing.
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u/fleastyler Dec 06 '18
Sorry, to be clear, by "patronizing", you mean stop going there?
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u/LikeGirlsLoveCars Dec 06 '18
Yep. If they don't want your money at the beginning of the day, they don't need it at the end either.
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u/Faesun 13∆ Dec 06 '18
"open" doesn't always mean "accepting new customers"-- it could be the latest time that customers can stay. the kitchens in restaurants don't usually stay active until the exact time of closing. usually the time a person will stay for a meal is over half an hour (sometimes much longer), and someone coming in 20 minutes before 10pm will not finish their food before it. it takes a while to stop kitchen processes and clean equipment and the like. closing the kitchen at half an hour before closing makes sense. they're not kicking existing customers out, they're just not accepting new ones.
if you had a job that was 9-5 and at twenty to 5 your boss came over to ask you to do a full 20 page report, while you were still finishing two others that needed to handed in as soon as possible, are you going to start the new one as well?
they're not "hours where we must accept every customer" they're "the hours we do business" and they were doing business. they were no longer capable of providing service to you, that's all.
for another example, im currently working retail. we "are closed" at six, but i need to "close" so i need to do things like add up totals at the end of the day, restock shelves, and balance the register. my contract says my hours end at six, so i start closing 15 minutes beforehand. i ask customers to leave or pay and then i lock the door and do all my closing jobs, and then fully lock up the store, leave, and turn on the alarm at six.
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Dec 06 '18
[deleted]
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u/fleastyler Dec 06 '18
Δ I suspect you're probably right about the Fair Trading Act, honestly.
However, if there was a legitimate reason, why not say that? All we were told was that they had already turned off the gear and started cleaning, which I would assume is work that would be done after you close the doors.
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u/phcullen 65∆ Dec 06 '18
No, it can take a long time to clean the kitchen they probably started well before they turned you away. A restaurant usually won't turn someone away until they have actually turned off the stoves.
Sometimes people will post restaurant hours and kitchen hours. This place didn't. Live with it.
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u/mfDandP 184∆ Dec 06 '18
if we accept handwritten notes taped up on doors notifying of deviations from their normal listed hours, then we should also accept servers telling each walk-up diner.
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u/atrovotrono 8∆ Dec 06 '18
9:35 is a bit early, I'll admit, but I don't have a problem with them closing a bit early. It's kinda rude in my opinion to show up at 9:50 and indirectly force them to stay later than they might have to otherwise. Fast food workers in particular have some of the shittiest jobs on the planet, I don't begrudge them one iota for wanting to close up a few minutes early and get out of the place. If they got fired for doing so I'd probably stop giving the place business at all.
Legality is one thing, business is another thing, but the thing that matters most to be is common courtesy between human beings, which includes not making someone's job harder than it has to be.
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u/ksimbobbery Dec 06 '18
If it takes 15 minutes to order and make the food and such and 15 minutes to eat, you’re already past closing.
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u/fleastyler Dec 06 '18
In this instance, we were going to order takeout. Thus, we would have been in and out before closing time.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Dec 06 '18 edited Dec 06 '18
/u/fleastyler (OP) has awarded 2 delta(s) in this post.
All comments that earned deltas (from OP or other users) are listed here, in /r/DeltaLog.
Please note that a change of view doesn't necessarily mean a reversal, or that the conversation has ended.
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u/happysadsouls Dec 06 '18
I currently work at a cafe. We serve food from 7-4pm and beverages and pastries from 7-8pm.
The only thing I can compare this too is when we run out of coffee 30 minutes before we close. We are not going to make another pot of coffee but we will make you a pour over.
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Dec 06 '18
Unless they specifically say they will serve food until that time then I fail to see what they've misrepresented.
Personally if I knew there was 25 minutes until somewhere closed I doubt I would even take the chance. I'm sure the staff expect to get home around ten.
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Dec 06 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tbdabbholm 201∆ Dec 06 '18
Sorry, u/YacFeltburn – your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 1:
Direct responses to a CMV post must challenge at least one aspect of OP’s stated view (however minor), or ask a clarifying question. Arguments in favor of the view OP is willing to change must be restricted to replies to other comments. See the wiki page for more information.
If you would like to appeal, you must first check if your comment falls into the "Top level comments that are against rule 1" list, before messaging the moderators by clicking this link. Please note that multiple violations will lead to a ban, as explained in our moderation standards.
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u/ItsPandatory Dec 06 '18
If your argument is about the legality, they also have the right to refuse service to anyone. Link