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#Post#: 2498--------------------------------------------------
Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: Mrs.E
Date: April 3, 2012, 12:27 pm
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Topic on the FB page reminded me of this.
We live in a town that borders the largest Indian reservation in
North America. There are tons of people selling indian art,
jewelry and the like on the side of the road, at tourist
attractions, in Wal-Mart's parking lot, etc. There was one
restaurant in town that my husband and I loved going to. We
would eat there at least once a month. In the middle of the meal
there would always be people coming up to our table carrying
trays of handmade jewelry trying to sell them to us. We would
always say no but we would be interrupted at leat three times by
different people. These people then started sending in their
kids to sell, which of course makes it harder to be firm. It got
so bad that we would check the parking lot for sellers before we
went in and if we saw them, we would not eat there.
We finally complained to the staff that we would not be coming
back if this didn't stop. It did and we enjoy our lunch there
again quite often.
I know it wasn't rude of me to complain, but do you think the
restaurant was rude in giving sellers permission to bug their
patrons?
#Post#: 2499--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: sterling
Date: April 3, 2012, 1:28 pm
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I agree it was rude of them to allow people to bother their
paying customers. I wouldn't have gone back personally but it
is good they stopped it.
#Post#: 2504--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: Hounds of Love
Date: April 3, 2012, 7:22 pm
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I think that's hugely annoying and probably a bad business
decision. Who knows how many people just silently stopped going
there, before you complained?
#Post#: 2514--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: Nerdling
Date: April 4, 2012, 12:19 pm
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I wonder if the owners never actually gave permission but hadn't
taken any active steps to discourage the practice, either.
You'd be amazed at the number of people who have no qualms about
waltzing into someone else's place of business and trying to
sell their own stuff. :/
I do think it's short-sighted on the part of business owners if
they don't nip this sort of thing in the bud because it does
almost inevitably start annoying and driving away patrons.
#Post#: 2523--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: CornflakeQueen
Date: April 4, 2012, 9:47 pm
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In Rome, they definitely didn't ask the owners before bothering
the patrons with flowers and knick-knacks. The owners noticed
them and came out in rage and physically shoved them out the
door. They said sometimes in summer, they have a guard at the
door because there are so many street-sellers!
#Post#: 2539--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: Forsythia
Date: April 5, 2012, 2:12 pm
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In movies, sometimes, I'll see a scene where a street vendor
will come around a restaurant and say something like "A rose for
the pretty lady, sir?" and while it can look romantic on screen,
I think it would be very uncomfortable in real life. It seems
manipulative, to make someone seem like they would look cheap to
their date if they don't pay for a flower, or a trinket, or a
photo. And I think it's especially awkward to hear about
children being sent around tables to solicit. I wouldn't like
it. I have no objections to a table set up to the side of the
Walmart entrance, with a little league team selling flavored
popcorn, where I have a choice about walking over to them or
just walking past them. But to be sitting at a table, enjoying a
private meal, and suddenly have someone standing there asking
you to look at what they have to sell, that would not create an
environment that I'd want to come back to.
If a business wants to allow it, I guess that is their choice,
but I do think they will lose some customers from it.
#Post#: 2556--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: Crazy Cat Lady
Date: April 6, 2012, 3:12 pm
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Street sellers like this are the norm in my neck of the world.
Some places allow them all, some only allow the merchants who
have a good reputation and are quite popular with tourists and
locals, and some don't allow them at all.
We have everything from watch/jewelry, flower, cigar, toy,
keychain/lighter sellers in this area, but they don't all try to
sell their stuff at once. I usually see one at a time, he/she
will leave and another one will come in shortly after. It can be
aggravating if you get approached by one right after another,
though. However, a simple "No, thank you" or "Not today, thanks"
works fine and they move onto the next person.
I would definitely be annoyed if a merchant interrupted me
during my meal. The trend I notice here is that they will
approach you while you're having your drinks waiting for your
meal or after you've finished. I've never been approached by a
child though,I would find it hard to say no even if I really
didn't want to buy anything.
#Post#: 2559--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: RainhaDoTexugo
Date: April 6, 2012, 9:03 pm
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I really hate it. I don't encounter it much here, but I have in
my travels, and it drives me nuts. I don't know that a business
decision like this can be considered rude, but it's certainly
bad business. Sneaking into restaurants to interrupt people and
sell stuff without permission is definitely rude. I'm only
really okay with this kind of thing in totally non-social
environments - there's a laundromat near us where people come in
and sell food, and I've been tempted once or twice by the sopes
;)
#Post#: 2561--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: StacheBandit
Date: April 7, 2012, 6:03 am
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I hate this. Truly. Around here a lot of restaurants have
photographers and balloon-animal makers that roam the
restaurants on the weekends. The kids whine for balloon animals
as soon as they see one, and either way our dinner is ruined: if
they get one they lose interest in eating and just play with
their balloon, if they don't get one they whine and cry.
Just about the only restaurant vendors I like are the mariachis
in San Antonio, and I only like them sometimes.
#Post#: 2584--------------------------------------------------
Re: Selling things in a restaurant.
DIR By: Mrs.E
Date: April 9, 2012, 1:21 pm
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I think I would have been okay with one person offering
something every second or third time we ate there. These people
were not sneaking in though. At one visit there were at least 5
different people roaming around this small restaurant. All five
of them came up to us trying to sell whatever it was they had on
them. That is when I got really fed up.
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