😲
Good gracious ! That is a terrible price for what you got. I too can and don't mind paying a good price occasionally for something truly special, but that doesn't look anywhere close to special.
Since I am old and lived back in the day where most reputable people took pride in their products, whether it was food or other things, of course I have seen the decline in the quality of nearly everything and the over pricing of extremely inferior products. It's disgusting.... .and a bit sad.
It's almost laughable to see how different companies try to hide the fact that there is less product on an existing item by the way they package it and think nobody will notice. I notice !
I also have seen the vast change in attitudes about tipping. Although the "wait" industry has always been notoriously under paid per hour for the job, use too a "tip" was for good or great service or the lack of a tip for bad service. It was not a requirement to pay the servers what their employers were being slack on, even if they gave bad service. That use to cause most servers to perform a superior job, so they could earn those tips. Now it seems most think you should tip them big, even if they do not take care of things properly and attitude?... well.... My disclaimer is that I know there are many folks that do a very good job in these positions, but even before covid, they had gotten few and far between. I also pride myself in giving great tips.... if deserved.
Seems that cafe just charged themselves out of a repeat customer. Good job !
Yep, I'll not be going back to that place, ever. The thing is, the list of places I'll not return is getting bigger than the list of places I'll use. Sign of the times. I wouldn't have minded if I paid $22 for what I got. It would have seemed about right; still high, but acceptable. $34? Well, I'll not be back, not even for a cup of their good coffee.
You make a good point about the way the smaller serves or decline in quantity or packaged items are disguised. It happens here. Great new look, in advertising is code for smaller portion, new packaging to disguise smaller portion. Assholes.
We don't tip here. A part time/casual cafe worker (wait staff/counter) earns $30/he and will generally get 20-25 hours a week. If they had to rely on tips most would go unrewarded as most don't meet my standard. Surly, lack of eye contact, zero care-factor, forgetfulness, lack of politeness, ignorance...I'll not reward that. I've little patience for bad service and usually address it.
I was surprised that you did not say you let them know what you thought of their pricing as you left, appropriately of course.
There are some items that you wouldn't think would be that big of deal for there to be less, but there is an item here called sweetened condensed milk that had been used in some baked goods for generations. It always came in the same size can and then, without notice, there was an ounce or so less and the company just slightly tapered the can on one end. It truly looked the same at a glance, however, those same generations had passed down recipes that called for "1 can of" sweetened condensed milk. I am wondering how many recipes were ruined by not coming out right, because bakers didn't notice the first time. After that you think, just buy two, but then you have the majority of the rest of the second can leftover. Now what are you going to do with that ??? So really, sometimes it matters, maybe not in the grand scheme of life, but it certainly can affect more than you would think for such a little change.
I know you wanted to know about sweetened condensed milk while on your trip.
You're welcome.
It's a fair point, but I guess my thought was to let them know in a different way, by not going back. It's interesting, businesses wonder why they go bust after the fact, when really that had all the information they needed all along. They're like, less customers, we better charge more and give less. Ok, a good business model until it's not.
Nope, they don't deserve the heads up, they'll just close eventually.
We have sweetened condensed milk here too, probably the exact brand you have. We get it in tubes and cans...I used to eat it from the tube as a kid.
It's this sort of thing, can tapering, the subtle change in packaging, that heralds the real change, the smaller quantity. It happens all over and that's just what we know about. Imagine if we knew what corners they were cutting in the ingredient and manufacturing aspects. A little alarming I'd say.