50 and beyond

Yes, I know. I am sure you have read many blogs and articles about paying for tap water, but I wanna have my say now.

YESTERDAY

Yesterday, instead of ordering my usual teh-o kosong from my daily coffee shop for breakfast, I ordered a teh-o kosong ping instead.

I usually pay $1.20 for my teh-o kosong. Well, it cost me $1.90 for the same drink to be iced! That’s $0.70 for ice!

I thought it’s usually just 20 cents more to pay for ice?

LAST NIGHT

Last night, hubby and I went to a rather posh Italian restaurant to try out fine-dining experience. Won’t tell you the place, but it’s not Michelin starred. It was just a Michelin star wannabe.

The waitress did her usual “would you like still or sparkling water” intro as I was seated. I always feel that this is a difficult question to deal with. It’s like they want me to admit that I am cheap by making me verbalise that I want iced tap water instead. I can imagine them being briefed each night before dinner service starts: “Remember folks, make the guests articulate that they want tap water. The person paying would not want to come across as a cheap host.”

Well, being married for 24 years and having a very thick skin, I told the waitress last night that I would like iced tap water instead. Yes, I am cheap.

Ah, but you see, this waitress was well trained by her manager. She explained to me that they did offer tap water, BUT they filter all their tap water in the restaurant, and so, they would be charging me $5 per head for the water. I had to acquiesce. But in my mind, even before ordering and having my dinner, I knew that I was never stepping in there again.

LAST FORTNIGHT

Last week, I brought my mom to a Japanese lunch omakase. It was her 80th birthday, and I wanted to bring her to somewhere special.

At the start of the meal, we were each presented with a dainty cup of cold tea. The waiter told us that the water used to brew the tea with was from Hokkaido. Wow. And I loved the tea, it was very cold and so, gave a very refreshing wake-up call type feel to the start of a very good meal.

Thereafter, throughout the meal, I drank from a second cup of hot Japanese green tea, which was topped up regularly over the duration of our lunch.

When it was time for dessert, the waiter took away that second cup of tea and replaced it with a third cup of tea which was hojicha tea (forgot to take photo of that). I loved the roasted scent of the tea. It went very well with the dessert I had.

The bill came. I saw that I was not charged for any of the three types of tea I had.

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF CHARGING FOR WATER

Being charged $5 for water irritates me to no end. Why don’t restaurants just factor in the cost of tap water into their food and price their menu accordingly? That way, if diners don’t ask for tap water, they get to earn the money anyway, and if the diners ask for tap water, it’s been priced in anyway.

If you say that it requires more labour for the waiter to top up my glass of water because he/she has to constantly be on the look out as to whether I need topping up, then I say this: For mid-priced restaurants where waiters have to wait on more tables, place a glass bottle at the table for the table to help themselves. As for posh restaurants, they should already have a comfortable waiter-table ratio, and so, the waiter should have the capacity to top up the glasses.