[Vnbiz] Restaurant charges

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,

Here is an answer from a VNBIZer who requests anonymity.

Enjoy!

Hoanh
____________

Anh Hoanh:

Good question for everyone not to rest on their
weekend thinking process. In my opinion, there is
something that can be learned from the situation:

1) As I understand, to make it efficient, the
waiter/waitress will ask if a customer wants EITHER
hot tea OR ice water (rarely do people drink both hot
and cold at the same time, I suppose), that means
there is less opportunity for the customer to mix the
two if he wants to do that.

2) Assume the restaurant automatically gives everyone
one glass of ice tea and one glass of hot tea, you
will need to ask for another empty glass to mix them.
Wow... now your question comes into play, should the
restaurant charge or not?

a) Not so many customers out there are strategic
enough to play the game of mixing the free stuffs to
avoid being charged as you did. That means the trick
they thought of should get a pay-off. So the
restaurant staff may just laugh and give it for free,
with a hope that not many alike customers will do the
same. And I am sure there are not that many "weird"
customers in real life, so the charges the restaurant
missed should not be a big deal.

b) The purpose of giving FREE ice water or hot tea is
simply a way of promoting business and increasing
customers' satisfaction. If that smart customer is
charged with mixing ice in their free glass of water
with hot tea, he might be upset and never comes back
to the restaurant. The restaurant is losing customer,
and the primary aim for customer attraction has not
been achieved. That means they should not have charged
the customer.

As I understand, the point you want to make here is
"Maximizing Customer Satisfaction" or "Customer is the
King" principle. No business can survive without
customers. But in Vietnam, after years and years under
the subsidy economy, the sellers tend to think that
they are the givers instead of realizing that they are
the takers once the customers come in their
restaurants. Maybe it is also part of the culture,
some people feel good when they think they have power
to control, and others have to come and beg them for
something. Anyway,it is just my 2 cents.

Since I answered your quesiton, I have one quick
question for you. Do you know how to translate "angel
investor" into Vietnamese? and "venture capitalist"?

Enjoy your weekend, bro.

________


On 7/30/06, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Dear CACC,
>
> Now that brother Toan and brother Binh have sent some interesting articles
> on Hanoi restaurants.  Let me give you a real-life quiz for fun.
>
> At this Chinese restaurant close to my business in Northern Virginia
> (outside Washington DC), the price of your main order (say, fried noodles or
> Shanghai wonton soup) would automatically include ice water and hot tea,
> free of charge. But if you want ice tea, then there would be a separate
> charge for the ice tea.
>
> Now, I ordered lunch and the lady brought out ice water and hot tea (which
> are free).  I happened to want ice tea that hot day.  So I asked for an
> empty glass (which is free of charge) and dumped my ice water into it
> but retained the ice.  Then I poured my hot tea into my glass of ice to make
> ice tea.
>
> In sum, I was using the things I've got free from the restaurant to make
> something that the restaurant normally charges a price.
>
> Question:  Do have have to pay for my ice tea in this case?  Please submit
> your reasoning along with your answer.
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Hoanh
>
>

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC
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