Café boss forces customers to pay 75 cents for tap water, then nixes the policy when an employee makes him explain it to customers: 'My boss handles all questions about the water policy.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
May 18, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

Charging money for tap water is ridiculous. 

Nickel-and-diming customers has been a business strategy with debatable effectiveness, depending on the business. If you go to a grocery store in NYC, there's a good chance that you will be asked to pay for your grocery bags. It's a way for the company to make a couple of extra cents off each customer, though some may claim it's for the environment. If you tried that trick in other parts of the country, where customers can't easily carry their groceries from the store to their home, you would never get away with it. Suburbanites could shop at another supermarket in their town that doesn't charge 10 cents per grocery bag. If you live in a rural area with only one grocery store in town, they might be able to get away with nickel-and-diming customers, because they have no other choice but to shop there. 

Over time, society at large starts to accept that certain things will be exorbitantly priced. Ballpark hot dogs used to be around a dollar in the 80s; adjusted for inflation, they'd be $3, but we all know you're not going to get one for $5 or less. No plain hot dog should be sold for $8, and yet they are, because of the greed of ballpark owners. The upcharge won't go down unless fans collectively stop buying any overpriced concessions, which is basically impossible. 

While baseball fans might not stop buying $8 hot dogs, the customers at the cafe in this story aren't going to stand for 75-cent tap water, as they shouldn't! 

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  • Handsome male barista is working in a coffee shop
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The café boss explains that tap water costs his customers money, much to their chagrin. 

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I made my boss explain his idiotic water system to customers.

    I work at a café where the owner is obsessed with "maximizing profit." We already charged extra for oat milk, syrup, takeaway cups, basically everything except breathing near the espresso machine. Not too bad.
    via u/Smallmenstrualcup
  • But one day he decided we were going to start charging for tap water. Not bottled water. Tap water.
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  • Person holding clear drinking glass
    via engin akyurt

    A barista hands a glass of water to a customer, which should be free if things were fair in this world. 

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Like, someone buys a sandwich and asks for a glass of water? Boom. 75 cents.
    via u/Smallmenstrualcup
  • Everyone on staff thought it was stupid, but he acted like he'd invented modern economics.
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  • He even printed little signs explaining how "cups, dishwashing, and labor have costs." The funniest part was that he and everyone knew customers would hate this. Which is fair. I would too if I was a customer.
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  • So I decided that every single time someone asked me for tap water, I'd smile and say something like "Oh, my boss actually handles all questions about the water policy. One second."
    via u/Smallmenstrualcup
  • Angry customer complaining about barista in coffee shop
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The barista tells the customer that her boss will relay the water policy shortly.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • And then I'd go get him. Every. Single. Time. Didn't matter if he was in the office, unloading stock, eating lunch, or pretending to do accounting on his laptop. If someone wanted free water, I summoned him like a cursed spirit.
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  • At first he'd come out all confident with his rehearsed explanation: "Well, unfortunately there are operational costs associated with-" And customers would immediately hit him with:
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  • "You're charging for TAP WATER?" "Are you serious?" "I just spent €14 here." "Every other café gives it for free."
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  • "Is this legal?" (I looked it up, it's not, lol) Meanwhile I'd just stand there pretending to wipe the counter while enjoying the show. This went on for like two weeks before he completely lost it.
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  • One afternoon a few days ago he pulled me aside and went: "You need to stop bringing me out there for this." I said, "But you made the rule."
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  • And he goes: "Yes, but it's degrading having to explain it to customers all day." I genuinely had to look away so he wouldn't see me smiling.
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  • Like... my brother in Chrt, if explaining your own policy humiliates you, maybe the policy is the problem.
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  • Anyway, as for now, the tap water charge disappeared. No announcement. No apology. The little signs just vanished overnight like they'd never existed. Still one of the funniest acts of malicious compliance I've ever committed.
    via u/Smallmenstrualcup

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Tags

customer service barista water policy angry bad bosses cheap cafe money
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