Colorado. It's just crazy that people would ask to use the space, and after hours so someone had to stay late for them, and expect that it would be totally free. I couldn't imagine going to a meeting at a cafe and not even ordering coffee. If there were a dozen people and one declined to order something, that would be one thing, but in this case, the whole group didn't order. The owner gave them benefit of the doubt, thinking that maybe the people didn't know that they were meeting somewhere that served food, so maybe the next time they'd order stuff. But nope, they came in again toting drinks to last through the meeting. She finally told them that either they had to order or pay for use of the space and they decided not to come back again.
Then again, my MIL once took me out for a birthday dinner with me, DH, and FIL. And after dinner she went out to the car and brought back a birthday cake. And this was a place whose claim to fame was pies and cakes. I wanted to crawl under the table. And then she wanted to hang around and chat (not even buying coffee -- they only drink water at restaurants) for what seemed an eternity. Afterward, my DH slipped the waitress extra tip money and apologized to the manager and offered to pay for desserts that we didn't order to make up for the cake.
Donna
