Do you feed traders working in your home

We leave a kettle, tea , coffee, biscuits in the utility room with milk in nearby fridge. They help themselves and we top up , put out more clean mugs throughout the day.

We have an electrician who we know well and he’s done stuff for us for years. When he comes he gets lunch as well.

In the summer we leave an assortment of cold cans in the fridge do them, hot drinks still available

I will always offer them tea and biscuits. Especially if it's going to be a long job for them.

Thank goodness there's no parking to book. Guess you're in a city ReadyMeals. I have my own drive to the house and so that's not a problem (now the neighbours have finally had to accept they can't park in it - as it's mine/on my title plan/etc/etc). Hence part of the being aware of instant offers of drinks (the second they walk through the door and at intervals thereafter and prompt payment) - to counteract the aggrieved neighbours "having a go" at not being able to park in my garden since I bought the house.

The garden guy I've employed for the heavy work I can't do stands there as soon as he's got out of his van by now and just waits for me to put the kettle on - as he wants a mug of my coffee whilst he "has a ponder/discusses the job" with me and "keeps up with the local grapevine". There's a "grapevine and a half" in this town.....

no food just tea or coffee and if over a few hours then biscuits. Less than one hour then nothing

Nowadays I don't as they are so used to everyone being out at work in the day they always come with everything they need or go out at lunchtime. In fact they rarely even accept a cup of tea. But now there is their parking to book instead

I don’t feed tradesmen. Many of them work through anyway, or nip over the road to the shop if they need to.
I offer tea, coffee and biscuits, which all get eaten. Just as well as I try not to eat biscuits.
I don’t drink coffee, so there is only instant. This morning my son was here and asked for coffee instead of his usual tea, so I asked him to tell me if it was still OK as I have had it a long time. But he rarely drinks coffee so is not a connoisseur.

CariadAgain

They'd probably eat very different food to me anyway....given my diet is wholefood/no meat/and I do my best to find new foods I've not tried yet (as far as I can in a small town).

I offer drinks at regular intervals and leave it at that.

. I offered two of them Fray Mentos meat pie. They refused although they said " guys all like Fray Bentos pie" They just did not want to put me to the trouble.

Since that occasion, Cariad, I am woke as to what I ought not to eat.

There's nothing wrong with drinking instant coffee .

It's having separate supplies for 'hired help' that I found shocking. I can't imagine doing that.

Feeding them, if you want to, is of course dependent on what work they're carrying out.
If you have no operating kitchen or no kitchen at all then it's rather difficult.

Because we employ local tradesmen they tend to go off somewhere at lunch-time, home, back to the depot etc.
I have looked after the young child of one after school because they needed to finish part of a job, 😀 that was fun!

I always offer unlimited refreshment, help yourself to tea, coffee, milk sugar and biscuits, mugs etc. They can keep their boots on, are welcome to use the bathroom; and to sit indoors in comfort during rest breaks.For anyone working here a full day I offer light lunch; home-made soup and bread.

Just another part of my purposely cultivated reputation among local trades, as the ideal client to work for. It pays dividends .

I had my first taste of real coffee when I emigrated to Denmark (back in the 1970s) - though, as we can see I came back here again subsequently. It was still all instant in Britain at that time - but, when I clicked to the difference = I was doing my tiny little bit pressurising for it to be available here too.

To me - if I'm having it they're having it too (no saving on it and making out there is only instant). It was all part of trying to make sure I could get workmen in the first place when I moved here - as I had to counterbalance nasty neighbours doing their darndest to put everyone they could (including workmen) off and so I had/have firm policies of decent drinks, paying promptly (this is an area where people often took/expected literally months to pay). So I was making sure they knew that at my house they'd get decent drinks and prompt payment.

I knew I'd cracked it with a plumber at least when I rang up one morning with a panic that the system had stopped working and he said "I've got no appointments for at least a fortnight - I'll come round later tonight" and I thought "Bingo! That's one of them sorted then and I'm being treated on the same terms as "locals" by him". It might just have had something to do with it that I'd been given a posh box of biscuits as a present for something I'd done - and I promptly gave that to him when he came round shortly afterwards - as I don't eat things like that personally (though I could work my way through a tin easily within a week). He had his instructions of "I'm getting that safely out of my reach - so I cant have it" and he took it home for his family.

It didnt take me long to learn that instant coffee was still a thing when I moved here - when I was duly at a pub and asking for a "flat white coffee" and out came a cup of instant coffee instead and cue for quick swop to an alcoholic drink or I'd have gone thirsty. But real coffee is also making steady inroads here and I can get a choice of umpteen types of it now.

I'll offer tea or coffee (instant) to tradesmen working in our home. I rarely have biscuits in the house.

My son and daughter-in-law are builders/painters/decorators (inside only) so are usually several weeks on a job. They take their own kettle, tea, coffee, milk and something to eat. They sorted themselves out, even when doing work at my house!

We don't drink hardly any coffee so only have a jar of instant for visitors. It is Ringtons though the same as the tea and everyone comments on how nice it is.

Perhaps it's a northern thing but it's nearly always tea here very rarely coffee. And usually with several sugars. I usually just have to say, "Tea?" as they arrive to be Mey with a smile and "Ooh yes please."

So do I (drink instant coffee)

I shall whisper this quietly - I drink instant coffee most of the time.
But only one cup per day as I prefer tea.
The workmen got instant too, Nescafé Gold but I like Douwe Egberts decaffeinated.

I realise I'm a pleb. 😁

I did find some proper coffee in the cupboard, left from when the DD visited. They have more sophisticated tastes than me.

CariadAgain

The one thing I have discovered re drinks is I always used to have in tea, real coffee and instant coffee (as well as various fruit/herbal teas).

I soon learnt it's tradies universal preference for coffee, rather than tea (so I no longer bother to stock that - as it's something I never have myself) and they like real coffee as much as I do and there's approving comments about just how strong I make it - so no point in my having instant coffee in, as no-one ever wants that. Yep....and there was me thinking I'm being unusual in Britain in having strength 5 coffee and using 1.5 dessertspoons worth per mug - but yep...their stomachs must be as cast-iron in that respect as mine is...as that's what they usually want....

Yes! I was shocked when a friend of mine bought instant coffee specially for people working for her - 'tradies' and her gardener and cleaner. Friends and family get ground coffee 😳.

If people are going to be working for some time then maybe it makes sense to manage expectations at the start. If builders are given a hot meal on day 1, they might not bring food on day 2 in case it's wasted, so the householder could feel obliged to cook for them every day. There is no reason why people can't bring a flask and sandwiches - that used to be perfectly normal - but I can understand someone not wanting to prepare and risk wasting lunch if they think there will be something provided and it could be awkward to refuse. How do people feel about builders using the microwave? I've had to clean up after exploding curry, and de-pong it when someone heated a fishy pasta thing in it. He had the cheek to complain that the microwave was hotter than his, too! If he'd asked before using it, I could have explained how to work it.

It can be a difficult balance between being hospitable and getting in the way. I know my decorator complains about (particularly older) people who want to chat a lot but also expect the work to finish on time, particularly as it is charged by the day.

My cleaner says the same. She's lovely, and recognises that people get lonely, but they also want her to do everything that was agreed on the assumption that she'd have two hours to do it, and constant interruptions make that impossible. If she stays longer she is late for her next client, and it adds up. She's stopped booking anyone in for the slot before the school run (so is losing money), as all the ten minutes could mean she was an hour late, and she was booking her children into the after school club, which meant she was hardly breaking even.

Tea/coffee, biscuits, sometimes cake. Many of the traders we have known for years, so they’ve become friends.

The one thing I have discovered re drinks is I always used to have in tea, real coffee and instant coffee (as well as various fruit/herbal teas).

I soon learnt it's tradies universal preference for coffee, rather than tea (so I no longer bother to stock that - as it's something I never have myself) and they like real coffee as much as I do and there's approving comments about just how strong I make it - so no point in my having instant coffee in, as no-one ever wants that. Yep....and there was me thinking I'm being unusual in Britain in having strength 5 coffee and using 1.5 dessertspoons worth per mug - but yep...their stomachs must be as cast-iron in that respect as mine is...as that's what they usually want....

My son is a gardener and has just gone to work in below zero temperatures. He said his feet were cold all day yesterday working on concrete.
Today he is working for private clients and I really hope they are generous with their hot drinks and some snacks, though I wouldn't expect them to give him a hot meal!
I always offer a drink to tradespeople- it is only polite and just shows a little humanity.

Always offer tea, coffee, bought in biscuits, and yes cafe sachet sugar, when they first arrive, and take it from there.

And I also offer various cold drinks...milk, water, fizzy or juice.

I always offer mugs of tea .... I hate any sort of coffee, so I never have it in my house... and I offer bickies too.

During very cold weather or winters, I'll also offer them Cuppa-Soup...veggie or non-veggie, whichever they like, but I won't provide sarnies or anything, that's up to them to bring their own!

My brother in law was a gas engineer. He would often mention the wonderful who offered food and drink. It's not forgotten by them!

His best was a charming gent who appeared with a glass of port, brie on crackers and a cigarette!

Of course he turned down the port.

How grateful not who grateful.