It's not contrived, it's just bad, unfit for the conversation at all. A meal at a restaurant is paid for, MiniIO is not. There's no room for "regardless whether they paid for it or not", the distinction is fundamental to the discussion. You don't get to decide it doesn't matter.

You can't complain that the neighbour who used to give you a handful of apples each day suddenly stops giving them to you, regardless of how dependent on them you've become. He did not "create an expectation", you did. He did not make you "dependent" on himself, you did.