recently posted by me on a message board
Over the last year i have worked at 3 different coffee shops. Some common things that seem to occur with customers that irritate the living crap out of us employees as well as fellow customers are as follows
1.When you come in at 5 AM and are a jerk to us because you aren't awake yet, don't be surprised if we aren't pleasant to you. 5Am is 5AM regardless of your profession. it is just as early to us as it is to you.
2.when you come in during the morning rush (7-9AM):
a.know what you want. don't stand there going "ummm...i think i want..no..wait..i think..etc" for 5 minutes. You've been standing in line, everywhere has menu's posted so you can figure it out while in line.
b.along the same line, don't come up and just say "i don't know what i want." or "what do i want?". We are not you. We don't know your likes,dislikes, allergies, diets, medical problems, etc...and i guarantee it will make the other customers really dislike you when they end up late for work because we had to play 20Questions with you to figure out a drink
c.if you do not speak decent english just write your order down on a post it note or something. when there are 15 people in line behind you it is not the time to practice your english, or your pantomime skills. Just give us your post it, pay and get out of the way.
3.To the "Regulars":
a.what time you come in depends which employees know you. if you come in every morning at 9AM then the morning people will start to remember you. Do not get offended when you come in at 7 at night and no one knows who the hell you are.We do not have face shots along with names, drink orders, and personal info posted in our back room. likewise, do not treat the new people like lepers because they don't know you yet.
b.Don't get mad that we don't remember you from yesterday. Think of the 100's of people just like you that get coffee at the same store every day. that means that while customers only need to remember about 15 employees, we are trying to remember over 100 of you. to give you an idea, at the slower Starbucks i work at we, in the morning rush time frame have about 40 customers just through the drive-thru on a saturday morning when a lot of people are sleeping in. So thats 80 customers an hour not counting all the people who actually come in. multiply that by about 3 and thats just the morning. now imagine all day. We try but we are human too.
4.When ordering your drink:
a.DO NOT run your order of a "Venti-two-pump-vanilla-two-pump-raspberry-non-fat-half-caf-caffe-latte" off as if it were one word. You wouldn't speak in a conversation like that, don't order your drink like that.
b.on the opposite end, don't talk to us like we ride the short bus. You may make more money than us, but that does not make us of lesser intelligence. Chances are we are students, just like you most likely were when you were our age to get where you are now. The only difference is that you did fast food, we don't smell like french fries. And if you just have a rich family, well good for you, but just because your parents did right doesn't mean that YOU PERSONALLY are any more successful than us. Basically order your drink in the same tempo and tone as you would use speaking to a friend.
c.DON'T GET PISSED OFF when we ask you to repeat your order of a "Venti-two-pump-vanilla-two-pump-raspberry-non-fat-half-caf-caffe-latte". Listen to how long your order is. Is it something that you would remember perfectly if someone rattled off to you? We really do want to get your order right. that's why we ask to repeat it. If it's that irritating to have to repeat it, pick a shorter order.
5.Tipping
a.if you are one of those people who orders one of those stupid long drinks, you need to tip. Not only are you jeopardizing the chances of others giving good tips due to the time we have to spend with you, it is a pain in our ass to make your drink (though we enjoy serving you), and a pain to write all your add-ons on the side of the cup. If you have enough money to buy a $5 drink twice a day, you have enough money to drop a dollar in the tip box.
b.if your drink is $4.95 and you give us $5 the 5 cents left over is not a tip. it is the change you didn't want to carry. we don't want to carry your change around any more than you do.
c.DON'T STEAL THE FUCKING TIP JAR!! Not only is that really un-cool, it's also illegal. Plus you may get beat down. Going back to the fact that a lot of us are students, that means we don't have much money. Coming between the money that we do have is not smart. Ifg an employee tackles you when you try to run out of the store with it, you are not allowed to sue if he or she breaks your arm in the process of reclaiming said tip jar. You stole from us. We kicked your ass. that's how things work, regardless of the setting.
6. Rich mothers with Children
a.WE ARE NOT LUPITA, YOUR NANNY! your children are not our responsibility. Having a mom's day out is fine. Letting your demon children run wild through our store because you don't know how to handle them for the 3 hours a week you actually spend with them, is not. If we have to wrangle your children, you have to tip us. We are not paid to be your nanny, we are just your coffee people. we deserve some compensation.
b.when we tell you your child needs to stop doing something, politely apologize and cease their action. Do not argue with us as to why the child should be allowed to continue. This is my store. I don't tell you what to do at your house, you don't tell me what to do at my store. If i tell you your 3ft kid cant play with a 4ft mini hockey stick in the store take it away, don't just move him out of the main aisle. no stick means no sitck. even if he doesn't hit a person he may still destroy merchandise, which is equally bad.
c.to the people who give their children coffee. no fucking wonder that act like they do. You complain that you're "addicted to the stuff" but give your 8 year old a latte. I don't want your wired children in my store.
7.Trash:
a.don't drop yor trash on the floor "accidentally" and then "forget" to pick it up. there is usually more than 1 trash can in a store and it is there for a reason.
b.If your child makes a mess, clean it up. your child is not our responsibility.
c.if YOU make a mess, clean it up. you , like your children, are not our responsibility.
d.If you don't clean up your mess, that means we have to. You tip in a restaurant for that, same goes for the coffee place. Our cars don't run on "thank you"'s.
Most of these things are at least to me common sense. Follow these and you, as well as those around you, will have a much more pleasant experience.
hugs and kisses,
the barista
1.When you come in at 5 AM and are a jerk to us because you aren't awake yet, don't be surprised if we aren't pleasant to you. 5Am is 5AM regardless of your profession. it is just as early to us as it is to you.
2.when you come in during the morning rush (7-9AM):
a.know what you want. don't stand there going "ummm...i think i want..no..wait..i think..etc" for 5 minutes. You've been standing in line, everywhere has menu's posted so you can figure it out while in line.
b.along the same line, don't come up and just say "i don't know what i want." or "what do i want?". We are not you. We don't know your likes,dislikes, allergies, diets, medical problems, etc...and i guarantee it will make the other customers really dislike you when they end up late for work because we had to play 20Questions with you to figure out a drink
c.if you do not speak decent english just write your order down on a post it note or something. when there are 15 people in line behind you it is not the time to practice your english, or your pantomime skills. Just give us your post it, pay and get out of the way.
3.To the "Regulars":
a.what time you come in depends which employees know you. if you come in every morning at 9AM then the morning people will start to remember you. Do not get offended when you come in at 7 at night and no one knows who the hell you are.We do not have face shots along with names, drink orders, and personal info posted in our back room. likewise, do not treat the new people like lepers because they don't know you yet.
b.Don't get mad that we don't remember you from yesterday. Think of the 100's of people just like you that get coffee at the same store every day. that means that while customers only need to remember about 15 employees, we are trying to remember over 100 of you. to give you an idea, at the slower Starbucks i work at we, in the morning rush time frame have about 40 customers just through the drive-thru on a saturday morning when a lot of people are sleeping in. So thats 80 customers an hour not counting all the people who actually come in. multiply that by about 3 and thats just the morning. now imagine all day. We try but we are human too.
4.When ordering your drink:
a.DO NOT run your order of a "Venti-two-pump-vanilla-two-pump-raspberry-non-fat-half-caf-caffe-latte" off as if it were one word. You wouldn't speak in a conversation like that, don't order your drink like that.
b.on the opposite end, don't talk to us like we ride the short bus. You may make more money than us, but that does not make us of lesser intelligence. Chances are we are students, just like you most likely were when you were our age to get where you are now. The only difference is that you did fast food, we don't smell like french fries. And if you just have a rich family, well good for you, but just because your parents did right doesn't mean that YOU PERSONALLY are any more successful than us. Basically order your drink in the same tempo and tone as you would use speaking to a friend.
c.DON'T GET PISSED OFF when we ask you to repeat your order of a "Venti-two-pump-vanilla-two-pump-raspberry-non-fat-half-caf-caffe-latte". Listen to how long your order is. Is it something that you would remember perfectly if someone rattled off to you? We really do want to get your order right. that's why we ask to repeat it. If it's that irritating to have to repeat it, pick a shorter order.
5.Tipping
a.if you are one of those people who orders one of those stupid long drinks, you need to tip. Not only are you jeopardizing the chances of others giving good tips due to the time we have to spend with you, it is a pain in our ass to make your drink (though we enjoy serving you), and a pain to write all your add-ons on the side of the cup. If you have enough money to buy a $5 drink twice a day, you have enough money to drop a dollar in the tip box.
b.if your drink is $4.95 and you give us $5 the 5 cents left over is not a tip. it is the change you didn't want to carry. we don't want to carry your change around any more than you do.
c.DON'T STEAL THE FUCKING TIP JAR!! Not only is that really un-cool, it's also illegal. Plus you may get beat down. Going back to the fact that a lot of us are students, that means we don't have much money. Coming between the money that we do have is not smart. Ifg an employee tackles you when you try to run out of the store with it, you are not allowed to sue if he or she breaks your arm in the process of reclaiming said tip jar. You stole from us. We kicked your ass. that's how things work, regardless of the setting.
6. Rich mothers with Children
a.WE ARE NOT LUPITA, YOUR NANNY! your children are not our responsibility. Having a mom's day out is fine. Letting your demon children run wild through our store because you don't know how to handle them for the 3 hours a week you actually spend with them, is not. If we have to wrangle your children, you have to tip us. We are not paid to be your nanny, we are just your coffee people. we deserve some compensation.
b.when we tell you your child needs to stop doing something, politely apologize and cease their action. Do not argue with us as to why the child should be allowed to continue. This is my store. I don't tell you what to do at your house, you don't tell me what to do at my store. If i tell you your 3ft kid cant play with a 4ft mini hockey stick in the store take it away, don't just move him out of the main aisle. no stick means no sitck. even if he doesn't hit a person he may still destroy merchandise, which is equally bad.
c.to the people who give their children coffee. no fucking wonder that act like they do. You complain that you're "addicted to the stuff" but give your 8 year old a latte. I don't want your wired children in my store.
7.Trash:
a.don't drop yor trash on the floor "accidentally" and then "forget" to pick it up. there is usually more than 1 trash can in a store and it is there for a reason.
b.If your child makes a mess, clean it up. your child is not our responsibility.
c.if YOU make a mess, clean it up. you , like your children, are not our responsibility.
d.If you don't clean up your mess, that means we have to. You tip in a restaurant for that, same goes for the coffee place. Our cars don't run on "thank you"'s.
Most of these things are at least to me common sense. Follow these and you, as well as those around you, will have a much more pleasant experience.
hugs and kisses,
the barista