I might not have been working the cafe for very long now, but I've quickly accumulated a list of ways to avoid infuriating the guy or gal who has full access to the drink you just paid $6 for. So excuse the inherent bitterness of such a project and enjoy these simple tips.
1. Don't hover over the barista. This is my personal pet peeve, when people order their drinks and then come stand next to the counter, watching me make it. It's disconcerting, especially when there are several drinks in front of theirs. They keep saying, "Is that my grande skinny decaf mocha? Oh.... Don't forget it's decaf! Is that it? You didn't forget it, did you?" There's one exception: I actually kinda like it when parents let their kids watch me make their hot chocolates. The kids think I'm a super hero, especially when I put on the whipped cream. But everyone else needs to step off and wait for the shout-out.
2. Try not to order your drink "extra hot." Of the 700 ways people like to order their drinks, this is the most frustrating. First, it implies I don't know how to make a drink. Second, and most obnoxiously, it makes us blast an entire steam pitcher up past 170 degrees (the last tasty temperature of milk) just because you want to scald your few remaining tastebuds. One steam pitcher can make four drinks, so an extra-hot order forces me to shuffle the drink order (pushing that one to last, by the way, so I can spike the temp later) if I don't want to be lazy and make all the drinks extra hot. Most baristas would just be lazy and give torched milk to everybody. PS: I say "try not to order" that way because you might frequent a coffee shop where they just don't make drinks hot enough. If that's the case, go for it. But it's best just to specify a temperature if you're worried: 170 for drinks with whipped cream, 160 for those without.
3. If you used to work at a Starbucks, don't mention it. It doesn't do any good for anyone involved.
4. Look at your drink when you pick it up. Did you order a tall? Then why did you grab a venti? I'm amazed every day how many people pick up the wrong drink, sip from it, dump a bunch of Splenda in it, etc. Of course, I've done it, too. But still, just pay attention. I will admit, though, this is the best reason for me to re-make a drink. The customer never gets mad when I say, "Some guy grabbed your drink, put a fistfull of Equal in it, wandered around the store for five minutes, then returned it. I'll make you a new one."
5. Bus your own table. Clean up your own sugar spill. Wipe up your creamer explosion. And, if you happen to be at a Barnes and Noble/Borders/etc., don't leave your books and magazines on the table when you take off. I know, the kind of people who read this aren't the kind of people who do these things, but I'm just trying to do my part to help.
6. Don't use the adjective "Regular" to describe anything. It starts a flurry of questions. Do you mean medium? Non-decaf? Just once, I want someone to order an "irregular coffee."
7. Never underestimate the people behind the counter. The cafe crew is probably the most educated I've ever worked with, and they know a lot about a lot of things. The customers who get treated the best are the ones who respect the crew and ask the right questions. ("What's a low-carb coffee drink?" "How do you make a macchiato?" etc.)
8. The whipped cream is low-fat. Just take our word on it. You'd have to eat a few cups of it to get some serious fat content. No one believes this.
9. Tip. Even if there's no jar. Especially if there's no jar.
10. Don't ever cite the drink-making prowess of Olive Garden.
2 comments:
I was certain I'd see something about not ordering an "expresso" on the list.
I love that our cheat sheet to remember register codes for certain drinks says "x51 esspresso." Drives me nuts.
They also broke the employees into teams to see which group could sell the most gift cards. Each team got a comic book type name, so mine was the "Fantastic Four Squared" (because there are 16 of us). But they keep abbreviating it as FF4. Grr.
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