After All These Years
On Thursday I was at the College Park Starbucks, meeting my friend Melissa for a cup of coffee before classes resumed. I got there a little early (thanks to the absolute lack of cars on the road) and went into the store to get my cup of tea. There was an older woman in line in front of me who ordered a tall coffee. Unfortunately, just as she did so, the timer on the coffee went off, meaning it was expired and had to be dumped out so they could brew a new pot. Well when the barista explained this to the woman (instead of just serving the old gross coffee... how nice of them), she went into an absolute tirade... on and on about how they should have been brewing a new pot already if they knew the old coffee was going to expire, and how ridiculous it was that she was going to have to wait a whole 3-4 minutes for her cup of coffee.
The baristas did exactly what I've done in that same situation, they explained the reasons for what was going on, apologized for the inconvenience, and offered to make an Americano if she was unable to wait. To which the woman replied with more condescending remarks and overall bitterness, muttering something about how her brother has worked for Starbucks for years, and "I'm sure he'd find this outrageous if here were here, it's just not right." Two things-- first, we are still talking about a cup of coffee right? I mean no one has threatened her safety, or violated her civil rights or anything right? Okay, just wanted to make sure. Second, if your brother has worked for Starbucks for any amount of time, I'm sure he's been in this situation, and I'm sure he's done exactly what these baristas and myself have done many, many times... not because we're bad at our jobs, just because sometimes these things happen. It's not the end of the world, why do people act like it is?
I kept hoping that she would do what I had also seen many customers do, and turn around and make some kind of plea for camaraderie from me, "can you believe this?" Because I SO SO SO badly wanted to utter the words I could never speak while I was employed... I had it all worked out in my head, I would have simply shrugged my shoulders and calmly and slowly replied with "It's only coffee." But instead she turned and looked at me and said "do you know where the nearest Target is?" To which I replied "no, I'm not really familiar with the area." Which was true, but I wish that I had known and still said no, just so I could have finally had the opportunity to stick it to a bitchy Starbucks customer. Oh well.
The baristas did exactly what I've done in that same situation, they explained the reasons for what was going on, apologized for the inconvenience, and offered to make an Americano if she was unable to wait. To which the woman replied with more condescending remarks and overall bitterness, muttering something about how her brother has worked for Starbucks for years, and "I'm sure he'd find this outrageous if here were here, it's just not right." Two things-- first, we are still talking about a cup of coffee right? I mean no one has threatened her safety, or violated her civil rights or anything right? Okay, just wanted to make sure. Second, if your brother has worked for Starbucks for any amount of time, I'm sure he's been in this situation, and I'm sure he's done exactly what these baristas and myself have done many, many times... not because we're bad at our jobs, just because sometimes these things happen. It's not the end of the world, why do people act like it is?
I kept hoping that she would do what I had also seen many customers do, and turn around and make some kind of plea for camaraderie from me, "can you believe this?" Because I SO SO SO badly wanted to utter the words I could never speak while I was employed... I had it all worked out in my head, I would have simply shrugged my shoulders and calmly and slowly replied with "It's only coffee." But instead she turned and looked at me and said "do you know where the nearest Target is?" To which I replied "no, I'm not really familiar with the area." Which was true, but I wish that I had known and still said no, just so I could have finally had the opportunity to stick it to a bitchy Starbucks customer. Oh well.
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