6.19.2006

how much would you pay?

the interesting thing about customers is there's no real middle ground.
they are all over the spectrum when it comes to behaviour, expectations and attitude.

for instance, today a woman ordered a frappuccino for her husband and then three additional frappuccinos. the register partner rang her up for the four drinks and i made all four in a timely manner. when i presented the drinks to the customer, she informed me that she only ordered two drinks: one for her husband and one for herself.
this is the part i don't understand - this woman thought she had ordered only two drinks and happily forked over fifteen dollars for them. FIFTEEN DOLLARS! i know people bitch about bux prices, but inflation and profit margins have not driven the cost of two frappuccinos to fifteen dollars.
not yet, at least.
we refunded the lady her money and she just laughed it off.

then, not ten minutes later, another customer came in and painstakingly ordered two drinks. she ordered, and reordered about three different times. i charged her for the two drinks, but not before i AGAIN repeated her order to her and confirmed that she was ordering only two drinks.
so, guess what happened?
yup, not only did she take her two drinks, she took a drink that belonged to another customer.
maybe it's me. maybe holding two fingers up and asking "only two drinks, right?" means something totally different outside of bux. i suppose i could have been the victim of cultural differences, but i highly doubt it. she must have thought she was getting a super deal when paying just seven dollars for three drinks.

partner rant: so yeah. you decided this summer we should have even more blended drinks. well, couldn't you have at least ensured they tasted good? today my fellow baristas and i sampled these new drinks. yuck is all i have to say. what they lack in flavor, they make up in annoyance. please, try and refrain from putting disgusting drinks on the menu that will only make our jobs even harder when customers decide they want us to make them something entirely different. something that doesn't taste like crap.

4 comments:

slobber said...

o.k. i've decided the number of drinks available at bux must now be a permutation, uncalcable/uncalcuable by anyone. is uncalcuable a word?

Sling said...

It probably has nothing to do with the 3 drink lady but..Americans indicate 2 by holding up the forefinger,and middle finger..In Germany they hold up the thumb,and forefinger.I found they often mistook my 2 for their 3...sigh..more useless trivia..

barista brat said...

ale8one - at my local 7-11 they had signs boasting about the 11,000+combinations you could make of coffee - and they only have 2 syrups and some steamed milk.
i think bux is "incalculable" as you say.

sling - that's awesome to know! can't wait to pass this bit of knowledge off as my own, haha

Not Perfect said...

At least you 'bux didn't jump on the Acai berry bandwagon (yet). My place offers grossly overpriced Acai berry smoothies, and though I didn't work full time, I can only recall selling one during my entire time there.