6.16.2006

stupid 'just say yes' policy

grrrrr!
today's post is one giant barista rant:
believe it or not, my shift started off really well. i was working with my awesome assistant manager and although we had crazy frappuccino rushes (and we were working with the other assistant manager who is pretty useless), it wasn't a bad day. that is until my awesome assistant manager took her lunch break and ms. bitch lady of the day came in.

while i was making a frappuccino bitch lady taps on the glass that separates the baristas from the customers and asks me to throw some espresso beans into the drink.
"i'm sorry, but that's against policy and i can't do it." i informed her.
"just a couple," she smiled sweetly.
"the reason i can't is because it's a health code violation. the beans have certain oils on them that some people are allergic to, so i'm not allowed to blend them in the drink."
"ugh!" she complains. "i've worked in coffee for YEARS. it will be fine, BELIEVE ME. plus, they always do it for me."

now, if i were already having a crappy day i would have told her "tough shit!", but the day had been good and i figured if i just complied begrudgingly this lady would get out of my face.
"i'll do it for you this time, but i'm going to have to sanitize the pitcher so i don't make my other customers sick."
"that's fine," she said flippantly without even a 'thank you'.
so as i'm making the drink with the stupid beans blended in, i called out to my extremely lackluster assistant manager "please empty the sanitizer so i can throw this pitcher in when i'm done making this drink."
"why do we need to sanitize it?" he asked.
"because that customer wanted a special drink with espresso beans." i informed him - and without attitude!

so, when i call out the drink the bitch customer says "oh, this isn't what i ordered!"
that's right. when she asked me to put the beans in the frappuccino i was making it WASN'T EVEN HER DRINK!!!
that meant i would have to REMAKE the damn thing and sanitize ANOTHER pitcher, all the while more and more frappuccinos are piling up.
"you have three venti caramel frappuccinos coming up!" lackluster assistant manager calls out to me.
"it's gonna be a few minutes because i'm down two blending pitchers." i informed him - still with no attitude.
i finished bitch lady's drink and put it on the serving counter, then went back to making drinks. i heard her complaining to my lackluster assistant manager, but all i really caught was "even if it is policy!" and "no need to be rude!"
i just laughed it off because i knew i had been nicer than usual in this circumstance. unfortunately lackluster assistant manager didn't bother to let me know that she was demanding a refund, because if i had known i would've taken her drink off the serving counter and tossed it down the sink.

that's right. the bitch lied about me having attitude, got a refund and took her drink on her way out.
i'm pissed off for two reasons. the obvious one is because i went OUT of my way to fix her damn drink, while making sure i thoroughly cleaned out the pitchers as to not make other customers sick. the other reason i'm pissed is because my lackluster assistant manager didn't have the brains to let me know that she was demanding a refund.
what a tool! didn't he realize she was going to take the drink unless he told me to take it off the damn counter?

well, i've learned my lesson. i'm just going to be a barista nazi when it comes to customized drinks. you can all blame bitch lady.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn Bitch Lady!She is all your most recent rants all rolled up into one!NO MORE COFFEE FOR YOU!NEXT!! When in hell are you going to hang up your apron at that place? I almost don't want to know because than your stories might not be so entertaining!And don't get me started on the "Tool.."

Cup said...

See, that's why you need to save the chunks from the nasty mugs ... you can then grind those with the demanded espresso beans.

Not Perfect said...

You have a glass wall separating you from the customers? Lucky!