7.24.2006

t minus 1

tomorrow i start at the new bux. i'm not excited, i'm not dreading it, i'm not shivering with antici---pation.
no, it's just going to be another day, albeit another bux. i'm sure some of the drama will be the same and i'm sure i'll hear many of the same customer complaints. but who knows, it's in a slightly more affluent area so maybe my tips will be higher.

of course, my last shift at my old bux had to have a memorable incident.
while working on bar i noticed a woman kind of hanging about the lobby. at one point she even got in line, only to jump back out once she made it to the register. a couple times she made eye contact with me, then would continue to just hang about the store. honestly, i thought she might have been impaired in some manner because she did not look all together "there".

so after about ten frappuccinos i forgot all about her. i was too busy in that blended beverage corner we so affectionately call "hell" to think any more about her. when the register partner called me over because a customer needed "assistance" i wasn't all that surprised to see it was the afore mentioned lady.

"hi, what can i help you with?" i started in my usual 'treat the guest nicely' manner.
"yeah, i have a bone to pick with you!"
"with me?" i was genuinely curious. was she mad i didn't wave hello when she made eye contact with me?
"well, not you but with your workers last night."
"really, what happened?"
"well, i come her all the time," she started to explain and already i knew she was just some scammer looking for a freebie. "and last night i came here with my whole family and everything was wrong!"
"i'm sorry to hear that," i continued in my bux 'just say yes' voice.
"yeah, everything was wrong!" she repeated. "all the coffees, all the sizes, even the pastries!"

now, just for some insight - a good scammer has a general, yet specific story. "oh, that girl with the longish hair was rude to me and gave me the incorrect change." or "that tall guy made two tall frappuccinos instead of two ventis." this lady's story was just too general to be true. it struck me very odd that my fellow baristas were incapable of getting ONE item correct for this lady and her "family".

"yeah, i just got out of the hospital yesterday and everything was wrong!" she was trying to tug at my heartstrings, but it just wasn't working.
"i'm really sorry to hear that. how about a coffee for your trouble?" i offered, knowing full well she wanted some free drink coupons.
"uh, well they were all wrong!" she repeated again.
"oh, is your family here with you?" i asked. "i'd be happy to give them a free drip coffee as well."
"uh, no they were so mad they didn't want to come back here."

i asked the register partner to fill a grande cup with drip coffee, gave it to the lady and apologized for her experience. realizing she wasn't going to get anything else from me, she took the coffee and ran.
are you surprised?

barista rant: i know it's hot. i know you want water. so if a group of four of you walk into my bux, ask for the water all at the same friggen' time! don't ask one at a time. it is more annoying than you can possibly imagine for me to put a cup of water in front of one of you, only to have another one of you ask for a *surprise* cup of water. and then to repeat this same process two more times is not only time consuming, it's incredibly rude. just ask for four cups of water at one time, all right?

12 comments:

Cup said...

Again, why the scams to save less than $5? What weirdos. And she just got out of the hospital!

Natalie said...

Are there really so many people trying to scam starbucks? I must be so naive. YOu know, I bet these scammer types try it on all sort of stores and businesses.

Moxie said...

This heat is making people loopy...and they are all coming into Starbucks. On Saturday afternoon I went to my local Bux to get out of the heat. I was sitting down to a pomegranate frappy frapness when this woman decided it was the perfect time to bear witness about the Lord to me. What makes this even better is that I had my Tarot cards out, ready to give myself a reading. I think the cards, plus my willingness to go along with her proselytizing to a small degree, freaked her out enough that she left. Praise Jesus and pass the frappuccino!

haahnster said...

There are TONS of scammers everywhere. You are quite correct about those with too-general stories being scammers. Another classic scammer mistake is "shooting for the moon" (i.e., asking for way too f*cking much to be believable).

I used to work at a burger place that served single, double, and triple burgers. We were almost religious about giving the cutomer a receipt. I had a scammer come to the drive-thru and say his order had been messed up. It was supposed to be 4 triple cheeseburgers, and they were all wrong, etc. No, he didn't have a receipt. Blah blah BLAH (customer raises voice to "prove" he's telling the truth).

Now, keep in mind we only sold about 4 triple cheeseburgers in the average WEEK. It was a damned big sandwich. Luckily, we had 2-ply register tape in the drive-thru, so there, on a roll were all the orders for the last 2 days. So, I unrolled it order by order in front of the guy to show him we hadn't had any order with 4 triple burgers in the last 2 days. He didn't get sh*t, and left without much of an argument.

That was one time where I actually got to say, "the customer is wrong, b*tch!" (Well, I didn't actually say that...)

James said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
James said...

Uh, the other day I got a thing here. And it wasn't right. And then I got another thing and that wasn't right either. So I talked to the tallish short guy-girl working at the counter, you know the one with the green apron, and you know what? They said something very mean to me. What did they say? Well, I've tried to block it out of mind. I've been in the hospital. Partly because of that. Can I have a free franchise?

barista brat said...

beth - i think either they have nothing better to do, or it keeps them from violating parole.

natalie - i think you're right. i'm sure they scam all sorts of business. i think bux is just an easy target for them.

girl with moxie - i think i know that lady! she asks us "do you love jesus?" when she orders her coffee, as well as "have you accepted the lord jesus christ as your personal saviour?" before she decides to tip us.

haahnster - ooo snap! that's great. i love it when a scammer gets busted.

james - haha, i think i want to put your comment on a t-shirt.

b - too true about the tip thing. i guess they didn't get rich by giving their money away. i can't wait to hear stories from the airline. i close at the new store tonight, so wish me an early close!

Wide Lawns said...

Oh my lord. Moxie referred me over here to your blog and I LOVE IT!!! I swear I just can not believe people. This is as bad as the crap I have to put up with. And all this for some coffee? I hope I am not a pain in the ass when I go to bux. I try not to be.

Anonymous said...

ummm.. i just like the rocky horror reference...

Anonymous said...

I try to tip a buck at least once a week to make up for the debit card transactions (no way to add a tip in) and usually give the change back out of a five for my "usual" Tall skinny chai latte and slice 'o' pumpkin loaf. While handing back the java jacket (got cup holders, eh?) in the drive up window.

misha said...

in a way i have tried to do that before in a bux - if someone orders something i like i usually say - hey - i'll take the same but sugar free. it never seems to be appreciated though and i always have to end up repeating the order - i do watch like a hawk for those sugar free syrups though :)

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