one bean

last night my fellow barista buddy told me a gem of a story.

apparently earlier this week he was working with the talker, so he was more aggravated than usual. a group of four women came in - apparently it was 'girls' night out' because they were louder and giddier than sophomores hanging at the mall. the first three women bantered and flirted with barista buddy as they placed their orders. the last woman, however, got right down to business and told him EXACTLY what she wanted.

"give me a latte with nonfat milk and one bean."
"one bean?" barista buddy asked.
"yeah, nonfat milk and one bean."
"so...you want steamed nonfat milk..."
"yes! i want steamed nonfat milk and ONE BEAN!" she was getting pissy.
"one bean!" her friends chimed in behind her and started laughing.
"all right," barista buddy took their money and began making their lattes.

the first three women took their drinks with no complaints. the fourth woman took a sip and frowned.

"this tastes like milk!" she spat. "i wanted a latte with one bean!"
"that's what i made you," barista buddy responded with an evil grin. "i steamed nonfat milk and put one bean it."

sure enough, barista buddy dropped a solitary espresso bean into her milk when making her drink.

"no! you're supposed to crush up one bean instead of a bunch of them! that's how all the other starbucks do it!" she bitched.
"ma'am i made your drink EXACTLY how your ordered it." he shot back.

the woman bitched some more while her friends laughed uncontrollably. hopefully she learned her lesson but most likely she'll continue to order a "one bean latte".

barista rant: i understand you were looking to purchase a gift for a friend, but did you really need to take all the product off our shelves and put them on your table while you decided between the different mugs? not only did you spend ten minutes hogging the merchandise, but once you made your decision you left the remaining products on the table without putting them back on display. in what world is this behaviour ok?!?