11.28.2006

krazy kids

a barista from another bux sent me this gem:

I'm an SBUX barista. Thought I'd share my story from this evening.

Scene: A couple comes in, with their two young daughters. They get their beverages, kids beverages etc.

The couple proceeds to enjoy their evening in our SBUX, without a care in the world- especially about their kids. Apparently, in addition to fixing their beverages it seemed they believed we provided babysitting services as well. The girls proceeded to run around the store making lots of noise, arranging our holiday bearistas throughout the store, putting their grimy little fingers all over our holiday merchandise etc.

After a LONG while, they all disappeared...outside. As you probably imagined, they left their table full of empty cups and trash...along with a sippy cup, cigarettes, and almost full bottle of Ethos. I admit, I did notice the girls running around on our patio. But I decided they had left for the evening, and I needed to clean their mess. So I threw everything away ;)

About 10 minutes later, they all came back in (after their smoke)...and inquired about the stuff on the table. Most apologetically (of course) I told them we thought they had left for the evening and that the table was cleaned.

They whined about the lost sippy cup...and most especially about the cigarettes. So I walked them over to the trash and pulled out the sippy cup- I even offered to put it in our sanitizer (how legendary!!!). "But what about my cigarettes? That was half a pack!," Dad cried. "Is it in the trash, too?" Gee, I told him, I don't see them (and I'm not digging). So very, very sorry!

Oh, and get this- they declined the sippy cup sanitizing, and handed the just-removed-from-the-trash sippy cup to their kid. Lovely.

Next time, watch your damn kids or get a sitter, pal. Oh, and clean up your own mess.


there must have been something in the air because the children at my bux have been particularly unruly as well. one parent sat by while her daughter tossed cheerios on the ground. if that wasn't bad enough, the kid then proceeded to stomp on the cheerios until her section of floor was covered in cereal dust. what did the mother do?
nothing.
not a damn thing.

and there was the set of twins who decided it would be fun to squish all the sandwiches in our food case. dad just said "don't do that" and turned his attention back to the sports page. too bad i was all out of "parent of the week" awards.

barista rant: i know it's cool to use our wireless access, and really - we don't mind if you sit all day long at a table with your laptop. we do, however, get a little fussy when you take up THREE tables with your set up of two monitors, a keyboard, and a printer. a friggen' printer! we are not your home office, so please don't act as if you own the place.

15 comments:

Paper Monkey said...

I, Paper Monkey, as a soon to be father, do solemnly swear that I will discipline my child in an appropriate manner to ensure that they behave like a civilized human being. I further swear that I will not just issue an empty threat about removing them from Bux if they misbehave, I will actually remove them and furthermore, if the store is not busy, I will bring them back in to apologize to the Baristas for causing a scene.

I will ensure that I have instilled in my child the importance of cleaning up after one’s self because (all together now) it is the SERVICE industry people.. not the SERVILE industry. I know, I know… one small letter can make such a difference but, last time I checked, the green apron does not magically make you my servant. It makes you the patient person who provides me with a service.

Anonymous said...

I am a bux regular and often have one or all of my 3 small children with me. I think I endeared our whole family to the baristas when, on our first vist, I asked for the broom to sweep up after a particulalry messy muffin eater (my 2 year old). The buxers insisted on cleaning it up themselves but they have always regarded our family with a smile instead of an eye-roll and I think it's because we started out on the right foot!

Anonymous said...

It could always be worse, brat. If you haven't ever checked out the stories of the Gord (www.actsofgord.com), you should sometime. In particular, check Chronicles:27 (www.actsofgord.com/Chronicles/chapter27.html), as that's a bit relevant to this. K

Anonymous said...

Not having kids, it's probably not my place to say anything. BUT...

I understand how frustrating it can be to watch them nonstop and dispense constant discipline. I fail to understand how that makes it okay to let them become someone else's burden.

she said: said...

I actually can not even tell you how many blogs I have read in the past two weeks were everyone is complaining about this kid situation. Even I blogged about it a few weeks ago... http://snarkolepsy.blogspot.com/2006/11/are-parents-going-deaf-or-they-just.html

Honestly it is becoming near epidemic. I can't go into any store right now and not hear or see a child being left somehow unattended.

Anonymous said...

I think I got one of those sandwiches once...

Grumpy Housewife said...

Oh boy, 'tis the season.

I will just come right out and say it. I generally do not like other peoples' children. I find them annoying as hell, unappealing because they have not been taught basic manners, and their parents to be poor excuses for breeders because they do not discipline their offspring.

I have a child of my own. She is 12 now, but when she was small, I never, ever allowed her to engage in the appalling behavior I see so many other people allowing their offspring to engage in. I didn't let her run wild, I didn't let her yell and scream, I didn't let her throw tantrums. She learned early on that if she pitched a fit, Mommy would drop everything and take her home, whereupon she would be sentenced to five minutes in the Naughty Chair. Since she didn't like that, she stopped throwing tantrums!

I see these heinous little children in public, and I just want to snatch them up and give them a time out, and then give their parents a time out!

And I think this time of year, it all comes out, because people are everywhere, with their horrible little children, who they have refused to teach manners (after all, it would stifle Bratney's creativity if she had to learn to say "please" and "thank you" and consider other people), doing holiday shopping, which creates stress anyway.

I think I just hate people. Maybe I will do my Christmas shopping online this year.

mellowlee said...

Grrrr, parents like that sooo piss me off! I knew there was a reason I examine the sandwiches before I pick one HAHA. Seriously, two monitors? and a printer! What the hell?! That's just all kinds of batty

misha said...

sounds like you have been reading The Waiter over at WaiterRant.

tangle said...

I used to work at Borders in an affluent Chicago suburb. MANY parents would bring their kids in and literally allow them to DESTROY the kids section: throwing entire shelves of books onto the floor, crunching cherrios into the carpets, spilling juice onto shelves, CHEWING ON, COLORING IN AND RIPPING UP books that they left mangled on the floor, crayoning the shelves and tables, then pack them up and leave like this was their playroom and we were their collective Maid.
Between that and the teenagers who reshelved porn-lit next to Little House on the Prairie, it took half the staff to clean it up after we closed.
God I don't miss that job.

Tom said...

No no no somebody did NOT set up a printer in a Starbucks. NO!

As for the epidemic of wild kids--it's the sugar OD time of year, so only expect it get worse.

Anonymous said...

it's posts like this one that make me soooooooo glad i don't work with the public anymore. i did the mall/retail thing for the past 3-4 years over the holidays and it just made me hate everyone. especially obnoxious, bratty children and their parents that did nothing to discipline or control them.

i'm seriously dreading the malls this year.

barista brat said...

papermonkey - hear hear! every parent should make that oath!

andrea - you better believe those baristas love you! you're the best sort of customer.

kiz - thanks for the link. i'll check it out.

jpdc - i agree. sure, kids can be hard to handle but that doesn't mean everyone else has to suffer.

she said - must be some sort of cosmic blog zeitgeist!

glassmeow - haha! your comment cracked me up.

grumpy housewife (ms. k) - if only every parent did what you did!

mellowlee - yup - a stinkin' printer! and yes - ALWAYS check the sandwiches!

mish - i've never read him, but i think i should because apparently he's really funny.

maria - haha, i didn't realize what a nightmare a bookstore could be!

tom - you must be right about the sugar thing. and yes, truly he did bring in a printer.

she riff - lucky you that you won't have to work the malls this holiday! hopefully they won't be too crowded when you have to do your shopping.

watch4stairs said...

We had two new trainees on bar and register... thanks for the schedueling, manager! And I come back from the sanitizer to see a two year old... no parents, running from the frappacino station to the register and back. Both trainees too intent on their jobs... How do you miss a TWO YEAR OLD? I cant believe my eyes....but I cant pick the kid up. With my clumsieness, and our health code violation of a store, id slip on some spil while bodily removing him, and i can just see the law suits happening. But, when i try to be nice and escort him out.. he gives me this look like... your a stranger and im not suppose to listen too you? WTF

Anonymous said...

tell me bout it!

these regulars leave their 2 year old for us to babysit for half a day. She leaves uno cards all over the floor and likes to pick up mugs especially from the merchandise rack. although i love children and we barista's actually do take turns looking after her since we're a low volume store. But still, be responsible parents or don't have kids at all!

oh.,and they changed her diaper once on our cushioned chairs. WTF

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