tales from the bright side

sometimes, when there's a rash of jerk customers (like the other day), it's tempting to quit. but then there are other days where the customers are all great, or someone makes you laugh so hard that it's totally worth it to wear the green apron.

favorite funny bux stories so far this week:
- a group of rowdy middle grade boys came in and were very disruptive. the were so loud i had to play the "if you can't behave, you'll have to leave" card. meanwhile an employee from the burger shop next to us came in for his drink.
"hey, why did your boss kick us out yesterday?" one of the boys asked the burger shop employee.
"because you guys are loud, obnoxious and messy." he answered with a smile.
"but she can't throw us out just because she doesn't like us!" another boy piped up.
"guys, i know that you know the reason why she kicked you out. all you have to do is be cool and then you can hang out all night long." he told them as they gathered their things to leave my store.
"hey, guys!" the burger employee called them back before they'd walked out. "you see this?" he pointed to the mess on the table and chairs in the aisle. "this is the reason people don't want you in their place of business. now clean all this up and apologize to the starbucks workers for being bad customers."
unbelievably the boys did exactly what they were told - even apologizing to us.
"you want a job here?" i teased the burger employee after the boys had left.
"hell no!" he laughed. "at my store i can kick those snots out any time i want!"

- (this happened at my fellow barista brat's bux) a kid walked into the store and gabbed a root beer from the display case and brought it to the counter. after paying for the soda, and putting the change in the tip jar, he returned the root beer to the display case and started to leave the store.
"hey!" the register partner called out to the kid. "aren't you going to take your soda? you just paid for it!"
"yeah, but i stole one last week and my mom made me come back just to pay for it."

- a tall guy in a suit came in and stood in line, the whole time he was on the phone. when it came is turn to order he put the phone down and asked barista buddy if he remembered him.
"i'm not sure - i'm sorry." barista buddy apologized, thinking he had messed this guy's drink up in the past.
"well, i came in about a month ago and ordered an iced latte, but i left my wallet at the office and you went ahead and gave me the drink and told me i could pay you later."
"oh yeah, ok." barista buddy started to ring the guy up for the latte.
"the rest is for the tip jar." the tall guy said as he handed over a twenty dollar bill. "thanks again for that!" he called out as he left.

- a regular customer came in holding a large pizza box in one hand and a two-liter of coke in the other.
"oh, yay! you brought enough to share!" i teased her as i marked her cup.
"i sure did!" she smiled. "this is for you guys. i left mine in the car." she answered and handed us the pizza and coke. "you guys always make my day, so i figured i could make yours for once!"


partner rant: please don't give out false information to customers. don't tell them that we blend soy drinks, that frappuccino lights are totally calorie free or that all our tea is organic. it doesn't matter that you don't think the customers really care whether you're lying or not. the fact is you're making every other baristas job harder when you give out false information. either learn the real info, or go work someplace else.