we baristas are now officially in the swing of holiday, which of course means our customers have started to behave rather poorly under the guise of 'the season'.
already we've seen an increase in rudeness, selfishness, and rage - and we know it's only going to get worse.
the first wench of christmas was an older women, smartly dressed, and with her phone glued to her ear. when she made it to the front of the line she decided her call was far too important to put on hold and ordered her drink in between a shower of "i don't believe it!", "then what did you say?" and "uh-huhs".
when the register partner tried to verify the order, the wench just waved her off and rolled her eyes, clearly upset that her conversation was being interrupted. so register partner marked the cup to the best of her understanding and handed phone wench her receipt.
well, wouldn't you know - not two seconds after i handed phone wench her drink, did she erupt with "this is NOT what i ordered!".
mind you, she was still on the phone, so when i informed her that i could remake her drink, so long as she told me what it was she wanted, she didn't hear a thing. instead she huffed and started yelling into the phone about how incompetent bux baristas are.
then she looked at her receipt and growled that she'd been charged for the wrong size.
"i can give you the difference - it's no problem," the register partner offered, but of course this fell on the deaf ear that didn't have a phone attached to it.
"this is ridiculous!" phone wench bitched into the receiver and huffed her way out of the store.
"that's what happens when you order WHILE talking on the phone!" i called out to her.
of course, she didn't hear a word.
we also saw an increase in energy with the school kids that filter in for their frappuccinos and raspberry waters. they are so excited about their upcoming two week vacation that they are bouncing off the walls, even without the aid of caffeine. not only are they boisterous and loud, but they are extremely clumsy. we've had to rebuild our holiday display twice since last friday, and we've had to mark out four ceramic mugs that were broken to bits because these kids are kinetic nightmares.
well, at least they've been more polite than the older patrons.
partner rant: are you deaf? how can you not hear that annoying 'beep-beep-beep' coming from the coffee timer? i was on my break in the back room and i STILL heard it. you are standing less than two feet away from the damn thing! it's not enough that you've apparently learned to tune it out. the whole reason it's beeping is to tell you to rebrew fresh coffee! so why the hell were you serving expired drips when i came back from break? oh, i know. because you just DON'T care.
12 comments:
On that holiday note, I really like the hot chocolates, and the Espresso Truffle is actually very tasty.
I wonder if everything tastes better in a red cup..
Do you ever get that feeling that the other guys are just "ignoring" what needs doing, so you end up doing it yourself?
I feel like that all the time in my job...
:-(
I sometimes purposely give customers the wrong drinks when they won't put down their phones. When they complain, I tell them I confirmed your order. Because I always tell them the drink I am handing out. Is it wrong? Yes. But if they confirm the wrong thing, how is that my fault? :-)
We need as a people to be more confrontational with regard to yahoos and their cell phones. Shame em back into civil behavior, I say.
also the word verification is Defixant.
Extra credit for a definition of Defixant that integrates this post's main subject
I don't suppose you're allowed to say something like, "I'll be happy to help you as soon as you're finished on the telephone," and then take the next person's order?
Wow, the rudeness some people exhibit is mind-boggling, isn't it?
Have you put the ka-bosh on the skipping over the idiot on the cell phone or is it too busy to do that?? I remember that's what we used to do we just skipped right over them and they were disgusted and then bitched to the person they are on the phone with that "the people at starbucks are ignoring me what the hell". I hate people who can't seem to live without their cell phones.
Just give the word and I will write one of my signs and send it to you. Cellphones while retailing should be banned, I feel your pain.
I always want to say "Well that is the CELLPHONE special, just for you Snowflake"...lol...
and the beeping coffee pot? Let me guess? young'uns? newbies? [no offense to younger people - it is just that...uh...]I spend more time turning off beeping alarm clocks...giggle...IT IS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY - you do it!
I want to hear a story about how you are missing a customer's fav' flavor from last Christmas, ahem, excuse me...HOLIDAY...and why.don't.you.still.have.it.this.year. LOL...I hear this all the time when I am out.
Hugs!
I feel your pain. My coworkers all looked at me like I was crazy when the holidays started getting closer and I started saying, "Get ready for our customers to be nice and rude." Now all of a sudden they see exactly what I mean.
I try very, very hard to ignore people on cell phones. If they can't be bothered to put down their phone for 2 seconds so that they can give me a coherent order then I can't be bothered to help them. Granted, I'm waiting for one of them to call (on the CELL PHONE!!) in about me but sometimes it gets to be a bit much.
Just today I had a woman roll up in her SUV to the drive thru. I heard her phone ringing through her window on the headset. She rolled down the window after answering it to tell me to hold on a minute and promptly rolled her window back up. It wasn't even a "hey I am at starbucks.Did you want something? hold on." No it was more like "OMG! I cannot believe Tammy did that! I need details!!!"
So during mid morning rush I waited for her to finish her conversation at the speakerbox. Scruples people... get some with your cell.
Isn't it funny how kids and teens are usually infinitely more polite than their adult counterparts? You are way more likely to get a "please" and "thank you" from them than their parents. And if you screw up their drink, they are so nice about it...sometimes they'll even apologize for asking you to re-make it! Sometimes it can make up for the annoying things they do just because they're young and aren't thinking.
Ugh the beeping noise is the WORST. I hate it. One of the reasons I couldn't handle working at Sbux.
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