As some of you might know, one of my 2 jobs is working as a Barista in a franchise cafe located in a busy Shopping Center. I’ve been making coffee for about 3 years now and really enjoy it. It’s not only my job, but also my hobbie, although I hate it whenever we are super busy π I’m glad I got taught by experienced people who paid attention to the quality and were onto me whenever my coffee wasn’t quite right or they noticed I wasn’t giving it my best. Nowadays I am the one helping out others and making sure that they know what is important when they make coffee.
We are a cafe that specializes in cakes. We have a nice selection of different kinds of cake you can buy from the store every day and we also do personalized cakes for Birthdays, etc. We do offer Breakfast items, but nothing fancy. We can get you a Banana Bread & Raisin Toast or even a Croissant or Toastie, but we don’t employ a chef. We also do have Pies, Sausage Rolls, etc. Yes, Australians love their Pies^^
We have lots of really nice customers, a lot of them come every day and are super friendly & happy people. It’s cool if you see them coming and already know what they want to order.
But on the other hand.. I didn’t expect the amount of rude & obnoxious people we encounter.
I want to give you the best product I can, you pay for it. And I get paid to be friendly and attentive. So why can’t you do the same?
There are a couple of things that annoy a Barista or a Sales Assistant.
Dear rude customer…..
- Please don’t ask me if I am already making coffee when there is still a cover over the coffee machine. Obviously, I am not ready and I don’t like getting pushed! Also, we are not open, as you can see if you look at the sign.
- Please don’t mumble your order and then complain when I double-check & repeat it.
- Please don’t THROW money at us
- Please stop questioning our prices. We can’t change them, obviously and won’t do it just because you don’t like them. And please don’t throw tomato sauce at us, it’s not our fault it costs 20cent extra! (yes, that happened!)
- Please don’t let us guess your order or get upset if we ask questions to get more details out of you. You can’t believe how often this happens:
Deezee( me^^): Good morning, how are you?
Customer: Coffee!
Deezee: … Okay. Which coffee would you like? Is it to have here or Take-Away?
Customer: (slightly louder): A COFFEE!
Deezee: ……..
It’s not that we don’t have all types of coffee, sizes and prices right in front of you.. I can’t read your mind and don’t have time to argue in the morning, as there are lots of people lining up behind you already, so just tell me what you want, it’s easy.
- Please don’t lie to us. If I tell you we don’t sell Scones and never did, don’t insist that you bought them here last week. Also, I don’t care if you “didn’t get the Eclair you paid for here yesterday and want a new one”. There’s no evidence and why on earth did you not come back for it straight after? If it happened at all! (This did really happen, a guy tried it a couple of times)
- Please don’t put your toddler on the counter and don’t touch product that you don’t want to buy. Yes, I need to tell people that sometimes. It’s very awkward because it should be common sense!!
- Please don’t give me your rubbish or leave it on the counter – there are bins everywhere
- Please don’t pay for your 3$ coffee with a 100$ note. Especially in the morning when I don’t have that much change yet anyways.
- Please step up to the register if you want to place an order and don’t stand behind the sign or somewhere in a corner and complain why you aren’t getting served. It’s not our job to look for customers who play hide & seek
- Please don’t say ‘I want THIS’ and point at the whole cake cabinet or pie oven
- Don’t tell me how to do my job.. like ‘You have to stir it or the sugar won’t mix!’ OH REALLY! Thank you for your kind help, I wouldn’t know what to do otherwise!
- Please believe me, if I tell you, that your ‘cappuccino without chocolate and froth’ you ordered is actually called a Flat White.
As a Barista, there are a lot of things that make my job easier or harder… What I really can’t stand is…..
- when I have 1 order, 4 coffees, 4 different kinds of milk! I mean, it’s not forbidden and we offer it, but it takes so long!
- when customers expect me to bring their take away coffee out to them. I call it out, like most places do. You are walking off with it anyways.
- People who don’t listen to what I call out and either don’t come back for their coffee until it’s been sitting there for a while (and complain that it’s cold!) or take someone else’s coffee (which results in complaints as well!)
- when someone asks for Coconut milk and is upset when we don’t have it. Lactose Free and Soy is enough, isn’t it?
- ‘Please don’t make it too hot… but also not too warm’ doesn’t help me at all.
Time to confess a few things…..
- It’s not healthier to order a coffee with SKINNY milk if you add caramel syrup & 3 sugars
- If you order a three-quarter strength coffee, I make it full strength
- If I make your coffee extra hot on request and you complain about it still not being hot enough, I will burn the everloving shit out of it next time
- If you are on your phone I will not serve you
- I make every kind of coffee you want but I die a little inside every time someone orders a quarter strength decaf cappuccino with lactose free milk and 1,75 equals
The weirdest orders I ever got?
- a Long Black with butter
- a small mocha with 7 sugars
- ‘please make it 100 Degrees hot’
Some quotes
Customer: I want a Tai Chi
We don’t sell that! But I make you a Chai Tea instead?
Customer: A soy cappuccino with normal milk, please.
Ah, good to know, I almost made it with the un-normal milk.
Customer: I’ll have a soy cappuccino please
Deezee: What size?
Customer: Soy! SOY!!
Customer: A soy latte please
Deezee: Thank you, what size please?
Customer: Large. And soy!
Deezee: Ok. Would you like to have it here or to take away?
Customer: Take away. And Soy!!
There’s something about soy people…..
Customer: I’ll have a small latte
Deezee: To have here or take away?
Customer: Yes!
Customer: A cappuccino to have here please
Deezee: What size?
Customer: Peter
See, this is why I work in the woods. If a tree talks sass to me, I just cut it down. I believe the police, in any country, frown on doing that kind of thing to other people…
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Ahaha, I better not try any of that π The furthest I can go is throw money back at people.
Your job sounds like a dream for people who hate customer service.
My second job is in a retirement village which is much easier. Although you also have annoying old ladies and inappropriate old men…
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Lol! I swear I am not that type of customer:-)
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That last one killed me π
…but I may spend all morning trying not to think about a Long Black with butter. What on earth!
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π i was not brave enough to try it myself, although i was curious…
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I was aware that working at close contact with the public requires steel nerves and an inexhaustible amount of patience, but these examples show how totally RUDE the general public can be! I commend you for being able to keep your cool despite everyday annoyances: heroes are not only those who slay dragons, but also – and especially – those who brave the worst part of humanity every single day, and you’re one of them!
And I love the dragons on the cappuccino’s surface π
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Awww thanks! That’s such a nice thing to say π
I am working on my dragons at the moment, still don’t have them right, but getting there π
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This is awesome (well not the bad stuff customers do, but yeah some of that would be SO frustrating. LOL about “100 degrees hot” and Tai Chi! What you don’t have Tai chi *snort*
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Thanks, Greg! π haha, sometimes it’s so hard to stay serious π
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Lmao! Omg, this had me rolling. I totally get what you’re dealing with though. I worked in retail for a while and we would get some weird requests or customers who refuse to read and are too lazy to search for things themselves. However, I do think baristas have it a little harder because you have to remember the requests and mix it all. I always wonder how they remember the long orders that are yelled to them and not written down.
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Fortunately we have a computer screen now with all the orders. Doesn’t make it easier though sometimes when the orders are ridiculously long π And when people change their minds or want to add something but the poor girls already put it through π
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The last part is hilarious π Nicely written, thanks for that. I will think of that ordering my next “doppiocino” in the morning, but since I donΒ΄t take soy, IΒ΄d like to think of myself as an agreeable customer.
It seems like Melbourne is a special place to sell coffee, even back home in Germany they noticed: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/reise/australien-in-melbourne-hat-sich-eine-besonders-eigenwillige-cafe-szene-entwickelt-1.3498454
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Hi my first blog was about a conversation between a customer on a phone and the barista…I was soo impressed how she kept her cool and in the end even got the change for Save the Rhinos… You are multitasking all the time -dumb people just make it harder …hang in there.
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Wow, that is impressive π I wouldn’t even have talked to someone on their phone in the first place…
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this woman had an attitude that wouldn’t quit. Hey do you like zombies ? ever made one…recipe is on blog post 81 Enjoy.
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Nice! I’ll check it out π
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