I work at [Coffee Chain] as a part-timer while attending college. One day, during the summer, a young woman walks in with her friends.

Each friend orders and pays for a really specific drink. When the main girl comes up to the counter, it is clear this is her first time at one of our locations, so I talk her through everything and take her through what each item is.

She nods and orders something that she thinks she might like.

When all the drinks come out, she tries it, looks disgusted, and puts it down before coming back to the counter. I ask her if something was wrong, but she politely says no, explaining that this was one of her first run-ins with coffee and that she had expected the drink to “taste like thick Christmas,” which I do not understand, especially being that it is summer so all of our minty drinks have cycled out.

She orders another drink, once again opting for the largest size, and when it comes out, this process repeats.

She orders drink after drink after drink, going down our menu and politely declining my recommendation to get smaller sizes. Her friends go from finding this hilarious to finding it concerning as their small table starts to pile with drinks.

Eventually, she has gone through about fifteen menu items like this, one of her friends is literally running back and forth between the table and finding random people on the street to give these drinks to. (She is telling them they have been sampled, but this is pre-[health crisis] so not a lot of them care.)

On about her twentieth order, I stop her as I have been keeping a running tab of the charges on my calculator.

Me: “Ma’am, you’re about to run into $80.”

Friend: “[Customer], if you don’t like coffee, that’s fine. You don’t need… We don’t care. You’re buying so much.”

The young woman waves us both off.

Customer: “Don’t worry; it’s Dad’s card. He won’t mind.”

She continued to order until she triggered the card security, and the bank shut the card off.

She called her father to get it turned on again and that conversation did not go well; I could hear him yelling clearly on my side.

When she put down the phone, she cleared her throat, timidly approached the counter, and asked me if we were hiring.

Two weeks later, she began training.

She found out that she likes our teas.

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I’ve just moved to a new town and have been having a nightmare of a time getting my Internet set up, mostly because the previous tenants never terminated their account with the only ISP that serves the apartment complex. I get home from work at around six in the evening, and three evenings in a row, I phone the Internet company and play run-around with a different person who gives me a different answer every time.

On the fourth evening, I’m so frazzled that I don’t bother to call back after the latest agent’s latest thing that doesn’t work. I decide to go to the coffee shop down the street and, if nothing else, at least get some Internet use while trying the ISP’s online helpdesk.

I walk in the door at 8:50 pm, and while I’m waiting in line, I hear the employees saying things that sound like they’re getting ready to close.

I place my order, and, dread clenching my stomach, I ask:

Me: “Um, when do y’all close?”

Cashier: “At nine. Are you okay?”

My whole body just deflates, and I’m struggling not to cry. The coffee shop in the town I just moved from had the lobby open twenty-four hours, and it never occurred to me that they would close.

The cashier is looking very concerned and repeats:

Cashier: “Are you okay? Do you need a ride or something? Do you need to borrow a phone?”

I explain, trying hard to keep my voice neutral.

Me: “Oh, no, thank you. I just moved here and I’m having a horrible time getting my Internet set up. I was hoping to come here and use the online helpdesk to get it set up, but since you’re closing—”

She gives me my coffee.

Cashier: “Hey, you can go ahead and stay. No problem.”

Me: “Are you sure?”

Cashier: “Yes, it’s fine! We’ll be here for an hour cleaning. We might play some music really loud if that’s okay with you.”

I’m almost on the verge of tears again, but happy ones.

Me: “Are you kidding?! You’re doing me a huge favor. You can do whatever you want! Thank you!”

I set up my laptop where they can see me from the register and get online. Within thirty minutes, the online agent has completely solved the problem with the previous tenant’s account, and they assure me that my Internet will be up and running by tomorrow afternoon.

Just as I’m about to start packing up, one of the employees comes up to me.

Employee: “Hey, do you like doughnut holes? We’re just going to have to throw these out.”

Me: “I sure do!”

She gave me a huge box full of doughnut holes that fed me for a week!

Between the awesome online help agent and those sweet girls, the worst part of my move became the best part! I can’t thank them enough!

A customer comes in to pick up a mobile order. As I hand it to her:

Me: “Have a nice day!”

Customer: “If I wanted to speak to people, I wouldn’t have placed a mobile order.”

She flounced out. Later, she complained about it to corporate!

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We have a creepy regular who always orders a complicated drink. He always finishes the order with:

Customer: “And end it with a ‘finger swirl’ in the drink.”

I give him a confused look.

Customer: “Well, how else am I gonna taste you?”

Sadly, he was not banned.

Customer: “God d*** it! I wanted a soy mint frappe! This is wrong! I can’t believe you guys expect $15 an hour when you’re this stupid!”

Me: “Sorry, sir. I can remake that for you.”

I remake it, he watches me do so, and he tries it.

Customer: “It’s wrong again! What’s the matter with you? You guys deserve minimum wage!”

Me: “Sir, what is it that’s wrong with the drink? You asked for a soy mint frappe and that is what I made.”

Customer: “There’s no milk in this! It tastes like s***!”

Me: “It has soy milk like you asked.”

Customer: “I wanted soy-mint! Not soy milk!”

Me: “Sir, soy mint means your drink comes with soy milk instead of regular milk, and mint syrup. I don’t know what a soy-mint is.”

The customer stares for a moment, trying to come up with a comeback.

Customer: “Well, you should have explained that better.”

Me: “I’m only on minimum wage, sir. I expect those earning more than me to know the difference between soy milk and mint. Thank you for choosing us, and have a great day! Next customer!”