I’m in high school, working at a small independent cafe down near the lakefront. It’s my first time working in a cafe, but despite a few hiccups, my manager says I’m doing great. Then, this happens.

Me: “Hi there. What can I get for you?”

Customer: “Hi, yeah, I want a cafe olè.”

Me: “I’m sorry? A what?”

Customer: “A cafe olè!”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know what a cafe olè is. Could you describe it?”

Customer: *Loud sigh* “A cafe olè! You know! With milk?!”

Me: “A latte?”

Customer: “NO! IT’S A CAFE OLÈ!”

Finally, my coworker came over, and without saying anything, pushed the appropriate buttons in the till and finished the transaction for me. The customer took his drink from my coworker and left in a huff. I glanced at the merchant copy of the receipt, and it said, “Cafe au Lait”! I’m French Canadian, but he was butchering the French language so bad I legitimately thought he was asking for a SPANISH coffee!

It’s been a rather rough week and I want to treat myself to some of Seattle’s finest. I order ahead through the coffee shop’s app for one tall mocha latte so that I can pick it up after my last shift of the week. I get confirmation on the app and go.

I get there and go to the end of the counter for the drink, but there are none. I am confused and wave down a barista. He comes over and I show him the app and explain that I am here to pick up this drink.

Barista: “Are you sure? I thought you would have wanted a grande pumpkin spice latte.”

Me: “No, I ordered a tall mocha.”

Barista: “I don’t think so.”

Me: “Um… Why?”

Barista: “Because you’re a girl in her late teens. Your type always only orders pumpkin spice.”

Me: “…”

Barista: “If this is some sort of scam to try and get a free drink—”

Me: “I hate to be this person, but can I see your manager?”

Thankfully, the manager is understanding and extremely apologetic. I’m not trying to be an entitled brat, but JESUS. I am twenty-five years old and I just wanted a small pick-me-up.

The best part? As I am leaving, I hear the manager ask his barista what he was thinking. The barista replies:

Barista: “Because my girlfriend only orders pumpkin spice! Don’t girls only ever order pumpkin spice?”

I don’t think I will be going back there any time soon.

I work at a small, family-owned cafe on the beach. We serve basic things like hotdogs and burgers, and we only have a few basic selections of ice cream.

Me: “Hello, welcome. What would you like?”

Customer: “What are your ice cream flavours?”

I point to the sign with flavours displayed.

Customer: *Not looking at the sign* “Do you have liquorice ice cream?”

Me: “No.”

I point to the sign again.

Customer: “Do you have orange? Or at least mango sorbet?!”

Me: *Pointing to the sign* “We have strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate.”

Customer: *Angry* “Well, you need to have raspberry! I mean, why don’t you have raspberry?!”

I try to explain that, because we are such a small business, we don’t have fancy ice cream flavours.

Customer: “Unbelievable!”

She stormed off.

I have a popular coffee chain’s app that I use to order through due to the health crisis. Said coffee chain offers reward points, up to 400 points, which can be used for a free drink of your choice or other purchases. At this point, I have nearly 400 points due to not really using my points much, maybe once every two weeks to get myself a free drink. I order my usual drink through the app, only to find afterward that nearly half of my points are now missing from my app. I contact their customer support:

Me: “Hi there. I ordered my drink today through the app using my balance, but half of my points were removed without reason. I didn’t use them whatsoever, so why were they removed?”

Representative: “I see that you received 23.8 points for your purchase today.”

Me: “But I didn’t use any of my points, and I had nearly 400.”

Representative: “It does look like 150 points were used to get a free blended beverage two days ago.”

Me: “I know, but that was a part of the promotion for 150 points, and my points balance never changed afterward. The price for a free drink is the same as the promotion points.”

Representative: “I’m not seeing any purchases using them today, either. Your Points Balance is 291. Thank you.”

Me: “Exactly. What I’m trying to ask is why they went down. They were at 380 today, before I ordered, and then after I ordered, they were at 291!”

Representative: “If you have a screenshot showing the 380, I could look into this further for you.”

Me: “How am I supposed to take a screenshot of something that happened that I have no control of, that I wouldn’t know would happen? It’s not like I’m a crazy person who takes pictures of their points to show off to everyone. All I know is that before I ordered, I had 380, and now I’ve lost at least 100 points for no reason. It’s not like I could know I would lose the points, so why would I take a picture of my points?”

Representative: “We aren’t seeing any points being removed. That is why a screenshot would prove that more points were there before the purchase was made.”

Me: “Okay, I want some logic here. Why would I take a screenshot before a problem occurred? I didn’t know the problem would occur! If I had the power of foresight, I would use it for more than getting my hard-earned points back!”

I didn’t hear anything for half an hour, and then the chat was terminated. I still don’t have an explanation as to where my points went, nor how I am supposed to take a screenshot of something in the past.

This happens in about 1995, at a famous New England “coffee and donut” chain. On Monday, they just introduced their new frozen coffee drink. It’s been heavily advertised on TV all week, and the store is plastered with posters announcing its availability, including a huge one hanging above the order counter.

This occurs on Saturday, five days after the new drink’s introduction. It comes in plain coffee, mocha, and caramel flavors.

Me: “I’ll have a large mocha [frozen coffee drink].”

The employee gives me a deer-in-headlights look.

Me: “Ah, a large mocha [frozen coffee drink].”

Still confused, the employee looks around, clearly not understanding me.

I point to the HUGE sign hanging right above his head. 

Me: “I want one of those in mocha, large!”

The employee, still with the deer-in-the-headlights look, reaches under the counter and hands me a package of sweetener. Yes, he actually handed me a package of sweetener!

Me: “Ah, no, that.”

I point again to the sign above his head.

Shift Manager: “I’m sorry, I’ll get it for you. You said a large mocha [frozen coffee drink], correct?”

Me: “Yes, thank you!”

I finally got my drink and it was delicious. I’ve been getting them ever since but with far less difficulty than this occasion.