Not A Customer-Employee Matcha Made In Heaven

My friend and I are sitting in a coffee shop and have ordered our drinks. Despite not being busy, it seems to take a long time for anyone to get served. We grab a table in sight of the collection area and wait… and wait and wait.

Eventually, they call our names and I collect the drinks. We chat for a bit and then I take a sip.

It’s a matcha (tea) latte, and while normally bitter, this tastes just wrong. I grab some sweetener and it gets worse the more I drink. Even the colour is wrong; it’s normally light green but this looks brown. I go up to the counter to try to get it sorted.

After a long wait to get served, I explain.

Me: “I’m sorry, but this is disgusting. It is brown and so bitter I can’t drink it.”

Barista #1: *Dripping with sarcasm* “Yeah, that would be the coffee in it.”

Me: “What? It’s a tea; there is no coffee in there.”

Barista #1: *Sighs* “Look, if you don’t like the drink, you shouldn’t order it.”

Me: “I do like the drink, but it’s disgusting. Do you have a manager here?”

Barista #1: *Smirking* “I’m the manager on duty today.”

Me: “You know what? I’ll just talk to someone who knows what they are talking about.”

She waves me off sarcastically. I ring the corporate phone line and explain that the “manager” managed to put coffee in my tea and that they just didn’t seem to care. They give me a large gift card, and I return the next week to spend it.

Me: “Can I get a matcha latte, please?”

Barista #2: “Sure.”

Me: “Oh, and no coffee in that, please.”

Barista #2: “Sorry?”

Me: “Last time, someone put coffee in it.”

Barista #2:  “Don’t worry sir, there’s no one here that will make that mistake again.”

I’m not sure what happened to the sarcastic manager, but I never saw her there again.