I work part-time as a barista at a coffee shop. Today at work, a woman ordered an iced coffee. I heard her tell the cashier that she wanted an iced coffee, and the cashier entered an iced coffee into the register. I don’t think there was a language barrier because the customer spoke English fluently.

When the customer received her iced coffee, she complained to the manager.

Customer: “Why is my iced coffee cold, and why does it have ice? When I ordered the iced coffee, I expected to receive a hot coffee with no ice. Can you remake it?”

She ordered “Vietnamese-styled iced coffee” from the “cold drinks” section of the menu. The drink has ice and has zero warm liquid in our shop, and the menu states how it’s prepared.

I don’t understand how these people function in society. I wonder what she thought an “iced coffee” was. The coffee shop offers plenty of hot drinks if she just wanted to order one of those.

I’m a barista at an independent café. A customer that I recognize comes in; she always orders the same drink.

Me: “Hello! Are you getting your blended mocha with soy milk?”

Customer: “Yes, and this time, I’d like to try it with peppermint syrup, as well.”

Me: “Sure thing! That will be $5.25.”

Customer: “What? My drink is always $4.75!”

Me: “Yes, but this time you are adding an additional flavor, which costs $0.50 extra.”

Customer: “But I always get the same drink!”

Me: “Yes, your usual blended mocha with soy milk is $4.75, but you ordered it with peppermint, which is a $0.50 upcharge, for a total of $5.25.”

She paid with a huff and sat down to wait, occasionally looking up to glare at me. She began to type furiously on her phone.

Sure enough, when I checked our reviews after my shift, she had given us two stars. Her review said, “Their coffee is great! It is frustrating when you come in and get the same drink often but the prices change every time you come in. Makes me not want to come in anymore knowing I could pay more or less depending on how they ring it up that day.”

Sigh…

I am a mobile order regular at a specific location of a chain coffee shop on my way to work. I get coffee there at least five times a week, and I get the same order of a breakfast item at least three of those times.

My food order is a really easy one to mess up. It’s two orders of the item, and each order contains two pieces, making it four in total. At least once a week, I have to ask for the second part of my order to be made.

As someone who also works with the general public and knows that they’ve had a lot of new people lately, I never make a scene, and I make sure to tell them I understand how the mistake could be made and I don’t mind.

Today, I went in to get my usual breakfast order and found I only had half my order again. An employee, who might have been the manager as he seemed to be training another employee, saw me looking in the bag.

Employee: “Do you have everything?”

Me: “No, I’m actually missing two of the [item]. It’s supposed to be two two-pieces, so four in total.”

I showed him the tag on my bag so he knew I wasn’t scamming.

Employee: “Sorry about that! I’ll take care of it.”

Me: “It’s okay, it’s a common mistake and I totally understand it.”

A few minutes later, the employee working the warmer handed me a bag stuffed with items. I was the only person in there, so it definitely wasn’t someone else’s order.

Me: “Oh, wow, thank you!” 

I was completely surprised since I only really asked for my little breakfast. I was even more surprised when I got to work and checked the bag to find four pieces of my breakfast item (in addition to the two I already had), two little bags of hash brown bits, a bagel, and a breakfast sandwich! I plan on sharing the bounty with my coworkers so it won’t go to waste.

Be nice to employees, people!

I’m a shift supervisor at a store for a regional coffee chain. It’s a Sunday morning and we are absolutely slammed. The local favorite professional football team has a playoff game today. Most of our customers have been dressed in full purple and gold, trying to get their coffee before noon kick-off.

It is 11:50 am and a family of ten, in full purple and gold, walks in and comes to the counter to order. They each order a specialty drink and a sandwich. Because there are so many and we can only cook two at a time, the sandwiches alone will take us close to fifteen minutes to make. The last guy to order also pays.

Customer: “And hurry up! We need to be back home for kick-off!”

My cashier looks over at me.

Me: “Sir, [Team] kick-off is at noon; that’s in ten minutes. Your sandwiches alone are going to take about fifteen minutes to make. There’s no way you’ll be home in time.”

Customer: “We’ll make it in time if you quit talking and make our stuff!”

Trying not to roll my eyes, I join my coworker in making the order. The entire time, the man and his family are making loud comments about how slow we are and how they are going to miss part of the game. Even working as quickly as we can, it still takes us around fifteen minutes to finish everything. We hand off all the drinks and sandwiches only for the guy to say as they are all walking out the door:

Customer: “Thanks for nothing! We still have a fifteen-minute drive home! We’re going to miss the whole first quarter! I’m going to report you to your manager!” *Storms out*

I printed off a copy of his receipt, circled the time on it, and left it with an explanation on the back for my manager. Sure enough, the guy called in the next morning to complain. My manager burst out laughing on the phone and hung up on him.

How on earth did he think that coming in with ten minutes before the game starts, getting coffee, and then driving fifteen minutes home was going to work? Did they have a time machine?

I’m working as a barista. My coworker spots a woman outside who is making her way over to our doors. Before she comes in, my coworker whispers to me that this particular customer often complains about her drinks.

Me: “Welcome to [Coffee Shop]! What can I get started for you?”

Customer: “I’ll have a medium latte with extra foam.”

After ringing her up, I begin to make her coffee. The milk steams up beautifully and makes a nice layer of foam on her latte. I’m pleased with how well the drink came out. I hand the woman her order and go back to my station. I glance over at her and notice that she is staring at her drink without taking a sip.

Me: “Ma’am, is everything okay with your latte?”

Customer: “Well… it’s just that when [Owner] makes my latte, there are usually more bubbles in the foam.”

Me: “I’m sorry, would you like me to remake it for you? I can make your latte with even more foam if you would like!”

Customer: “No, the foam is fine, but when [Owner] makes it there are more bubbles.”

Me: “Are you sure you don’t want your drink remade? [Owner] isn’t here today, but [Coworker] or I can happily make the latte to your liking.”

Customer: “No, no…” *Sadly takes a sip of her latte*

Unsure of what to do, I tell her that if she changes her mind to please let us know. She eventually finishes her drink and starts to leave.

Me: “Have a good day!”

Customer: *Sighs* “It’s just that [Owner] always makes it with more bubbles…”

Why complain if you won’t let us try to fix it for you? Later, when I spoke to [Owner] about her, he said she always picks something arbitrary to complain about!