Coffee Shop Dilemna!

For the better part of the past five years I have been going to the same coffee shop in my little town. I go for the iced mocha cappuccino and one sweet little employee who makes it soooo nice. We'll call her Zephila. Seriously, I take a my first sip and its like oxygen....chocolate coffee oxygen. Love that little barista.

The drink costs $3.27, which is a baseline of $23 per week, $97.67 per month, $1,196 per year. Here we come to the point....I pay that much for the drink because it tastes good. I also run a tab so I never think about how much money I am spending unless its once every couple of weeks. I guess I pay for the atmosphere as well. The building is an old New England style building, the music is playing, the girls are smiling....its a feel good time.

Until you get your iced mocha cappuccino with a layer of chocolate on the bottom, a sheer layer of white milk, and then coffee on top. At thins point, in order to get any semblance of the drink you were dreaming of you have to shake the drink in your car. Which ruins the whipped cream on top and the whole experience in general. Not to mention fielding all the little drips that ensue, along with the feelings of frustration and the thought, "I am spending too much money on this little drink for all this hassle!!"

The problem with getting the drink made right is that there are always new people, and then there are not so new people that don't know they are doing it wrong....and then there is me, not wanting to say anything because they are all so sweet and I don't want to inconvenience them by asking them to make it again. This is the part where you all say, "So what? You are paying a pretty penny for that drink. It should be right!"

So I said something, nicely, to Zephila, and requested that she teach the other girls how she does it, so I can have my lovely drink from whomever happens to be there when I come in. She was happy to do that and she was also in a position of authority, (probably cuz she does it right!), so I wasn't putting her into a position where she was telling her co-workers what to do where she wouldn't be otherwise.

So a couple of the girls got it down and my good drink percentage went up....but I kept getting nasty drinks from a couple of the girls. Last week, on Sunday, I ordered my drink and my heart sank when I saw one girl in particular decide to take on the task....we'll call her Eve. So I catch Zephila and I say, right in front of Eve, "Zephila, can you please show Eve how you make my drink because everytime she makes it, the drink is in three separate layers." Zephila was more than happy to do so, (thats why we like her), but I felt bad because it was obvious from the body language and the pursed lips that Eve didn't like being told what to do. Which is probably why she doesn't make it right in the first place!! She don't fucking listen!

I left that day with a delectable coffee drink and feeling like, "Yeah, I just handled that."

I went in this past saturday, feeling good, looking good, heading to a beach party....excited for my drink. Eve was working, along with another new girl and the owner's husband. We'll call him Richard....Dick, for short. Dick has never been a big part of the coffee shop experience, just around sometimes on weekends but for the most part, works another job. Before I could even ask for my drink, the owner's husband, (which I guess makes him the owner too), pops off at the mouth, "Oh! We don't have anyone here today that can make your 'special' drink." This comment is complete with a slam of a container on the table, raised eyebrows, angry/scary eyes and a refrigerator door slam.

I am a tough girl, but I was a little scared and taken off guard. My strategey was to try to ignore the behavior and respond reasonably with my nicest, least confrontational demeanor, (WHICH WAS ONLY POSSIBLE BECAUSE I WAS SCARED!!) "Thats not true. Zephila showed Eve how to do it the other day." His response was, "Well I don't know if she can make it good enough for you. Are you going to hold it against her if its not up to your standards? I wouldn't want you to hold it against her!" Again, all said with sarcasm and angry body language. I did not respond. At this point, Eve says sheepishly, "I will make your drink for you Dorothy."

I went to my car and grabbed my debit card, knowing that I am so upset that I am probably not coming back....and as much as I just wanted to run home and cry and tell my man everything, I had to go back in and take care of my tab. So I would never have to come back. I told Eve that I was upset and I was going to have to think about whether or not I would come back in....that I felt emotional and attacked, which is very out of place considering that I just came into a coffee shop to buy a drink. She apologized several times, making excuses for his behavior....busy, stressful morning, something about a phone call he got while at work, maybe a big order he had to deal with....I don't know, I was trying so hard not to break down crying in a public place while she ran my credit card that this part isn't super clear to me.

I was also getting more upset thinking about how obviously I had been talked about in a negative manner....little bitch that you can't please, fuck the customer attitude. So frustrating because I am not the person you are going to catch being rude to anyone in customer service. Its the bitch that gets angry and doesn't tiptoe around everyone's feelings that gets the customer service they are looking for.....I think?

The worst and the best part of this story is, that after I had my crying jag in the car, away from what used to be my beloved coffee shop, I took a sip of my last iced mocha cappuccino from that building, and you know what? It was the first flipping drink that Eve ever got right. :)

This is me....BEFORE I went to the coffee shop. Could it be that it was so simple then?? ;)