From the mouth of an underpaid barista

we miss you!

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I’m back!

I’m a barista at a bux in kc, mo (good to see you survived the snow storm too)

Funny story. Last night i felt like i was in the twilight zone. I had a crazy lady come in, i couldn’t place her accent. My shift asked her in spanish if she spoke spanish and i asked her if french. It was something odd. She ordered “one  american coffee” and “one american espresso coffee drink” so i made her an americano and a double shot of espresso after much debate on what it was she was actually wanting. She paid, took the drinks and came back 15 minutes later and asked me to put sweetner in it. I put in some classic syrup in each, approperiate to the size of the drink and figured that’s cool we’re done. 30 minutes later she comes back and asks for more water in them, so i put more hot water in them, starting to get really weirded out. Another half an hour or so gos by and she comes back and asks for “hot milk cream”, at that point i was like “i don’t know what to do anymore for you sorry” since we were running low on half and half anyway. “i should have charged you for your syrup and i can’t steam milk for something like that since you’ve left three times and you ordered it over an hour ago” I didnt know what else to say. She went over to the condiment bar and grabbed a handful of splenda and walked out. Weird.

Later that night we had a latin-american couple come in, stand at the register and proceed to make out in the most unapporperiate way possible. I asked them if they needed a minute, they didn’t respond. I skipped them, got the rest of the line (at least 6 people) drinks and made them. The couple was still making out. I coughed, loudly and asked them if they were ready. They ignored me, so i ignored them and finished stocking the pastry case. They walked up to the register after a good 15 minutes of this shit and ordered a french vanilla cappuccino (ut oh) and a caramel frappucino. I made them and called them out, placing them on the bar. They ignored it, knee deep back into lip sucking. I brought it over and put it on the counter by our register, within arm’s reach for them. They ignored it still. My shift was staring at me out of the corner of my eye as they walked over to the bar which is out of my view behind our espresso machines (im barely 5’2”). My shift’s eye got wider and she stared at me as they went and sat down (great) in our cafe. She told me later that he was taking a stir stick and poking it into her mouth over and over. Fantastic, exactly what you should do in public.

Why do people leave their houses sometimes i just dont even.

much love to you, laugh at my struggles and fight the good fight~

(ps i am learning latte art, or the best we can do with our less an par pitchers, tips are always welcomed!)

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Thanks http://mdorn.tumblr.com/ !!

As for the latte art, the main thing is to get your wrist motions right. As long as your pitcher has a pour spout and isn’t just round - you should be good to go!

This morning - I am dragging. So bad. I leaned my head on the counter and had to remind myself that I couldn’t go to sleep here.

So.

I’m making my “WAKEUP” coffee.

Four shots of espresso - two pumps of sugar free vanilla, one pump of sugar free hazelnut, a tiny bit of skim milk and some agave sweetener.

This all goes in an 8 ounce glass, and it’s even classier if you drink it through a straw. :)

One of my favorite places to work was at the coffee kiosk in a hospital. The hospital was very close to brand new when I worked there - had some of the best doctors in the world joining their staff and it is still an amazing place. Amazing things happen there. They have the best heart center in the region and everyone who works there is genuinely nice.

My customers were a mix of doctors and staff of the hospital, and patients and patients families. Sometimes people would come down crying, and in a hospital - you never know what happened, but with that we also had the freedom of giving them their coffee for free. My boss always urged, “If they look like they are really down, do what you need to do.” I gave away cookies to crying kids and if I could get them to smile for just a second? I’ve been there. Sometimes you just need to feel like someone cares.

The hospital also did this amazing thing, where if you were the family of a patient the doctor could give away “sunshine bucks” which were supposed to be a spot of sunshine - they were $20 dollars in free… whatever. You could spend it any way you wanted, and the doctors and nurses truly cared so we had a lot of those turned in.

One doctor, or nurse - I don’t remember her specific job title - started a habit that had amazing results. We did punch cards, and when hers was full - she would leave it with me, to use for the next person so they’re drink would be free. Every single time, the next person would take the free drink, only after leaving money for the next person.

The longest chain was on a Thursday morning (Thursdays at the hospital were crazy. They were surgery days - and the whole staff was there) she finished up her punch card and left it for me. The next person took the free drink, but left me a ten - to pay for the next few drinks. The man behind her, saw the gesture, paid for his coffee and left me fifty dollars.

The rest of the day, drinks were free for everyone. Anyone who had extra cash, left it with me to use for more free drinks for the people who needed it. It didn’t matter if a customer couldn’t leave money for the next person, what mattered was that their day was made better. And anyone who did leave money was so inspired by the original act that they left sometimes 10x what their drink would have cost normally.

I was the opening shift, and when I went in on Friday there was a little envelope of money in the drawer “Pay it forward” money was written on it. The money from the last day STILL hadn’t run out, and lasted well into the afternoon, it was… absolutely amazing.

I complain a lot about customers - I know.

So, perhaps we should all talk about customers we adore!

Right now, sitting at the coffee shop are two sisters. They own a restaurant a few blocks away and they started coming in here when we first opened. They have the same thing every time they’re in here, a french press with our light roast coffee - a small pitcher with 1/2+1/2, and a small pitcher with 2% milk. They get two mugs of water, and play cards.

They are the nicest pair of people we get in here. They always leave way too much of a tip, and feel bad if their table gets a spot of coffee on it - because they own a restaurant and know how fun it is to clean up after people.

Literally, some of my favorite people and the food at the place they own is amazing! Locals supporting locals makes me smile.

I am not personally a Barista but I do work in customer service so..

I’m sorry, but despite the fact that I ask how you are doing every time you come up to the counter to order something, I don’t actually care. The whole idea of “How are you.” is just to get the response of “great” so I can tell you to have a nice day so you can walk away and I can get paid. I have no interest in the fact that you kid is driving you insane. I understand that you all have lives but I really do not care what is going on in them if it doesn’t involve me.

Also, if you ask I will say my name.. but please stop trying to add me on facebook…

//

Eeep - people are creepy.

Thanks http://occasionalblogger.tumblr.com/ !!

I’ve been overwhelmed at work and my queue was full of pictures and such (thank goodness for that!) and I usually mixed in stories and such between them - but I’m back! With stories!

A little more alive now that I’m not working doubles.

Ouch.

philpo:

A (rather large) double espresso from Cafezique.

artinmycoffee:

Common Ground Cafe, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa.

Jason Bagley - www.jasonbagley.com

Submitted by Jason 

so today at work i had the moment where i thought “i cannot wait to submit this to barristababble” lol. i work at a starbucks inside a target, where it’s not as busy at 1pm on a wednesday where it might be at a regular starbucks. but we make the same drinks and such. my coworker was on lunch so it was just me when one of my old starbucks coworkers, ruth, (who got promoted to a guest service team lead) walked up to my register and asked me for a cup of ice. then, this woman, obviously in a huge rush, walked up right next to her in front of my register trying to order a drink (in a REALLY rude way)… as i’m grabbing the grande iced cup for ruth, the woman started ordering “write my drink on the cup. grande nonfat chai..” and ruth interrupted before i could hear anything else with “grande ice please” and the woman snapped and said “i’m the customer and you work here so you should wait behind me” and ruth said “i’m on lunch so technically i’m a customer too” and while this is going on i put the chai and hot water in the cup just trying to not cause drama, and at this point i wasn’t saying anything because i didn’t want to get involved, as they argued and the woman yells at me “FORGET IT! i don’t want the drink! you didn’t even write my order down” and i show her the cup and she said “yeah i was GOING to say ‘no water, extra hot’ until i was rudely interrupted by your friend here. what’s your name?” and ruth answers and the woman says “well ruth i’m going to have a nice long talk with your manager so good luck keeping this job” …. it was crazy LOL. i swear. coffee drinkers need to get some more patience. >.<

// Thanks!!!

http://christayyhugs.tumblr.com/