Lisa sent me this link to a recent big brouhaha at a DC coffeehouse. I mean, The Washington Post got involved, for pete’s sake! Follow that first link. From there, you can click around to hear the other side of the story. (There’s profanity in the link — just a heads up.) The whole thing is crazy. Crazy interesting, but crazy.
So …. which side do you come down on? Any thoughts?
(Thanks, Lisa, for sending it to me — twice, no less!)
(Did you feel any shakes? Everybody O.K.?)
I think I’d agree with what you said in the other thread, that both sides overreacted.
(I felt nothing.)
Have you read some of the other links about this whole thing? The incident’s gone viral. People are all fired up about their opinions on both sides.
I understand wanting to have certain standards for your coffee and espresso, but please, give the customer what he wants. I don’t understand this particular policy from the get-go — that they have a specific list of things they don’t “ice.” It’s weird and shortsighted from a business perspective. Make the best cup of coffee, espresso, latte that you can and let people do whatever the heck they want with it. You know, I didn’t like seeing people put honey in their coffee at Boheme. It kind of freaked me out, seemed gross to me, but I would never stop them or tell them they couldn’t have it the way they want it.
I think a stupid policy poorly stated got this ball in motion.
I agree that it was a stupid policy and that the writer acted like an ass. Bad form on both sides.
But seriously? It’s COFFEE! I mean, what’s next? Steakhouses that smack the A1 out of your hands? Diner cooks who won’t let you put ketchup on your eggs? Sell the food, then shut yer yap, that’s my motto.
You said it, Tracey & Lisa. I think there’s been a major backlash against the old motto that “the customer is always right,” mostly because it got to the point where the motto was abused IMO (case in point, the passive-aggressive stuff going on here, and some of the lovely Beanhouse incidents recounted by the blogmistress), but it still holds if businesses want to keep customers coming back. Although customers should be held to keep up their end of the bargain by being polite, rational, etc. Commerce is a two-way street, more or less.
I understand the owner not wanting people to get espresso over ice and go to the condiment stand and make themselves a “ghetto latte” — uhm, never heard that phrase, but I know what he means. People just helping themselves to a full cup of milk or whatever. I saw that at The Beanhouse and Boheme. Milk is expensive; people take advantage. He should just offer iced espresso and charge a higher price for it to offset the milk abuse. Keep the price of iced espresso and an iced latte comparable. Don’t NOT offer the item! It’s stupid. I mean, you obviously carry espresso in your shop, dude. It’s not like when I had people come up to me and say, “Do you have hemp milk?” — which I didn’t carry. You’re a coffeehouse — you make coffee and espresso! Sheesh.
And if the barista felt so strongly that what the customer wanted was “wrong,” he could have said something like: “Hey, can I make you something similar that I think you’ll like even better? Same price. If you don’t like it, I’ll make your original drink. Is it a deal?” You know, something like that. Create a “teaching” moment. Don’t be a condescending douche about what the customer wants.
I can kind of, sort of see the shop owner’s point that Barista Two was saying “That’s not okay” about the customer’s behavior – not the iced espresso thing.
That being said, to put one’s hands on a customer and solemnly intone “that is Not Okay” is, itself, Not Okay. It’s condescending, and truthfully kind of stupid if the customer is angry enough.
Then again, the owner is kind of a condescending jerk about the “integrity of the coffee” and such. Dude – you take pride in it, and that’s wonderful. More people should do that. But you know what, if you give the guy amazing espresso and he decides to pour it over a cup of ice, then he’s STILL getting amazing espresso, even if it hurts you to see it cooled in such a manner. He’s still spending his money on your coffee.
You could also take as much pride in your service as you do your product. Spare us the “crux of the matter” that he reacted angrily when told the policy. He’s not the professional – you are. You can tell him to leave, or not to talk to your staff that way. That would, of course, require you to take care of the problem yourself. Instead, you let your barista come up, lay hands on the guy, and talk to him like he was a third-grader.
The threats back and forth were obviously hyperbole and not meant seriously, so eh. I hear worse at the rink all the time – and fifteen minutes after the game we’re all in the parking lot having a beer and laughing. Maybe they should serve more decaf at the Murky Coffee?
NF — /You could also take as much pride in your service as you do your product./
Good point. I also think that if the owner is really going to insist on such a ridiculous policy — NO ICED ESPRESSO — then he needs to be the one to answer for it, not some kid barista who lacks the skills to do so. Take the lumps for the stand you take, Mr. Murky. Don’t make your employees stand in the gap for you.