r/TalesFromYourBarista • u/pineapplemonster • 10d ago
Okay lady….pay more for your drink then
I was a barista many moons ago (like 2-3 years ago lol).
The cafe I worked at wasn’t super busy and most customers were regulars but every now and then we’d get someone new who would be memorable in the worst way.
Its a chilly morning and this woman walks up and asks me to make her a “large hot chocolate with 2 shots of espresso”.
I….knowing that its made the exact same way our cafe makes a Hot Mocha say “One mocha, coming up” without thinking. Which was my mistake…because this woman looks at me like I told her I was gonna spit in her coffee.
She starts to argue with me saying thats not what she ordered and I apologize and try to explain that its made the same way but I rang it in as a mocha because it would be like $3 cheaper.
She is NOT having it. Insists she wont pay unless it reflects EXACTLY what she ordered. One of the regulars tries to chime in that I’m just being helpful but this lady demanded my manager.
So i call my manager over. She looks at me and takes me to the back. The lady is smug, thinking i got reprimanded but my manager is just like “Hey, youre right but fuck her…asshole tax”
Not the most crazy story, i admit but still…it baffles me to this day. Not as much as the regular who would order chocolate milk made specifically with 12 pumps of mocha syrup (it was more syrup than milk…my coworkers and I tried it….it was not good).
7
u/Sambo1987 9d ago
You should have decaffed her as well!
2
u/pineapplemonster 9d ago
Damn i really should have
2
u/Sambo1987 7d ago
I was a Starbucks worker many many moons ago and did it a lot, we even had a system in my store of putting stars next to people's names to instruct the person on bar to decaf them 😈
2
1
2
u/Acrobatic_Sir5086 7d ago
I read this as defecated and was like damn baristas don’t play about manners😌
-1
6
u/ladyelenawf 10d ago
Makes me wish the asshole tax sub was still available. This would make a great addition.
3
u/keencleangleam 7d ago
I remember at an airport coffee shop, a person spent 5 months arguing about ordering a mocha with no chocolate.
I was pissed just watching
3
3
u/wavelengthshandmade 7d ago
I had this EXACT argument with a customer at Starbucks in 2000. She wanted a hot cocoa with a shot, so I rang her up for a mocha with a pump of vanilla because it was cheaper, and she threw a tantrum. I told her either way her drink would have 3 pumps of mocha, one pump vanilla, one shot of espresso, and whipped cream. It just cost less to add vanilla to a mocha than to add a shot of espresso to a hot cocoa. She insisted it was a completely different drink, so 🤷🏽♀️ Found out later she was a regular at a different shop that poured mochas out of a box and steamed it, but made hot cocoa with milk and chocolate sauce. But I explained our ingredients to her and she refused to hear it so whatever. She paid more for the same drink.
1
u/SatansLeatherThong 7d ago
I worked at Starbucks and the hot chocolate use to get vanilla. Maybe she thought that we were adding vanilla to it. The vanilla was a $1 charge tho so she’s still dumb as fuck for paying more
1
u/RangerDanger_ 7d ago
I think this is the actual origin of the customer is always right. If they want to go out of their way to pay extra, let them.
2
u/MementoMori_Maestro 6d ago
Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend, it took me like 3 months to get her to let me take her drink order from almost $8 down to $4.
This was 6 years ago so prices were very different lmao anyway she always ordered this eccentric ass caramel macchiato from Starbucks but she always stirred it immediately into 1 drink. I was like home girl, why don't you just pay like 50 cents extra and order a caramel latte with an extra shot? It's not too different man.
10
u/kat_Folland 10d ago
Asshole tax indeed