I have two asshole bosses that get totally shocked when my other managers say I do a good job at work, but then they get me and I’m under their pressure and perform poorly.. last Sunday was just me and a manager and basically I was able to get warning too cuz this boss said “Fuq the times” asshat manager#2 (get their name cuz they buddy with asshat#1) so put me under a lot of pressure and is now pissed at me.. you’d think maybe it’s you when everyone starts to say one thing but you experience another. Already had issues and talks with these managers but they don’t want to learn so………………

Former barista myself here! I'm writing an article for a food publication about the most annoying / aggravating / silliest requests you've gotten for coffee orders. I'd love to quote a few of you in the article if you're game.

I work at a small coffee shop that serves traditional Italian espresso- based drinks. How should I respond to a customer wanting a caramel macchiatto?

Also, are *National Company * drinks really all just lattes?

A little background— I’m the baker for a small shop in prime tourist location with lots of local customers in addition to tourists. Since I have started there, three months, sales have jumped by 30% all in baked goods. Customers come in daily to see what I’ve come up with for the day. I make all the standard cinnamon rolls, muffins, cookies etc, also the daily specialty items. But I have been given free rein to add whatever I want. I have added Tarts, Profiteroles, Split Cupcakes, Trifles….. never know until I see what I’m making until I see what I have on hand, or what is left over from cake orders. I’m not trying to exaggerate my role. But when your boss is always thanking you, baristas are sharing glowing comments from customers, and the case is always empty the next morning, you start to get the idea you’re doing something right. I love what I do and the people I work with.

My partner has been in the restaurant business for 40yrs. They see tips as gratuity for the whole team that made the meal and experience, cooks, waitstaff, busers, dishwashers. When managing a restaurant he made several servers wash dishes after they weren’t tipping out or properly scrapping and stacking. Just to give them understanding and appreciation. He also said servers are way easier to replace than dishwashers.

Now onto the actual question. My partner and I were talking and he was shocked I don’t get tips , except for the very rare occasions someone tips on a custom cake. He seems to feel I should be getting a cut of the tips because people are tipping on their baked items on top of coffee. To him it isn’t about money, he sees it as respect and appreciation. Honestly, I never really thought about or cared about tips. But he got me to thinking, made me curious. Do you tip your in house baker? Has it ever even crossed your mind?

I work at Starbucks.

Yesterday there was this lady and she had ordered a few drinks. I was on bar. She was maybe in the drive thru for 10 minutes and this was during our rush (not peak). Well someone placed her drink sticker off the printer and put it in the STEAMER(?) for some reason. Well anyways they told me what they were waiting on and I rushed to make it.

Well after it’s handed out she comes back and says “I just came through the drive thru and was sitting there for 20 minutes for one drink and it doesn’t taste right. Like I said she said has ordered more than one and she was only there for 10 mins maybe. But I don’t remember if the shots had the star or not. (For those who don’t know, the star on the machine will signify if the shots were pulled correctly and if it isn’t there the shots have died and/or won’t taste correct)

But regardless I say “okay I’ll go ahead and remake that for you, but there is one drink ahead of you being made right now” and she goes “mmm no you should make mine FIRST” and I simply go “well ma’am the drink is already in the process of being made and-“ right as I say that the shots finish pulling “-and the drink is done now actually. I’ll go ahead and start on your drink.”

Shit you not she stands there WATCHING me make her drink. To put it fully into perspective it was just a grande iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso. No modifications or anything so pretty simple. I make the drink per recipe and the shots were even pulled properly with the cute little star ⭐️

So she says “are you sure that’s what I ordered?” And I’m like “yes it’s just a grande iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso.” I hand it to her and she asks why it took so long the first time. So I explain and say I tell her someone moved the drink sticker so I didn’t know it was supposed to be made yada yada blah blah blah. So she takes a sip and I ask her if it takes any better or correct and she just looks at me funny and goes “no 😒😠” and storms off and I go “I’m sorry have a good day.”

Boy. All of my coworkers were ranting about her for a while after that. It was a tough day (also double star day 😁🤪🫠🙃so you can imagine the other Karen’s)

Imagine my surprise when I’ve heard a language that seemed to be Eastern European, in my Coffee Store this morning.

The family had 2 small children full of energy, while the parents looked worried, almost sad. When their turn came, they wanted to know if we were selling drinks without caffeine.. so I suggested the orange juice.

Parents decided to go for a cappuccino while the kids got an orange juice both. I though that was strange (and honestly believed it was a financial reason), so I decided to give them an extra juice saying that it’s common for my place to give free drinks to childs.

I hope I made their day better.

He sent me a picture of his new SB location this morning and it’s one of the most beautiful Coffee Stores I’ve ever seen in my life

More than this, his salary is also bigger than mine and people leave generous tips. Don’t get me wrong, I love my workplace and I am grateful, but also admire his place

I started a 30-days challange to make each day better for my clients. This will make my place 2 times better and people will love drinking a cup of coffee

After my first week at the new local Starbucks, I surprisingly got a gift from my colleagues. It seems like they noticed me working harder (I wanted to leave a good first impression), so they decided to give me an extra Free day this week.

Only 7 days working her and already feeling loved and appreciated.

It’s 10am and just started my Monday morning shift for about 2h now..

Imagine my surprise, while I was still sleepy and saw the coffee store’s door opening and the same 7yo from yesterday running towards me. He had a big smile on his face and said a sweet “goood morning, miss”.

Behind him was his sister, who I later found out was studying at the same college as me. I remember seeing her few times..

This time, the sister payed for his little brother’s same order as yesterday and tipped me 10$.

It mad my week! Btw, they just left 5 minutes ago..

A toddler entered the coffee shop in the morning, holding tight a 5$ bill. He was alone and looked a bit scared and shy.

There was no line at that time so he approached the showcase and picked a chocolate croissant and ordered a Fresh Orange juice.

Total was 6.30$. The boy (who was around 7yo) looked at his money with a disappointed face.. It looked like he was about to turn around and exit the shop, but I told him:

“Today your order is Free. Keep the money for candies and enjoy?”

He immediately smiled, picked his order and run out of the store. I hope I could make his day better and I’m sure he will return over the next week!

My local Starbucks store increased the coffee prices 3 times over the last 4 months and many clients complain about it (as well as me).

For instance, Iced Venti Espresso is now 5.9$.. it feels like it will soon get to 6$.

I’ve signed the contract for my new Barista job at a local coffee store down the street I live on

The first day was great and I’ve seen a lot of smiley faces around me - some people even recognized me from my past job

Salary is almost the same and my manager says it will grow with my experience.. but that’s not a problem for me

Oh, I forgot to tell you… I work in a Strabucks

Perhaps some people don’t know my full story, but I started to have issues with my manager.

Long story short, yesterday I quit my job without saying a single word to my boss and left the place..

This morning I got a call.

Something like “you will regret your whole life for disrespecting me in front of my staff” and then he hang out.

Do you think he’s a real threat or he’s just frustrated? Tbh, I am so tired of this situation that I don’t even have energy for this. I just want to move on and continue my dream job somewhere else.

Today I arrived at my workplace with a happy face, knowing that this is going to be my last day at work

My manager kept being rude and abusive, but I didn’t mind his behaviour.. I know I will have the last laugh in the end

I received my payment yesterday (last salary) and the only reason I came to work this morning is to take a final goodbye to my colleagues. I will keep you guys updated🙏🏼

Considering my workplace situation and really sleeping on it, I just realized sth important.

I believe all barista jobs are basically the same and the energy is always positive. After all, how can someone NOT enjoy delivering energy and good vibes to people? I am literally giving the the fuel for a productive day🥰

However..

I also think how someone “feels” at work has EVERYTHING to do with the people he/she is working with… if the staff and colleagues are rude, it’s almost impossible to continue working there.. on the other hand, good people will make the job feel like a 2h shift

Today he was super rude with me and started acting crazy (he is usually calm and doesn’t start fights).

He picked up on me for no reason and I believe my days at this workplace will soon get to an end..

The only solution I see is if him and my friend get back together.. that’s when I will have the possibility to explain him all the situation🙏🏼

2 years ago my best friend met a guy in a local club and they remained together since the .. of course, I got to know the guy and he seemed perfect (he ended up helping me and hiring me at his workplace - a coffee shop)

He is my manager and I work with him for 5 months. Everything went great and my friend always told me how much she loved the guy and that she was going to marry him

Until 3 days ago..

When she confessed to me that her bf (my manager) scrolled her phone and discovered she was cheating… She didn’t even tell me.. Never.

I was probably as shocked and angry as her bf so I decided not to talk to her ever again..

But my boss thinks I knew all the time and didn’t tell him. Now, his attitude is completely different and he treats me without respect. I will quit my job next week, after I get my salary… even though it is not my fault..

Last Friday I was finishing my shift and I assured my colleague he can go home earlier - I will clean up the place and lock the coffee shop.

That was the worse decision in my life - as I was preparing to close the shop, a weird old man entered the store and started flirting with me…

The only solution I could think of was to fake call my dad and pretend saying sth like “yes, it’s alright if you pick me up in 5 minutes” and the stranger panicked and left the place shortly after.

Nobody was going to pick me up so I remained super scared and looked over my shoulder non stop on my way home..

Today a guy who frequently visits our coffee shop bought me a coffee.

Yes, I know, why would you buy a coffee to a barista?? That was my first thought too. But then he said to me "I know you can drink all the coffee in the world, but I want you to drink mine from now".

I'm so curious to see if he's gonna keep his promise. Also, he's pretty cute soo... who knows lol

We have this customer who comes in every day and orders the same thing - a caramel macchiato with an extra shot of espresso.

But one day, he came in and asked for something new. He wanted a caramel macchiato, but with a shot of peppermint syrup instead of espresso. I was hesitant, but I made it for him anyway.

To my surprise, it was actually really good! Now, every time he comes in, he orders the "peppermint macchiato" and it's become a new hit among our regulars.

So, I had this customer who would come in every single morning at 7am sharp.

He would order a large coffee with 8 shots of espresso, and chug it down within seconds. He would then slam the cup on the counter and say "Have a nice day, see you tommorow".

I don't know what he does for a living, but for sure this man is doing his job 200%.

I just served my diabetic owner with a coffee FULL of sugar. I'm feeling so guilty, I was too afraid to tell him, and now I don't know what to do.

Do you think he noticed that it was sugar? Can he die from this?

My friend is also a barista. One day, a little boy walked into the coffee shop with his father and asked if they had any "magic coffee" that could grant wishes. My friend made the boy a special drink called "Magical Mocha" with cinnamon and cocoa powder, and the boy's face lit up with joy. From that day on, the little boy came back every week for his special drink.

I am a barista named Olivia and one day I noticed a regular customer, John, looking down. I found out he had lost his job and offered him a part-time job at the coffee shop.. (after speaking with my local manager)

John was grateful and instantly accepted the offer. Soon he became a valuable member of the team and now we are working together 3 days a week, helping each other.

So this was a handful of years ago. Being a barista was too easy for me. Every day was auto-pilot so I would admittedly take different drugs on the job here and there to pass the time. I took a tab and a half of acid and it really started to kick in about an hour before I was ready to close. I would stop serving customers at midnight which is exactly when a strange man roughly my age walked in... Literally on the dot. I was tripping pretty hard at this point. I was about to ask him what he wanted when I realized coffee is not what he was there for. He asked me to call 911 and told me he was on his 'last limb of sanity' and needed desperate help. So that's what I did, I called the police and the dispatcher asked me what his name was. Mind you I was relatively depressed considering it was a rough point in my life. I proceeded to ask him his name which happened to be my name. I don't have a common name. He then pulled a hammer from his pocket to express to me the severity of the situation. Yes, a hammer. One of my regulars was ex-military, sitting to my left as he did every night. I gave him a look that expressed "help". He ran over, pulled out a gun and made the man stay on the ground until the cops came. Once they arrived the police asked me for my ID, put him in handcuffs and thanked me for dealing with the situation properly. To this day I find it strange considering I feel it wouldn't have happened if I wasn't tripping balls. I don't know though. Just a weird story I wanted to get off my chest. I wasn't wearing a name tag either. Trippy to say the least.

I've been a long time lurker and I'm a retail veteran. Been doing it for 10+ years, mostly in coffee shops and I've had a lot of crazy encounters I might write up. This one is short and happened just last week, and frankly is still baffling me.

Some background, I work in a coffee kiosk on a train platform. As such, its tiny. Three people can be behind the counter but there's not much room to move and any more would be a stretch. There is also a shutter which covers everything so I have to raise it in order to stock up sandwiches and complete my morning routine before opening (Sorry for taking so long to explain, its relevant to the story. I just had to get the exposition out of the way.)

Anyway, I'm on the open on Saturday. The time is 7:05 and I open officially at 7:30am and I'm in front of the counter stocking up sandwiches, cold drinks etc when some rail commuters come wandering up to the kiosk. They step up to counter to order while I'm grabbing some more cold drinks from a cupboard. They begin speaking as I appear from around the corner.

C: Has it been busy for you?

Me: No, I only got here five minutes ago since I open at half 7.

C: Oh, can I order some drinks then?

Me: Unfortunately I'm not open at the minute. I don't open till half 7.

C: How long is that going to be then?

Me: Like I said, I open at 7:30, so you can order then.

After blinking twice and staring at me with a vacant expression, they wordlessly turn around and walk away. I was just stunned by how I explained three times I wasn't open and they still didn't get the memo. The kicker, as he walked away I heard him say, "I don't know why he won't serve me.".....because I'm not open yet!

2 ladies and kids come in. As soon as they get to counter kids run through shop and out to the back. Mum's go get both children and I'm standing there like wtf. I've got products on shelves, they're ordering coffees and I say "you might want to watch that one" as one of the kids is holding a glass bottle. Shouting and yanking of kids arms, they must of been around 7yo. I'm making coffee as fast as possible, 2 different milks. Give coffee and they walk away, scolding kids, 30seconds later one of the women come back, I ask "sugar?" Thinking that they forgot to ask for it. "It's just not hot enough, I only took a sip of it, can you just heat it up?" I said "oh it should be, I do all my coffee at 62°, I even use a thermometer" so apparently asking for a hot coffee means extra hot and I didn't pick that up, not that I was distracted or anything with any kids running around in my shop or breaking my products. I say "oh extra hot, yep I'll have to remake that for you, I can't put it in the wand, that's not sanitary" bitchy looks at me "oh I asked for hot though" in say then, "yep, so just in regards for next time you're ordering a coffee, asking for extra hot will always ensure you get an extra hot coffee (duh)" "yeah but I say hot and I always get extra hot" "yep I get that but just to make sure". It was satisfying seeing her face. I re make the coffee, no extra charge btw, and then as I'm handing it to her "so yeah, just for next time, thank you" smiles and all. Next time control your kids behavior so I don't have to re make ur coffee and don't yank your kids arms. Like wtf. I hate seeing that.

For those who used to be baristas where are you now? What do you miss about it?

Here's the thing. I'm okay at my job. I'm indifferent about it. It's not what I want to be doing, but it's not the worst because I enjoy my co-workers, and my boss is beyond lovely. I would have no issues with going to work if it wasn't for the regular I hate.

I've been nice to this regular; let's call him Thomas, since I started working for my boss over a year ago. I'm a F25, but this man is probably in his 30s. If I'm being honest, I stopped retaining any information he shared because I didn't care. He's friends with my boss, which is why I've always been accommodating. But recent events have caused me to no longer care if he finds me "nice." (FYI: Thomas has a partner, but I don't mention them simply because they are a kind soul, and I feel bad for them)

As I mentioned, I've worked for my boss for over a year now, and I have zero issues with her; she's terrific, and so is her husband (important to note later). Thomas was a backer/supporter of the café when it was under previous ownership. When the business didn't do well, he never got his investment back. When my boss, the current owner of the café, took over, she apparently was told that she needed to pay back the money he had invested. I don't know the entire specifics of the whole deal, but that's the information I am aware of.

This all matters because he doesn't have to pay for anything. His man gets whatever he wants for free. Which is fine, but he NEVER tips. This man has mentioned to me MANY times that he has money. He talks about his important government job (which is sketchy on its own and wayyyyy too much to go into) that he has since retired from. Since working there from day one, I have never seen that man drop a penny into that damn tip jar. If it wasn't for the fact that he demands our full attention when talking, maybe he wouldn't be so annoying. But this man had come behind the counter while I was working in the back to see if I had any dishes to do and proceeded to talk about whatever story when I came back out to the front. When I tried to go back to the back, he said, "It looked like you're not busy back there.". I'm not busy, but that's where I go to hide so that I don't have to listen to him talk. It's usually the same boring shit; he's even invited me to come over to his house. No way in hell. I usually just come up with some excuse and never see him outside of work.

It wasn't until three months ago that my boss asked one of my other co-workers if Thomas ever tipped any of us. My co-worker asked if my boss wanted the honest truth, and then she stated to her that as long as any of us have worked there, we've never seen him pull out his wallet once. My boss told my co-worker that she would talk to him. Since then, he's been tipping, but he even makes that fucking annoying. Thomas will ask us to break his big bills, making sure to flash us all the cash in his wallet so that he can tip us with 5s. And it's $5 total, no matter how many of us are on shift. To be fair, the max is typically two. A $10 tip would be nice considering that his meals are free and my co-workers and I have started keeping track of how much he's spending, almost $32 per meal; Thomas comes in at least five days a week.

One of my favorite things is that Thomas always tells us to make him a sandwich with whatever we have the most of, trying to be nice. It would be nice and considerate if he didn't tell us that he doesn't like over half of the other ingredients we have. We end up always making him the same thing, which is made of all our most popular ingredients. At the end not making a fucking difference.

Now I can deal with all that bullshit. Demanding my full attention, not tipping me even when I'm so fucking nice that Thomas believes we're FRIENDS!? Again, I've never EVER stated that I enjoy talking to him or would ever want to hang out outside of my working hours. I listen, react accordingly, and pretend I care, and then Thomas leaves, and I can relax and actually have a good time. Again I could give a shit if some regular believes that I'm his friend because I'm nice at work.

That has all come to an end, though. About a week or two before Thanksgiving this year, something happened at our café. To sum it up, a former employee (Amanda) showed up while my M16 co-worker and I we're on shift. Amanda arrived with her Partner and demanded that I give her the money she is owed. I explained that I'm not even a manager, so no I can't do that. Amanda got very angry and proceeded to tell me that she would come behind the counter and take it herself. I simply took the keys to the register and walked out to call my boss. I inform her of the situation, and she assured me she would be there shortly. I was pacing around when my boss's husband showed up and explained he would handle it. Let's call him David, and he heads outside to talk with Amanda. Now it was just a normal day, so of course, Thomas and his Partner were there at the time playing some mobile game. Besides Thomas and his Partner, there were also the two regulars I enjoy seeing! They're an elderly couple that makes me believe in love. And there was also my young co-worker and me. Anyway...

Amanda was asked to leave for good reason and ended up assaulting David. Amanda was yelling and making a huge scene outside the café until she finally threw a potted plant at David, who then ended up with a busted nose that was gushing blood. While this entire scene is going on no one is out there helping David, who is up against two people, and I knew that he was too nice of a man to hit a woman even if she was hitting him. I'm looking around the café, and if I had to break it down into a list of who should have gone out there to help, it would be 1. Thomas (he has claimed this entire time to be Davids friend) 2. Myself (My father didn't raise no bitch). Thomas' Partner wouldn't have been much help; she's a smaller lady. And I wasn't going to assume that the other regulars (an elderly couple) or my co-worker, who is a fucking MINOR, would go out there to help. Since Thomas didn't step up, I did. I went out there and pinned the girl down by her wrists. She wasn't upset with me, and we had been friendly at work, so she let me get close enough to her to restrain her. We later found out she had an unregistered gun on her, which made my parents very upset when I told them I restrained her. Clearly, they thought I knew the gun was on her before I restrained her, but I had no idea. After the police showed up and took care of everything, I cooled off and walked back into the café feeling a little overwhelmed. That's when Thomas begins to mansplain how, "You're just in shock right now. You'll calm down after a few hours." I blew up. I have BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), and I can tell you that the one thing you don't do is tell me how I'm going to feel when you did NOTHING. I started to storm towards him, saying, "You've got no idea how I feel, where--" and like that, my boyfriend (who showed up after I called him) pulled me away, knowing that I was about to go off on Thomas.

I did a lap and cooled off, but ever since that happened, I've stopped giving a shit about him. He didn't even try to help out his so-called friend David, but you better believe that while we were stuck there waiting for the cops to finish, Thomas talked and gave his own personal opinions and blah blah blah. I really just didn't fucking care. He did nothing. Even the others stuck inside, including his own Partner, got up to start recording everything on their phones so the cops would have evidence of what took place. He didn't even do that. According to my M16 co-worker, who was inside while everything happened, said that he didn't see Thomas move; he just kept playing his mobile game. This opened up my boss's eyes too, and she was so shocked that I had been the one to step in. I told her the honest answer "I stepped in because Thomas didn't. I was expecting him too, and when he didn't, I decided I would."

Damn, that felt good to type out. End of story...Thomas isn't just an asshole, but an all-around huge gaping asshole.