Know what you want!

[ladylabyrinth]

WTF is with people walking into a food service place and ordering massive amounts of food and beverage... but taking 60 years to do so because they've no clue what they want?!??

Every Friday, I stop by the Starbucks on the way to work and buy myself a *deep breath* Iced-Quad-Venti-Toffee-Nut-Brevé-Extra-Light-Ice-No-Whip-White-Mocha (can you tell I used to work for SB? ). Being a regular, the baristas are awesome, and usually have my drink ready before I open my mouth. Today, however, I was directly behind this older lady (50-ish), who was quite obviously an entitlement whore. I say this because among other things she has that particular shade of bleach blond (you know the one), she's wearing several rings with diamonds big enough to knock you out (never mind they're poor quality, it's SIZE that matters!), and she's got this little-bitty cell phone with a leopard-skin print case. Right, anyway, none of my business, right? Wrong. Because she gets up there, holds out a Post-It note covered in teeny-tiny writing, and starts asking the poor barista all sorts of questions. Mind you, there's a line out the door of folks waiting to get their daily caffeine fix. Also, if you know nothing about Sbucks, know this: Corporate standards require them to take no more than 3 minutes from the time you walk in the door to the time you have your drink in hand. This lady was not only displaying severe entitlement behavior, she was throwing one HELL of a monkey wrench into the baristas' day.

This was bad enough, but I'm standing there, with about 12 people behind me, and she finally gets her order together (1 grande Caramel Macchiato, 1 grande Hazelnut Latte, 3 grande Hot Chocolates) and we've been standing there for about 10/12 minutes (no lie, I checked the clock). We're all thinking "OK! 5 drinks, but hey, it's cool she's almost done, right?" WRONG. She opens her cell phone and starts dialing, slowly. I've had no caffeine yet, so my brain's a little fuzzy, but the guy right behind me asks, "What the hell is she doing?" to which I respond, dumbfounded, "She's calling someone."

The guy is faster on my feet than I am (obviously he's on his second trip for caffeine) and says, "Ma'am, some of us back here are busy people, and would like to get our coffee and move on." I'm silently applauding this (again, brain no work no caffeine. Shagga need happy tasty beverage 'fore brain work gud) when she says, with a sickly-sweet smile on her face, "Well, no one's stopping you from leaving. I'm waiting for my order."

At this point, my drink has been ready and sitting in front of me for about 5 mins (I told you they were awesome!). A Shift Supervisor (I know this 'cause she was wearing a black apron 'stead of green) comes to the front, opens her till and starts ringing up the rest of us to get things moving again.

As I was driving away, sipping my happy, happy beverage, my brain finally kicks into gear, and here's what I really wish I'd been awake enough to say to her:

1) If you have a massive order like that, I do not think it is too much to ask that you have everything ready before you step up to the counter.

2) Especially if you have a massive order, please wait for a not-quite-so-busy time to ask your server questions. This lady acted like she'd never been in an Sbucks before; she was asking what a Frappuccino was!

3) If your order has been taken, MOVE THE FUCK DOWN! They're not giving you your drinks right there. Had you been paying the least amount of attention, you'd have seen everyone else moving down the bar to the drink station, where your massive order will be set when it's completed.

4) If you have not completed your order, but you knew you were coming in here (as evidenced by the Post-It Note of Doom), why the FUCK didn't you call Person X before you got up to the front? Now you're just being FUCKING rude by holding up the rest of us. If Person X didn't know you were hitting Sbucks, too bad for them.

5) If someone points out you're holding up a line, the polite, courteous, and correct response is not "You can leave." but "I'm sorry, would you like to go ahead of me?" Does this not make sense? If someone else, without jumping in front of you, points out that there's a HUGE line behind you, would not the correct course of action be to let things thin out a bit and then get back to your server?

I am so very sorry for the baristas that my brain was not functional enough to say these things. I really, really hope karma gets that entitlement bitch soon.

[BlackIronCrown]

As usual, my darling love, I am glad I was not with you. I think you know what my reaction would have been.
On second thought, you could have prepped the getaway car after I finished my tirade and dumped a full cup of hot coffee on her head.
No, no....bad BIC. Never mind.
The guy was well in the right. I wish he had bitched her more.

[TheRoo]

You get the same thing when people order pizza. Pizza tends to be a pretty standard product, and most places have most of the same stuff. People call all of the time and don't know what they want, so I get to hear them screaming to someone in the background "What do you want?"

Of course, this usually happens when there are 5 lines on hold, 3 deliveries ready to go out, and a full screen of pizzas to make.

[chainedbarista]

ladylabrinth, you've described a fair portion of our customers (not all are the exact description physically, just behavior wise); they come up, have some of the order ready, then DIAL up someone else to get what they want, not caring that this is not just rude, but extremely inconsiderate of everyone else wanting to order or finish the orders.

they don't know, care or think about how this creates problems for others, since the world obviously rotates at their will for them only.

i'd like some quality 'backroom time' with them to educate them on the finer points of public behavior, but being there isn't much in the upstairs regions, it would be wasted energy.

perhaps a good round of what the military calls 'wall to wall counseling' might be more effective...

[It's me]

I've had that happen to me.... and the person on cash parks the SC's order saying, "I'm parking this order and will get back to you when you know what you want" and then asks the next customer for their order.

[blas]

Before I became such a Starbucks whore, one time a friend texted me on the way there with her order. I kept my phone on with that very text message on the screen while I ordered in the drive thru. I think I did quite well for myself

[powerboy]

Some people are slower then others. It is not that big of a deal. I find if I am in a new place, then it will take longer for me to choose what I want, it cannot be helped.

[myswtghst]

The key, Powerboy, is that those of us with brains will not get in line until we're ready to order, and will not pull out the phone and start dialing while there's a line building behind us. We realize that it would be obnoxious.

When I go somewhere like Panera or Sbucks and I'm not decided as to what I want, unless there's a long line to wait in to give me time to look at the menu and decide, I stand off to the side to do my thinking. Same thing goes if I'm ordering for multiple people, like when I get food for my whole family at Subway--I've got it all written down, and I'll let people who're just getting one sandwich go ahead of me. I consider it common courtesy, which, like that elusive common sense, doesn't seem so common nowadays.

[Sofar]

What's a Macchiato?

[powerboy]

That is what I do too. But sometimes, I can be in line knowing exactly what I want, and get to the register and then have to decide if I do want that or something else.

[chainedbarista]

for the big green apron, a macchiato has two versions:

one is espresso macchiato, which is a shot or shots with a bit of foam on top

or the caramel (horror) macchiato: milk, vanilla syrup, foam on top, with the shots poured in over the foam, topped with caramel.

the caramel horror, along with the caramel blended horror, are the two drinks that the caramel junkies create headaches over...gah!