i made a girl cry today...(long, dialogue heavy)

[Green_Fairy]

so that was fun.
i was on the drive thru and here's pretty much what went down...
>>note: when i pick up a cup to hand to a customer, i always pick it up with my fingers right under the lid so i know it's on securely<<
g: girl
me:

*ding*
me: thank you for stopping at your local sbux what can we make for you today?
g: yeah can i get a triple grande latte with two pumps sugar free hazelnut?
me: sure no problem anything else?
g: a cup of water?
me: awesome anything else for ya today?
g: no that'll do...
me: cool it'll be $5.03 i'll see ya at the window!
*girl pulls up*
me: hey how are you today that'll be $5.03!
*girl hands me a five dollar bill*
me: awesome do ya happen to have 3 cents?
*girl digs around in her car door, finds 3 cents. i cash her out, hand her the cup of water*
g: could you put some ice in this for me?
*takes lid off of cup, dumps some water on the ground (which is fine, it's just water), hands me cup*
me: yeah no problem
*hands girl her latte, goes puts ice in cup. when i come back to the window...*
g: i think the lid wasn't on cup right it just came off and spilled all over my car...
me: oh no! here's a bunch of napkins. i'll go make another latte for you. here's that ice water you asked for
*hands girl ice water, goes makes another latte. when i come back, the girl is in tears. like...bawling*
g: *sounds like she's talking to herself* coffee spilled on my favorite jeans never got a lid for my water didn't get my change
me: here's your latte. how ya doin?
g: *holds up water* can i get a lid for this!?
me: oh! sorry...i thought you kept the lid. no problem
*goes gets lid, hands it to girl*
me: here ya go! again, i'm really sorry about the coffee. hope your day gets better...
g: can i get my chaaaaaange?!
me: uhm, you gave me $5.03. that was your total.
*girl stares at me for a second, then drives off, still crying*

in retrospect, i suppose i could've done something better...not sure what tho.

[PhiSigGirl1988]

That almost sounds like an attempted scam to me. She might've been trying to fluster you with the spilled drink and her requests so that she could trick you into giving her money back.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I'm thinking really bad day and lots of stress and the spill pushed her over the edge.

[Magpie]

I'm thinking really bad day and lots of stress and the spill pushed her over the edge.

I'm with you on this. I know that I'd have to be pretty far gone to let the drive-thru person hear me scolding myself like that. Of course, if I was using a drive-thru I'd be in a car, and I'd be pretty far gone as a base state, I'm a city girl and completely spoiled that way.

[blas]

When I'm over-worked and/or overstressed, unfortunately, the slightest thing will put me over the edge.

[vstorevigilante]

I've had moments where I've gone to the local coffee place after a terrible day at work, ordered, promptly dropped my drink and burst in to tears... Completely baffling the staff, making them all awkward and confused and not sure what to do, and me trying to apologize while crying is so much worse hahaha. It's awful. But the fact the girl was complaining about not getting a lid/not getting her non-existant change makes me think she may have been scamming you as well. Not just your run-of-the-mill breakdown.

[Green_Fairy]

maybe it was her first scam and she was upset it didn't work...?

[Lace Neil Singer]

As far as I'm concerned, I tend to cry angry tears. If I'm crying in public, it's usually due to anger. I've only ever had misery tears at work once, when a friend of mine had been killed in a road accident and I saw the article on the front page of the local paper. But I've had angry tears a lot of times due to rude and abusive customers.

I'm thinking tho in this case it was a scam cuz she asked for her change; she was probably hoping you'd get flustered and give her the change for a tenner.

[TelephoneAngel]

I would call scam, she threw the water out without checking if you could even put ice in it right? you said yourself you checked if the lid was on, she tried to fool you with having lid/not having lid, then she had to find an extra 3 cents and still wanted change? and what a conincidence itwas her favourite jeans.

She was angling for cost of new favourite jeans and for embarrassment etc

[chainedbarista]

i'm like lace, tears = rage. it sounds like princess didn't use a bit of caution when lifting her drink (although, to be fair, sometimes lids just don't cooperate) and spilled it herself. either way, it's not the end of the world; i've spilled coke/energy drink/etc. on myself before class and didn't shed a tear, just got really annoyed with myself.