Revenge on Evil Coffee Lady

[notlovinit]

What I don't understand is.. did you actually say anything to her to get her to be nicer to you now than she was before? If she was bitchy then, why would she be so nice to you now even though you denied letting her in? Just because you did her a favor? You did her favors before by making fresh coffee when it wasn't necessary, and she still treated you like shit. So all it takes is for you to rescue her by calling her daughter, I highly doubt that niceness is going to last, ESPECIALLY since you were nice before and it meant nothing.

Yeah, I was talking to my coworker loud enough for her to hear. Also, I wasn't really doing her favors before because if a customer asks us to make something fresh, we have to. I can't say no. This incident happened about a year ago and the niceness has lasted since then. I think she needed to hear that she was not a pleasant person to deal with in order to realize it.

I believe what actually happens is in that time there's still some brew dripping into the pot very slowly, and this water, having been in the grounds for longer, is more concentrated and thus stronger (and therefore darker).

That could be true, but our particular machine stops dripping. It does not continue dripping after it's done with it's initial brew. Even coffee that has been sitting there for hours will not be another color. However, this may be why she thought this might be the case though. It's still annoying though, because I hate that I can never explain that our machine doesn't work like that to people, because they think I'm stupid and don't know what I'm talking about. People are always trying to tell me how my machines work. No, shut up. My machines don't work the same way home use machines work. Grrr. (This isn't directed at you at all, please don't take it that way.)

In reply to the cowboy coffee thing:
Okay, I feel more educated about coffee now, but it still bugs me that she would think we would do that. When you make your own coffee you can do whatever you want, but I work at a restaurant. We make our coffee a certain way and stick to that. It doesn't change. We don't get lazy about it and not change the filters, because we would get in TROUBLE. Changing the filter is easier than trying to find a new job. Grrr people.

[emax4]

I'm sorry. I misread your original post, but your explanation and me having re-read it, it all makes sense now.

I have to disagree with you about being treated the way you do with what little she spends there, though. I'm not saying that every customer should get top notch service even if they want just a coffee and nothing else, but rather that customers shouldn't expect you to cater to their every need when they spend $100 in one visit. I know what you mean though: those that spend more, you're more happy to help out.

[protege]

Wow. I guess the camp I worked at for five years was the Starbucks of Cub Scout camps!

The camping director where I worked was a cheap bastard. He had a major problem with spending money on anything...unless it could possibly make him look good in the eyes of donors.

[EricKei]

Three times as much grounds as most people use, add about as much chicory as most people use coffee grounds, brew on the espresso setting. Coffee you could chew.

That sounds a lot like what we call 'New Orleans Brew', by far the most popular coffee variety down heah...I don't drink coffee myself (LOVE the aroma, dislike the taste), but those who do, swear by it. My dad told me often about sitting at his mom's table as a child with a cup of joe and a hunk of day-old french bread to dunk in it ^_^

[Jay 2K Winger]

My brother ought to try this. His attitude is: if it doesn't dissolve the spoon and deform the mug it's not strong enough.

You just reminded me of something that happened at the wholesale club.

I was on break and was wandering around the store, and I stop to chat with Demo Lady VB, as I often do. She was demo'ing Kraft Easy Mac that day, and using a plastic spoon to stir the stuff after it comes out of the microwave.

She pulls out the spoon and we both stare in shock as the spoon has been WARPED by the heat of the Easy Mac. We shared a laugh over it, and we warned the kids and customers who came up to have samples, "Be careful, it's very hot!" and held up the spoon as demonstration.

I'll have to find the cell phone pic I took of it and upload it.

[Tora]

What I don't understand is.. did you actually say anything to her to get her to be nicer to you now than she was before? If she was bitchy then, why would she be so nice to you now even though you denied letting her in? Just because you did her a favor? You did her favors before by making fresh coffee when it wasn't necessary, and she still treated you like shit. So all it takes is for you to rescue her by calling her daughter, I highly doubt that niceness is going to last, ESPECIALLY since you were nice before and it meant nothing.

I have a conscience too and i would have felt a twinge of guilt by not helping her out, but some people have to be taught the hard way. If I were there, denied her, then dealt with her when she came back in again, i would have blatantly said that if she was nice to me and the staff all of the other times then I would have helped her, but because she was a jerk she's going to get treated like a jerk.

When the store is closed, you don't have customers, and you don't have to have to be nice to everyone who comes to the window, especially those who go or have gone out of their way numerous times to be mean to you.

I think this is actually a pretty good demonstration of how some people don't change their bad behaviour until you humiliate it out of them. She was probably going to continue being a miserable coffee bitch until the end of time, but because she not only had to have her daughter come rescue her, she also got called on her bad behaviour TO HER FACE, she may realize she can't get away with that anymore.

Or maybe that's wishful thinking on my part.

[Jester]

She then proceeded to explain to me that coffee changes color and it was darker when it wasn't fresh.

My machines don't work the same way home use machines work.

Now, since I don't drink coffee and never have, just about all my coffee knowledge comes from restaurant machines, not home machines. That being said, I have been in the food service industry almost nonstop since 1986, so I think I have a vague idea what I'm talking about here.

And as much as it pains me to say it, ECL is right, in that coffee that sits around on a burner for a while will, in fact, get darker. Now, I can't say this as an absolute, that all machines act like this, and I certainly can't comment on the machines at your establishment, but I have never worked in a place where this was not true.

I believe what actually happens is in that time there's still some brew dripping into the pot very slowly, and this water, having been in the grounds for longer, is more concentrated and thus stronger (and therefore darker).

No, not at all. Because most machines don't continue to drip, but the coffee does get stronger and darker as it gets older. And the reason for both is the same thing, and it actually makes sense: it is reduction. For those of you who are home cooks, you will already know what I mean. For the rest of you, reducing a sauce is keeping it on a certain heat level to cook it more and get it more concentrated. How does this happen? Well, the longer it cooks, the more water evaporates, causing the sauce to become more concentrated with the other ingredients, as all the sauce is losing is part of its water content. The same should be true for coffee....as it continues to stay heated, the water portion of its content slowly evaporates, leaving a higher coffee-to-water ratio, thus making the coffee in the pot both stronger and darker.

It's just basic cooking physics, actually.

By about Thursday, the coffee was running strong enough to raise the dead, and could slay lesser beings at ten feet.

When I worked at the brewpub, some of my crazier coworkers were known to start the day with Triple Brewed Coffee. What, pray tell, is that? Well, to get Triple Brewed Coffee, you start by brewing a pot of regular coffee. When it is complete, you get new grounds in a new filter, and brew a second pot, but instead of using water, you use the first pot of coffee AS the water....thus creating a really strong Double Brewed Coffee. But that was not enough for my nutty colleagues. No, they had to repeat the process, getting a third batch of grounds and using the Double Brewed Coffee as the water to brew the third pot, and thus, the Triple Brewed Coffee.

By all accounts, a hypodermic of adrenaline administered directly into the heart would not wake you up nearly as much as this stuff. Raise the dead? Hell, this shit could have raised Pontius Pilate and made him the starting running back for the Dallas Cowboys!

It was one of many things I've witnessed with coffee drinkers that has made me glad I am not one of them.

[chainedbarista]

it would get darker due to boil out, but not because there was a 'piggybacking' of grounds; she doesn't know what she's talking about.

for me, the amount doesn't matter, it's the treatment of me and the staff that counts; bad treatment-civil service; good treatment-good service.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My ex-husband's coffee was like that. Three times as much grounds as most people use, add about as much chicory as most people use coffee grounds, brew on the espresso setting. Coffee you could chew.

Gave a cup one time to a guy who was working on our roof in a mild snowstorm. He took a big gulp, choked, and turned to stare at me with his eyes crossed . . .

Reminds me of the one time when we let the co-manager make the coffee when I was at one of my old stores.

One sip and I swear I was ready to climb the walls. Even our manager (Mohair) was wound up all day long from that batch of 10W40. You could've powered a space shuttle with that stuff . . . it was THAT strong.

Needless to say, nobody let him near the coffee pot since (or at least for the rest of the time I worked there.)

[AccountingDrone]

Sounds a bit like ship's coffee. I learned very early, as a Navy spouse, to NOT accept any offers of coffee when visiting the ship. They keep it just this side of dissolving the mugs. And it's rather a matter of pride to never wash those mugs (maybe the coffee buildup from a six-month cruise is what keeps it from dissolving). When DH retired from the Navy and brought home all his belongings, I promptly took his coffee mug from the ship and attempted to make the inside look at least within a dozen shades of the colour of the outside - took several bleachings to even approach it. Ever seen a white coffee mug with the inside a deep dark brown? ICK

LOL I love midrats coffee ... when I was visiting my german buddy a few years ago, I made coffee and he said I was the only american he knew that could make a decent cup of coffee [of course he was a pilot in their army and they probably have their equivalent to american military coffee ]

[notlovinit]

I have to disagree with you about being treated the way you do with what little she spends there, though. I'm not saying that every customer should get top notch service even if they want just a coffee and nothing else, but rather that customers shouldn't expect you to cater to their every need when they spend $100 in one visit. I know what you mean though: those that spend more, you're more happy to help out.

I agree. I don't think anyone should mistreat us, it just pisses me off even more when they don't spend anything. What incentive is there to keep you as a customer? haha.. At least when they spend a ton of money I can understand a little bit, and I don't want to have to refund a lot of money so.. I can deal a little more. That really helped me out in calling out her behavior in front of her because I knew we wouldn't be broke without those $2 a week. The ones that drop a lot of money I wait until they are gone to complain about them.

[Jester]

This has been bothering me, and I can't keep quiet about it any more.....

I'm not saying that every customer should get top notch service even if they want just a coffee and nothing else...

I WILL say exactly that. Whether someone buys one drink from me or comes in and eats and drinks all day with 15 of their buddies, it is my job to provide them with top notch service, and I do so, because I am a professional.

Don't get me wrong, if someone's a douchebag, I may have some sort of way of dealing with them, whether it's being a smartass or giving them some sort of shit or something, but I still take my job as a customer service professional very seriously, and I feel that more people should.

Until they start acting like a jerk, everyone deserves your best service, from the single coffee drinker to the steak dinner and four beers customer. Period.

[tropicsgoddess]

Payback is a bitch!

[dragon_wings]

Payback is a bitch!

Love Scrubs!

[PatchO'Black]

By all accounts, a hypodermic of adrenaline administered directly into the heart would not wake you up nearly as much as this stuff. Raise the dead? Hell, this shit could have raised Pontius Pilate and made him the starting running back for the Dallas Cowboys!

Ah, so that is the reason we keep seeing "sprinting zombies" in movies and video games these days!

EDIT: By the way, I agree with you regarding giving good customer service even if the order isn't a big ticket item.