3 Customer Stories + 1 Promotion

Today I made $10 in tips. It's not like it was an abnormally slow day [pretty slow, but not as dead as some days] and literally, Shelley and I SPLIT $20. I guess it's kind of a good thing that we only have one machine to use because we would be wasting our time cleaning it near the end of every shift. I did get an interesting phone call today when it was semi-busy [aka "when we had a customer"]. It was from our manager asking if I wanted the Lead Barista position.

Exhale. The wait is finally over!

Basically it means that both Shelley and I [the two leads] will get $1.00/hr raise and after 60 days will get $1.50. I'm not sure if it means TOTAL $1.50 over what we're making now or if it's an ADDITIONAL $1.50 after 60 days, totalling $2.50. ...I've barely been at the stand 60 days. A little over two months and I get a promotion. Hard work really does pay off.

That and being one of only two people who applied for the two open positions.

The promotion also means that we will have more responsibility when it comes to ordering things, making decisions, keeping people on top of getting tasks done, etc. This way, we aren't constantly running out of everything. We are now almost out of Mango Jet Tea. Ahhhh!

There wasn't much activity today, other than receiving the promotion and being asked to go down south on my day off tomorrow to train with the other Leads. Yesterday on the other hand was slim pickins as well. There were two weird customers and, coincidentally, they were my first two of the day:

Customer Story 1: A 4-door sedan pulls up with four Mexicans inside. I greet them and ask what I can get started for them. They pause, look at each other confused, and then turn to me and say, "One Frappuccino." [A.) Am I wearing green? Am I the only one that didn't get the memo that "BigFoot Java" now meant "Starbucks"? If you want a robot-made "Frappuccino," go to Starbucks. If you want a delicious and delectable blended mocha, come to BigFoot Java and order it right. B.) When you order, be specific! When I hear "One Frappuccino," am I just automatically supposed to make the perfect size and the perfect amount of shots and add or not add whipping cream because I'm psychic? Like I said before, "Certified Barista" does not mean "Mind Reader."] So I have to pry details out of them. I ask, "What size?" "Sistine," [just like the chapel; sorry]. There is a pause and I ask, "Is that the only drink?" "No..." They look around at each other confused again and say, "...One Frappuccino." Once again, I have to pry details. "What size?" "Uhhh.... sistine." "Okay so we've got two 'Frappuccinos.' Anything else?" Once again, they look at each other confused and the person behind the driver peeks his head between the driver's seat and the side of the car and says, "One Mocha." And again with the details. "Do you want it hot?" "Yis." "Is this a 16 as well?" "Yis." "Okay... is there a fourth drink?" I don't even have to say what they did, and then I hear, "One Frappuccino." "Is it a 16???" "Yis." "Okay, so we have three 'Frappuccinos' and one hot Mocha, all 16s. Right?" "Yis." So I get the blender out, put the chocolate into it for the Frappuccinos Blended Mochas, put the chocolate into a 16oz. hot cup, and pour some milk into a pitcher to steam while I pulled the shots for the blended drinks. The passenger who ordered the mocha said, "Mis. Mis!" I walked over to the window and he said, "Is that hot?" "Yes..." "I wanted a cold one." It took everything I had to not scream in his face. "Okay, do you want it on ice or do you want it blended?" "Blendid." So now I have all four drinks being made in the blender. I poured them into the cups, lidded them, whipped three of them, told the customers the total, handed them two of the drinks, and they asked, "Is this the mocha?" Ahhhh!!! "All of them are the same." They all furrowed their brows as I exchanged the rest of the drinks for their money. Good lord!

Customer Story 2: An Asian man pulls up to the other window shortly after this car leaves. I walk over to it [other side of the stand that my register and the functioning machine and fridge are at] and take his order. "Iced Latte." Easy enough, but I have to pry a little. "What size?" "Trip... uhhh... a 16." "Did you want to make it a triple?" "Yea." So I have a triple 16 Iced Latte. No big deal. I made it, lidded it, rang it up, walked across the stand to his window, and told him his total. He then asks, "Can I get some Marb Reds?" Now that I'm done getting everything ready for you, you ask for more? Just ask at the beginning!! So I had to go get the cigarettes [opened a new carton from the back], re-ring the items, walk over, and tell him his new total: $10.36. He hands me a $10 bill and I ask, "Do you have 36 more cents?" "No. Do I have to pay it?" OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO PAY IT!! "Yes, I still need 36 more cents." He shuffles around and says, "I don't have anything else." I say, "We can take debit or credit cards too," and after a minute he hands me a card. Of course he doesn't tip and I'm not surprised because A.) I made his drink perfect, B.) I got him his cigarettes after he DIDN'T order them at the beginning WITHOUT being rude or anything, and C.) it took everything I had to not scream at him about the 36 cents. Sarcasm anyone?

Oh, there was a Customer Story 3 from today that I just remembered: I took this girl's order, "A 5-shot Americano with Sugar Free White Chocolate and whipping cream." I asked for the size and if it was hot or iced. "20oz. Hot." So I made it. I wanted to double check that she DIDN'T want cream and DID want whipping cream so I went to the window while I stirred in her shots, asked if it was correct, and she said, "No cream, yes whip cream, but it's iced." Honestly, she watched me make her entire drink HOT and waited until the end to say that I got the type of Americano wrong, AKA she changed her mind and blamed it on me for not reading her mind. Jeena said that the girl had done it to her before as well with another drink. Do people get off on this kind of stuff?

Who cares. I am not making coffee for anyone but myself between now and Thursday morning at 4:00am when I cover Tana's shift. And I might not even have that because my throat hurts. I drank water all day at work today to no avail. Time for some soup and a TV show, no? Lost comes tomorrow [first two discs of Season 1] so I might just watch a movie to not get into the middle of more than one thing. We finished the Harry Potters in three days, so that won't be interrupted.

Whatever. Soup time.