The customer is usually mental
When I was a barista, a woman threw a scalding cup of coffee at a co-worker because we were out of the muffin she wanted.

That's right. Over a muffin.

She missed, and it was fun to watch the security guy drag her from the building.


Then there was the classy fellow who ordered a bagel, toasted to a very exact shade of tan (he kept making me take it out of the toaster so he could check it), with a precise amount of margarine, two slices of cheese arranged just so and bacon, done to a specific crispness and layered to his liking.

We made what he wanted because a) the cafe was slow at the moment and b) it was hilarious to watch a grown man taking fifteen minutes to order his unnecessarily complicated food.

Then, after he'd finished his food and before his ill-behaved child had a chance to finish trashing the table, he ordered a second bagel -- and this part is important -- 'exactly like the one before'.

Now, dear readers -- would you think that he did indeed want exactly what he asked for before, in all its detailed splendor? Indeed, we thought the same and made it.

He then began to throw a tantrum that would put a spoiled toddler to shame, wailing that what he really wanted was just a plain, toasted bagel, and nothing at all like the one before, as he had stated so clearly.

As the cafe's owner had empowered us to 'deal with morons however you like, because stupid people are bad for business', it was at this point that we told him that in the future, he would do well to remember to ask for what he wants since other people aren't psychic and it was now time for him to leave.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 19:37, 3 replies)

I feel for you
I really do. I finished working in a coffee shop today, been there for a year plus three summers. The number of idiots is quite staggering.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 21:19, closed)

I know too well..
I'm a Barista at Sta***cks so i can relate, the amount of idiots you have to deal with is a joke. Ive pictured the scenario of someone throwing coffee on me, if it was a man i'd jump the counter and malice him and happily get fired. If it was a woman i'd tackle her and restrain her until the law arrived, but make it a painful experience.
(Pimp my Clown is going back to the future on, Thu 4 Sep 2008, 21:38, closed)

I'm
baffled by what company the previous person replying works at.
(Hippo_of_Doom, Sat 6 Sep 2008, 16:02, closed)