So as my loyal blog readers (which are ever so slowly growing in number) have been urging me to write again, because it's almost been a whole month since my last entry, I must comply!
I'd love to re-cap the holidays for you...
Let me start by telling you about 3 customers that I think have a lot in common...high expectations, actually let's just say either ridiculous expectations or impossible expectations.
First, my favourite... this young, let's say 22 year old girl, works nearby and often comes in for her drink. Apparently she used to work at the same coffee shop, which I find ever so hard to believe..This girl has a crazy amount of attitude. Pretty sure I've never seen her smile. She used to work in customer service? Seriously?
Anyway she came up to the till and explained to me that there was too much foam on her drink YESTERDAY and had settled by the time she got to work. Then she said, "So....I'm not sure what you can do about that...."
I wanted to be like it was YESTERDAY, so unless I invent a time machine (which Marc Joel would think is the coolest thing ever) then I'm pretty sure I can't do anything.
So I said, "Oh oK. Well, I'll make sure that there's less foam on your drink today."
But that clearly did not satisfy her...so she said AGAIN. "So I'm not sure what you can do about that..."
Honestly, people. So i finally caved in and gave her what she had been asking for all along...a free drink. I'm pretty sure she never even said thank you, and if she did it was the rudest thank you I've ever heard.
And then there was the impossible...This lady walks in on a Sunday afternoon, when things can be at their busiest. With the cafe entirely full she looks at me and asks if there's anywhere else to sit...I said no, sorry. Looks like it's full.
She didn't seem happy with that answer, it's like she thought I was hiding a few chairs and tables behind the counter or something.
She asked me again, and I said other than out by a food court nearby, that's all the seating we had. She looked at me in dismay, as if hoping I would go walk up to a customer and ask them to leave so she could sit down. She left, without ordering anything.
And then the last related story, which is just too much to explain in all detail, is this older quite obnoxious man, who does not like a certain type of coffee we brew and thinks we've been brewing it too long and should change it over. I don't think he realizes that there are other people out there who really like this coffee...but maybe we should start brewing according to his favourites every week...
Uh oh, I'm sounding bitter again, time for a positive story....
So Christmas was crazy busy but you sort of come to get used to it, you can also start to become a little robotic in your dealings with customers, cause it's just non-stop repeating the same things over and over again...that is until someone interesting comes a long...
After 100 ordinary customers came this lady dragging the base of a Christmas tree along the floor with her foot, until she reached the till. I commented on how heavy it must be, and to my surprise she picked it up and handed it to me across the counter so I could see how heavy it was, and it was heavy! I can't remember why, but she was just over all quite quirky in my opinion, that is until...
someone twice as quirky was next in line! She had this long leopard print coat on, long fake nails, bleach blonde hair, just quite eccentric seeming, but she came to the till and was THE NICEST customer I had had all day, asked me how I was doing before she even ordered. Just goes to show you really can't judge people by their outside :)
On the flip side, someone who looked like they might be really nice, came up to the till and asked me what our cheapest bag of coffee beans was. My co-worker, Nik, found her a bag and she proceeded to say to us,
"It's not that I'm cheap. It's just...y'know when you are buying a present for someone you really hate? You just don't like them? You don't want to spend a lot."
Both Nik and I stared in amazement and wanted to be like, "Um...no"..
I even softly said, "Why would you get them anything?" I couldn't remember if I actually said that out loud or just in my head, I had to ask Nik if I actually did.
Weird. It was just weird.
Working near the mall over the holidays can be a rough situation, constantly being shown how Christmas has become such a commercialized, money-making holiday, but it's when you meet those people who, despite having to stand in enormously long line-ups and squirm their way around masses of people, still know how to smile and remember the real reason for the season.
