Was our request at a cafe rude or was the barista?

[Anonymous]

To-go pastries and they have a coffee bar on the side. Husband and I ordered two black Americanos. After waiting longer than normal we realize the barista gal off to the side was slammed. We could see around 10 espresso drink tickets and she was busting her tail. So we approach and I thought politely said our ticket name/# and explained we’re fine with swapping our espresso Americanos for the far easier to serve drip coffee. She playfully refused, like almost in a macho way, like she had something to prove. But we were honestly annoyed because we had to wait another 7 to 8 minutes.

We went out of our way to tip her personally again because we felt bad how she was solo. We remained annoyed we waited nearly 20 minutes total. Why didn’t she just give us drip coffee?

[Anonymous]

She may not have been allowed to switch it. Just wait.

[Anonymous]

I feel like two things. One is that you said you were "fine with" you didn't ask her to do it.

The other is unless you thought that asking for an easier drink would let you jump the line, you'd have saved what 2 of those 20 minutes? Would that really have been less annoying? If everyone got drip coffee, then yes that's a faster moving line, but you don't get to skip up because you made an easier drink order.

[Anonymous]

They have a system. It’s probably more work/trouble to switch your order.

Suck it up and wait, buttercup.

[Anonymous]

I mean, If she was so slammed why would you approach her and stop her flow and confuse her by changing orders? Midstream?

[Anonymous]

No one was rude, but you were unclear.

You should either have waited, or changed your order clearly, instead of leaving it up to her. If you leave it up to her, she might (and did) feel challenged to measure up. She's young, and stress doesn't improve reasoning abilities. A more mature, seasoned professional would have asked you right back "do you want to change your order to drip coffee?" for verbal confirmation.

[Anonymous]

Your interruption was a distraction to further slow her down.

[Anonymous]

Why did you think it was ok to jump the line?

[Anonymous]

I was a barista. When things get busy, you kinda find a rhythm. You talking to her makes it difficult for her to focus on what she is doing. You weren’t rude, but customers that do this are annoying.

[Anonymous]

OP I get that you thought you were making her job easier and getting your order sooner. You thought "win-win!" and were well-intentioned.

But what you thought was not reality. They get in a groove and have to churn through the orders as they appear. Any interjection makes everything slow down. And would you have wanted a refund for the difference in cost? Probably not, but she didn't know that.

In the future- just place a new order at the register. Suck it up, and eat the cost.

[Anonymous]

I read that places like Starbucks are slammed because of digital orders in addition to the walk-in orders. They physically cannot handle the sheer volume of requests, and aren’t allowed to turn off digital ordering. Employees are crying and stressed and walking away.

Just wait, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like two things. One is that you said you were "fine with" you didn't ask her to do it.

The other is unless you thought that asking for an easier drink would let you jump the line, you'd have saved what 2 of those 20 minutes? Would that really have been less annoying? If everyone got drip coffee, then yes that's a faster moving line, but you don't get to skip up because you made an easier drink order.

At this cafe, drip coffee is basically no wait. If we had ordered drip while paying it would have been handed to us right then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like two things. One is that you said you were "fine with" you didn't ask her to do it.

The other is unless you thought that asking for an easier drink would let you jump the line, you'd have saved what 2 of those 20 minutes? Would that really have been less annoying? If everyone got drip coffee, then yes that's a faster moving line, but you don't get to skip up because you made an easier drink order.

At this cafe, drip coffee is basically no wait. If we had ordered drip while paying it would have been handed to us right then.

Right but did you think she’d stop and jump your drip to the front of the line. You get drip while paying bc they pour it while you are doing your credit card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like two things. One is that you said you were "fine with" you didn't ask her to do it.

The other is unless you thought that asking for an easier drink would let you jump the line, you'd have saved what 2 of those 20 minutes? Would that really have been less annoying? If everyone got drip coffee, then yes that's a faster moving line, but you don't get to skip up because you made an easier drink order.

At this cafe, drip coffee is basically no wait. If we had ordered drip while paying it would have been handed to us right then.

Then why didn’t you order it?

[Anonymous]

When I see that Starbucks is really crowded, I order plain coffee because it’s just easier on everyone. But- most importantly, I make this call before I place my order and not after.