The feisty barista!

My daughter works at Peets coffee as a barista here in the Bay Area. She gets her share of dumb customers but holds her tongue the majority of the time (kind of has to). Yesterday, however, she said this middle aged to older guy came in, ordered his coffee and being the good customer service person that she is asked him if he wanted anything else. He mumbled something but she couldn't understand what he said. She said "excuse me?" and he said a little louder "A Republican congress!". She looked at him for a moment and then calmly said "No - not now, not tomorrow, not ever." He grumbled at her saying "I didn't think so...."

She makes me proud!

Good for your witty daughter. :applause:

I work in customer service, but do so online ... if I had to deal w/the public face to face I'd get fired in five min

There's much to be said in favor of a spontaneous wit! And she must have put some Irish on it... seems the guy took it nicely:)

My oldest worked his way through college as a barista at Starbucks... his most interesting story was handing a customer a coffee, and saying, "It's a pleasure to serve you, Mr. Ward." It was Bill Ward... the original drummer for Black Sabbath. The kid had thoughts racing through his head the entire time he was preparing the beverage, and it was still difficult to decide what to say... he wanted to let Ward know he was recognized and appreciated, but without my kid looking like a starstruck doofus... your daughter was very, very quick on her feet with this one! Awesome!

I'd be excited to meet him too. :) A barista is a pretty good job as long as they get their tips too.

Yeah - she did well. She was polite yet let him know - I don't need to hear your crap here. She told me that a while back they had a group of men try to come in with their guns on their belts but unlike Starbucks, Peets wouldn't allow it. She was glad because she knew it would just cause more b.s. when all they wanted to do was serve coffee.

I was raised with guns and have a healthy respect... but I hate seeing them outside a shooting range! I don't even like to see cops carry them... but what can you do?

Good for Peets!

and you can tell what I do. It's my job to not let my feelings, especially when they run counter to a customer's, interfere in my job.

If today or tomorrow, the guy goes to Starbucks, then she's not done her job. Her job is to make him come back again and again. No, she doesn't have to agree with him, but she doesn't need to alienate him, either.

Here in the Bay Area, I would bet safe money on two things:

1) If he's a conservative here in the Bay, he has already had 'feisty' conversations along these lines. We talk about these differences here.

2) If he's drinking Peet's, ain't no way he's going to Starbucks.

Most places of the country wouldn't ask a student to remove an American flag shirt, so perhaps you have a point there. Still, I stand by my remarks about making the customer feel comfortable.

Also, I just pulled Starbucks out of the air as a name most people would associate with expensive coffee. I'm from the Pacific Northwest, and I could have said Tully's, but the impact would have been lost on a number of people here.

she could have just said that the cost of that item was simply to high

still, pretty good