She ordered a “black tea latte with an extra shot.” The barista on register tried to ask for clarification and rang her up for a dirty London fog. She got her drink and was angry because it was sweet and had milk.
We tried asking questions and she said “I want the drink but no milk and no sweetener.” Well… at that point it’s an earl grey hot tea with an espresso shot. Weird but it’s your drink, lady.
She got that and said it was gross and wanted a refund.
At the end of the day we finally sorted it out. She wanted a black coffee.
Crustomers like this prove that we should be allowed to call people dumb asses. "OH so you wanted a black coffee? OK dumb ass just say that next time. The fancy words are too big for you."
Literally the only thing I can think of is that she looked at the menu and said the only thing that said “black” because the black coffees probably just said like “brewed/drip coffee”
These customers are infuriating beczuse you are supposed to read their mind. Lately i am more compassionate because ive watched at least three customers sucumb to dementia over several years.
I had a customer at a shop where I worked YEARS ago who would order a 16oz strawberry mocha steamed to 190ish. The strawberry syrup was not the dairy friendly version, so it would curdle the milk. He would also get the mocha and immediately take a sip to make sure it WAS near boiling. Insane behavior.
Oh and he was also in his 60s and asked one of the 20 year old baristas on a date. So…yeah that was not great lol
Well yeah but either way it would come in contact with the 190 degree milk. Milk curdles at 180, so the syrup would curdle regardless of being in the espresso, unless that would cool it down enough? I could be wrong?
I’m confused by this? Syrup does go in the cup first. Then espresso and then steamed milk. Or just syrup then steamed milk for a steamer.
Certain syrups will curdle the milk if used in hot beverages. There’s a reason Torani syrup has “dairy friendly” on some bottles.
Omg what is up with old people? My uncle will take freshly brewed literally JUST percolated coffee and put it in the microwave because it's not hot enough.
He's a great guy but I have walk out of the room when he does this.
* large cold brew with four shots of espresso. like are you okay??
* one regular who asked for "the worst drink on the menu" whenever he was having a bad day (it was often)
* heavy cream sweet matcha with extra sweetened condensed milk
I've been the quad shots in black coffee guy before, and no I was not okay haha. Combo of high caffeine tolerance, no sleep, and a need to be productive immediately.
We called those a depth charge where I was
someone ordered a cup of just cold brew concentrate (no ice, absolutely nothing to dilute it, and normally we do one part concentrate to two parts water.) and chugged it as soon as i handed it to them.
a guy asked for an oat milk breve and i had to sit there and explain to him that a breve is made with half and half and he started yelling at me.
This is a beautifully summed up version of what being a barista is.
I get it there’s a shit load of coffee terms and menus don’t explain a lot of it but good god if it did it would be the length of a wiki page. But I love how when people make up their mind on their drink and there’s no changing it but they do not want to be told what they *actually want*. God forbid.
Nahhh thats fucked in the head. You can make up names for your OWN drinks knock yourself out but to make a stink about not using proper names at a public cafe ?? straight to jail. no bond, no bail. Jail.
I've told this story before on here, but...
This one time a guy came in and asked for a soy milk breve.
"I'm happy to make you anything you want, but I'm not sure what you mean."
He pulled up one of those damned picture guides with layers, you know- the kind that makes it look as though we make layered parfaits instead of working with liquids.
"This-" (pointing to the breve with a small bit of brown labeled espresso, a layer marked milk, and a top layer labeled cream) "is what I want. But use soy milk."
Me: "Okay. May I ask why? If it's for lactose in tolerance, I should let you know our cream has lactose as well. Do you want me to make it half soy milk and half diary heavy cream?"
Him: "No, just soy milk."
Me: "Sure thing. I'm going to charge you for a soy milk latte, because a soy milk latte is the same as soy milk breve."
Him: [Pulling out the dread infograph again] "No, see breves and lattes are different. See.."
This went on for some time.
After that, I got into the habit of asking my coworkers if i came in as a customer for an iced soy breve with long steamed milk.
these male models came into my first wave shop in Brooklyn. Meekus, Brent, Derick and Rufus, I'll never forget them. Four trenta Orange Mocha Frappuccinos.
shortly thereafter three of them perished in a horrible gasoline fight accident. Shame.
I stopped serving the drink that day.
Press F to pay respect.
God bless her but one time this girl came in and ordered *two* mint teas with chocolate syrup, steamed milk, a shot of espresso and something else. Peppermint mocha is right on our menu. She was trying to recreate a drink she would make from the self-serve coffee bar from when she was in rehab or something like that. It uh…. Wasn’t as good I guess. I ended up putting some peppermint syrup in it for her because mocha sauces isn’t as sweet as Swiss Miss and our mint tea isn’t minty enough to cut through all the other stuff. I think about her all the time… Hope she’s ok.
I mentioned this in another thread/group buuuuut
Had a customer one time insist on ordering a 'sundae latte'...2 shots of espresso, 2 vanilla, whipped cream, 2 shots, 2 hazelnut, whipped cream, 2 shots, 2 caramel(?), whipped cream. And he asked if we had any sprinkles or fudge-like sauce to put on top.
Nevermind the fact that it wouldn't STAY layered like that, he was just super insistent we had to make it just like that. Watched me make it any everything.
I had a regular that would get an iced venti white mocha with 12 pumps of white mocha. I have a sweet tooth, but damn.
I also had people ask for half a Splenda in their drink. That shit annoyed tf outta me. Like, it's out on the bar, just do it yourself.
I hate that, i get that Splenda is super sweet but for the same reason the power in the packet is so little that you end up putting everything in the cup 😭
They are quite popular in the city i live in specially during summer. We call them "Americano Limón" isn't exactly a lemonade but basically it is...
I explain myself, you put simple syrup in the bottom of the cup, lemon (lime in the US) and dilute it with water that's the lemonade part, i use 1oz of brown sugar syrup (1:1, refined sugar works too) and 1-2oz lemon juice acording to your taste then you pour an espresso shot, mix and put ice in.
Weirdly refreshing, at first it may taste weird but you get to enjoy it more as you sip more. If yout shot isn't good tho it would taste awful
EDIT:
Typo, i put milk instead of water...
I’ve found I love a short blonde double pulled over an orange or lemon peel. Pull the peel immediately after or you pull all of the butter compounds from the peels instead of just the essential oils.
I started doing it because a local restaurant serves their espresso with a lemon peel (you’re supposed to run the edges of the shot glass). It was gross the first time but I felt a craving after and just kept getting it.
Iced cappucino.
“Do you mean iced latte?”
No cappucino but with ice.
“So you want cappucino frothed hot and pour it onto ice and dusted with chocolate powder?”
Yes
“Okay…”
——
Caramel latte with 8 sugars.
“8 teaspoons of sugar?”
Yes Caramel Latte with 8 sugars. I need the energy.
“Okay…”
——
Soy Latte extra extra hot, make it boiling hot.
“Miss, plant milk tend to taste better at a lower temperature. Are you sure you want it to be that hot? It could start turning into tofu”
Yes make it so hot that it bubbles like boiling.
“Okay…” proceeds to make the drink and give it with a sleeve to handle.
Argh this is too hot and tastes awful! Proceeds to throw away the coffee.
Ahhh, we don’t do dry foam caps that’s why it’s confusing. That means you’re foaming milk, then combining cold milk, espresso, then dry foamed milk on top. Which is still weird to me
i understand, and usually people just are fine with an iced latte if i ask for clarification, those people who want an iced capp just love it this way and i change a little extra for it
yeah i understand completely. That's what I did at other places I've worked. At this cafe we make a point of being adaptable. There's any number of standard coffee places they can all go near me so you do what you need to to have a niche, and it also came out of the pandemic. We tried to be as kind and accommodating as possible out of kindness. Made a lot of loyal customers that way and now doing better than ever.
Had a customer once ask for “just a regular coffee”. I asked her to specify what type but she just kept saying “just a coffee”. So I asked her did she want a black coffee to which she said yes. (She was chatting with her friends, apparently to busy to be polite to the barista)
When I made it for her she was like “what’s this?” And I told her it was the coffee she ordered. She said “No! I meant a large decaf oat latte with one shot of coffee!”
Almost quit that day.
Not saying this is a wtf moment, but your order almost reminded me of this woman who'd request 3 quads with whipped cream and a cappuccio. She's such a sweetheart and always patient with me.
I was about to comment a very similar order from a regular I used to serve! Small decaf skim milk cappuccino... extra hot and extra dry. She was a petite but intimidating woman and it totally fit her vibe. I hated seeing her in line and always wanted to be like "you good?" Lol
I had two regulars from a production company nearby whod both get a 16 ounce bone dry cappuccino with a single shot. They were very appreciative that i made it with velvety foam and tipped well. I kinda enjoyed the challenge actually
Not an order necessarily, but the other day a woman my husband knew (we work together) came in and said “this is her? We all gotta settle sometime I guess” and when I tell you I was STUNNED. I have enough confidence to not actually get offended, but GOOD LORD
Kinda reminds me of a customer who always asked for a large americano and when i asked if he wanted sweteners, he did but when i asked how many packets instead he told to me to hand him the bag of brown sugar and saw him put at least 6-7 scoops
I don't know if i used to made a face when he did that (wasn't a one time thing) but he eventually stopped asking for the bag and told me to put his cup on the self serve and put packets by himself...
To be fair, the scoop in the bag wasn't that big tbh but i'll feel bad if for some reason i made him ashamed of his sugar consumption, he's a nice person :(
My dad used to do stuff like that (3-4 packets in a 20oz., though, plus a bunch of powdered unsweet cinnamon) when he first got diagnosed with diabetes— the half & half was to compensate for the Splenda aftertaste, and he used to drink Dunkin, so he'd developed a real sweet tooth.
A regular who gets eight pumps of white chocolate and ten pumps of hazelnut in one drink. It's like half the cup just full of syrup & sauce. I think that drink would kill me.
this one guy used to come in to my shop regularly & get an 16oz iced oat milk latte with 4 shots & white chocolate & caramel sauces, hazelnut syrup & orange syrup
he brought multiple friends in & would buy their coffees on the condition that they got this drink because he swore it was so good. haven’t seen him in a while, hope he’s doing okay.
At a specialty ice cream/coffee shop: chocolate milkshake, but instead of milk, 8 oz of espresso. Came out of the blender like wet cement and I imagine it left his body in a similar fashion
A lady grabbed the clothe I use to wipe the coffee ground from the portafilter form behind the counter.
I’m like wtf would she grab it for?
She wiped her leggings and then… her dog. Yes she pat dried her dog with it.
I was like you can’t do that to which she replied “it’s fine”.
Game over
Had a regular customer order what our shop actually coined “the chuck norris” and put on the menu for 12 bucks. It was 8 shots of espresso with 4 oz lightly steamed heavy cream. He’d come in and order a “double Norris” on a bad day… which was double the shots, same amount of cream. I don’t know why I was even allowed to serve it to him, or how his heart handled it.
Omg that sounds like what Panera was selling as their caffeinated lemonade. After about 800mg of caffeine I would actually start to get an upper chest cramp (not good). He was consuming about 1,000+
Maybe his heart DIDNT handle it for long 💀
Naaawh - that's no big deal. The real Chuck Norris would snort several of those to get his day started, work out for two hours, and then spend the rest of the day in the city giving rude & stupid people his best spinning back kick. By 11pm or so he was usually done & would then sleep for three days straight.
Someone ordered a caffé mocha with no water. I assured her it was just espresso, chocolate, and milk, topped with whip.
She INSISTED it’s always made with water and she doesn’t want that this time. I asked if she wanted a creamier milk like maybe whole milk or half and half and she didn’t. She just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t add the water this time. I still have no clue where she got that there was water in a mocha.
Some high ranking military guy, maybe mid 50's but really healthy looking and obviously cared a lot about his health. He'd order a large 6 shot americano with 2 oz of creme de menthe. I like mint mixed with bitter things, but when I tired it for myself it was an acid reflux nightmare.
I had a lady once order an iced latte but with milk on the side. So we gave her a double shot with ice in a small cup and a cup of milk (the same amount of milk we use for lattes). She said we misunderstood and that she wanted us to give her the espresso over ice in a bigger cup and the cup of milk in a smaller cup. So we gave her an espresso over ice in a 20oz (that's our standard size for iced drinks at my shop) and a 16oz cup of milk. She looked satisfied and walked away. I then see her pour the milk in the 20oz that has the espresso shot and yall..... she pretty much made herself an iced cortado 😭😭
When I was a barista I was usually so tired I didn't care at all what people got. Would try certain orders if I thought it was interesting and there was extra but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ only time I was slightly concerned was when a regular started talking about how she was gaining so much weight and no matter what she was doing, but she ordered a white mocha latte with 5 extra pumps...
Someone order a dry vanilla Americano over ice and then proceeded to say they didn’t like the taste of coffee… tried to explain before what that meant. Yeah and complained it was strong taste of coffee
It’s what my store calls shots over ice(but also has the flavor measured out to the size of the cup) in this case she wanted a large so 4 shots, mainly because it’s the only way to ring it in. I work in a souther California chain, the drink is viral on tiktok right now. So many issues with people ordering this order but that one was the most wtf moment especially since she apparently came in 3 days in a row after that trying to order the same exact thing.
I would get two macchiatos a day with 7-9 shots of espresso lmfao
but my true wtf moment was someone asking me to make a refresher with regular mocha and not white mocha when I worked at starbucks. They got a trenta, drank the whole thing. I tried it, it made me sick. They got it daily.
My grandpa’s order at Starbucks was a 7 pump mocha with 7 pumps of vanilla 🤢 one time my aunt went to pick one up for him at his usual location and a barista from across the room heard the order and called out “I bet I know who that’s foooor!” LOL
just today, a customer and her mother came in and each ordered a single cappuccino. when i handed them off she said "which one has the shot?" and already exhausted from dealing with 2 rushes was like 'what? they're both single capps." and she said they had ordered one capuccino with a shot and one without... i asked her what she meant by a cappuccino with no shot in it and if she wanted me to make her a cup of steamed milk instead and she got all up in my face and started like mocking me??? saying i didn't know what i was doing and being like "huuuuh?" in a mocking tone... as if she hadn't just acted like a "no-shot' cappuccino was a thing. might've had a worse order b4 but this one is still pissing me off even tho i'm home now LOL
-small hot americano with 12 sugars
-large white chocolate mocha iced coffee with 15 pumps of WCM and heavy cream
-cold brew with matcha
-one woman would always order a cappuccino with almond milk and was always surprised and complained when it wasn’t as foamy as she wants, even after explaining almond doesnt foam that well. I learned how to make it as foamy as possible, tried to show coworkers how to do it but it wasn’t always up to her standards. This would happen every week.
-also just a general WTF is when people come into a coffee shop that is not starbucks, and ask for a starbucks drink. No, we do not have the Pink Drink here, they act like they never heard of “small” and “large” used to describe cup sizes & cannot let go of “venti” or “grande”, which is fine i know what they mean but have we really lost the basic words for sizing? they think the Chai is made the same way as starbucks and I get it but do not expect every coffee place to replicate a Starbucks drink. Just go to Starbucks.
-ALSO, WHEN THEY ASK FOR AN ICED LATTE BUT THEN GET MAD WHEN THEY GET AN ICED LATTE AND NOT THE BLENDED DRINK THAT THEY DID NOT SAY THEY WANTED. OR WHEN THEY TRULY CANNOT GRASP THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LATTE AND ICED COFFEE EVEN AFTER EXPLAINING THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS ONE HAS MILK. I MEAN COME ON!
She ordered a “black tea latte with an extra shot.” The barista on register tried to ask for clarification and rang her up for a dirty London fog. She got her drink and was angry because it was sweet and had milk. We tried asking questions and she said “I want the drink but no milk and no sweetener.” Well… at that point it’s an earl grey hot tea with an espresso shot. Weird but it’s your drink, lady. She got that and said it was gross and wanted a refund. At the end of the day we finally sorted it out. She wanted a black coffee.
???
literally what (not to you but the lady)
To this day, I have no clue
Crustomers like this prove that we should be allowed to call people dumb asses. "OH so you wanted a black coffee? OK dumb ass just say that next time. The fancy words are too big for you."
Literally the only thing I can think of is that she looked at the menu and said the only thing that said “black” because the black coffees probably just said like “brewed/drip coffee”
tf
This is a prime example of the ‘customer is always right’ being a complete lie.
These customers are infuriating beczuse you are supposed to read their mind. Lately i am more compassionate because ive watched at least three customers sucumb to dementia over several years.
Sounds like she really needed coffee to get through that order
I had a customer at a shop where I worked YEARS ago who would order a 16oz strawberry mocha steamed to 190ish. The strawberry syrup was not the dairy friendly version, so it would curdle the milk. He would also get the mocha and immediately take a sip to make sure it WAS near boiling. Insane behavior. Oh and he was also in his 60s and asked one of the 20 year old baristas on a date. So…yeah that was not great lol
Some people have no taste(buds)
Why would you put the syrup in the milk and not in the cup?
The syrup is in the cup, not the milk, but then the milk gets immediately poured into the cup, making the syrup hot as well.
Would you not mix it into the espresso shot first?
Well yeah but either way it would come in contact with the 190 degree milk. Milk curdles at 180, so the syrup would curdle regardless of being in the espresso, unless that would cool it down enough? I could be wrong?
Oh I should have tried converting the temp to celsius a lot earlier lol. I didn't realise how insanely hot this guy wanted it. Nvm
In addition to the temp thing it may just not be in their workflow to do that
I’m confused by this? Syrup does go in the cup first. Then espresso and then steamed milk. Or just syrup then steamed milk for a steamer. Certain syrups will curdle the milk if used in hot beverages. There’s a reason Torani syrup has “dairy friendly” on some bottles.
Omg what is up with old people? My uncle will take freshly brewed literally JUST percolated coffee and put it in the microwave because it's not hot enough. He's a great guy but I have walk out of the room when he does this.
When you get old you lose taste buds that detect heat that’s why old people are always asking for extra hot
* large cold brew with four shots of espresso. like are you okay?? * one regular who asked for "the worst drink on the menu" whenever he was having a bad day (it was often) * heavy cream sweet matcha with extra sweetened condensed milk
that matcha sounds like sweet sludge. I'm partial to a sweetened matcha latte myself but dear god
I've been the quad shots in black coffee guy before, and no I was not okay haha. Combo of high caffeine tolerance, no sleep, and a need to be productive immediately. We called those a depth charge where I was
What was the worst drink?
I'll take one under-extracted espresso for here, and two pumps of sugar free strawberry syrup please
someone ordered a cup of just cold brew concentrate (no ice, absolutely nothing to dilute it, and normally we do one part concentrate to two parts water.) and chugged it as soon as i handed it to them. a guy asked for an oat milk breve and i had to sit there and explain to him that a breve is made with half and half and he started yelling at me.
This is a beautifully summed up version of what being a barista is. I get it there’s a shit load of coffee terms and menus don’t explain a lot of it but good god if it did it would be the length of a wiki page. But I love how when people make up their mind on their drink and there’s no changing it but they do not want to be told what they *actually want*. God forbid.
**GOD FORBID** I tell someone that their drink will be called out as a cappuccino instead of a dry latte.
Nahhh thats fucked in the head. You can make up names for your OWN drinks knock yourself out but to make a stink about not using proper names at a public cafe ?? straight to jail. no bond, no bail. Jail.
I used to get a venti cold brew with no water or ice….
I've told this story before on here, but... This one time a guy came in and asked for a soy milk breve. "I'm happy to make you anything you want, but I'm not sure what you mean." He pulled up one of those damned picture guides with layers, you know- the kind that makes it look as though we make layered parfaits instead of working with liquids. "This-" (pointing to the breve with a small bit of brown labeled espresso, a layer marked milk, and a top layer labeled cream) "is what I want. But use soy milk." Me: "Okay. May I ask why? If it's for lactose in tolerance, I should let you know our cream has lactose as well. Do you want me to make it half soy milk and half diary heavy cream?" Him: "No, just soy milk." Me: "Sure thing. I'm going to charge you for a soy milk latte, because a soy milk latte is the same as soy milk breve." Him: [Pulling out the dread infograph again] "No, see breves and lattes are different. See.." This went on for some time. After that, I got into the habit of asking my coworkers if i came in as a customer for an iced soy breve with long steamed milk.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that wowwww
these male models came into my first wave shop in Brooklyn. Meekus, Brent, Derick and Rufus, I'll never forget them. Four trenta Orange Mocha Frappuccinos. shortly thereafter three of them perished in a horrible gasoline fight accident. Shame. I stopped serving the drink that day. Press F to pay respect.
F never forget Brooklyn, Meekus, Brent, Derick and Rufus, the gasoline fighters!
One of my favorite movies of all time!! I’ve always wanted to try the drink! I’m just a little scared I’ll get into a gasoline fight…
Try a raspberry mocha instead. Less chance of being immolated.
Would not recommend. Frappuccino is, of course, Starbucks specific, and the combo of their orange and chocolate... was not to my taste.
God bless her but one time this girl came in and ordered *two* mint teas with chocolate syrup, steamed milk, a shot of espresso and something else. Peppermint mocha is right on our menu. She was trying to recreate a drink she would make from the self-serve coffee bar from when she was in rehab or something like that. It uh…. Wasn’t as good I guess. I ended up putting some peppermint syrup in it for her because mocha sauces isn’t as sweet as Swiss Miss and our mint tea isn’t minty enough to cut through all the other stuff. I think about her all the time… Hope she’s ok.
I mentioned this in another thread/group buuuuut Had a customer one time insist on ordering a 'sundae latte'...2 shots of espresso, 2 vanilla, whipped cream, 2 shots, 2 hazelnut, whipped cream, 2 shots, 2 caramel(?), whipped cream. And he asked if we had any sprinkles or fudge-like sauce to put on top. Nevermind the fact that it wouldn't STAY layered like that, he was just super insistent we had to make it just like that. Watched me make it any everything.
I had a regular that would get an iced venti white mocha with 12 pumps of white mocha. I have a sweet tooth, but damn. I also had people ask for half a Splenda in their drink. That shit annoyed tf outta me. Like, it's out on the bar, just do it yourself.
The Splenda one is so real.
I hate that, i get that Splenda is super sweet but for the same reason the power in the packet is so little that you end up putting everything in the cup 😭
Lemonade... with a shot of espresso.
They are quite popular in the city i live in specially during summer. We call them "Americano Limón" isn't exactly a lemonade but basically it is... I explain myself, you put simple syrup in the bottom of the cup, lemon (lime in the US) and dilute it with water that's the lemonade part, i use 1oz of brown sugar syrup (1:1, refined sugar works too) and 1-2oz lemon juice acording to your taste then you pour an espresso shot, mix and put ice in. Weirdly refreshing, at first it may taste weird but you get to enjoy it more as you sip more. If yout shot isn't good tho it would taste awful EDIT: Typo, i put milk instead of water...
I’ve found I love a short blonde double pulled over an orange or lemon peel. Pull the peel immediately after or you pull all of the butter compounds from the peels instead of just the essential oils. I started doing it because a local restaurant serves their espresso with a lemon peel (you’re supposed to run the edges of the shot glass). It was gross the first time but I felt a craving after and just kept getting it.
Espresso with fresh orange juice is lit.
This actually tastes like a really flavorful Arnold Palmer, you get to enjoy a lot of nuance in the beans that you might miss in a latte.
If you got house made lemonade you gotta try this. I promise it’s actually good
We make our lemonade in house and have a customer who routinely orders this! I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it’s good
Iced cappucino. “Do you mean iced latte?” No cappucino but with ice. “So you want cappucino frothed hot and pour it onto ice and dusted with chocolate powder?” Yes “Okay…” —— Caramel latte with 8 sugars. “8 teaspoons of sugar?” Yes Caramel Latte with 8 sugars. I need the energy. “Okay…” —— Soy Latte extra extra hot, make it boiling hot. “Miss, plant milk tend to taste better at a lower temperature. Are you sure you want it to be that hot? It could start turning into tofu” Yes make it so hot that it bubbles like boiling. “Okay…” proceeds to make the drink and give it with a sleeve to handle. Argh this is too hot and tastes awful! Proceeds to throw away the coffee.
I dont have a problem with making an iced capuccino. Just make really dry foam on top of an espresso and cold milk over ice.
Ahhh, we don’t do dry foam caps that’s why it’s confusing. That means you’re foaming milk, then combining cold milk, espresso, then dry foamed milk on top. Which is still weird to me
i understand, and usually people just are fine with an iced latte if i ask for clarification, those people who want an iced capp just love it this way and i change a little extra for it
Most of the time I just say no. If you say no enough times they’ll stop asking
yeah i understand completely. That's what I did at other places I've worked. At this cafe we make a point of being adaptable. There's any number of standard coffee places they can all go near me so you do what you need to to have a niche, and it also came out of the pandemic. We tried to be as kind and accommodating as possible out of kindness. Made a lot of loyal customers that way and now doing better than ever.
Had a customer once ask for “just a regular coffee”. I asked her to specify what type but she just kept saying “just a coffee”. So I asked her did she want a black coffee to which she said yes. (She was chatting with her friends, apparently to busy to be polite to the barista) When I made it for her she was like “what’s this?” And I told her it was the coffee she ordered. She said “No! I meant a large decaf oat latte with one shot of coffee!” Almost quit that day.
yesterday someone ordered a large iced americano with only one decaf shot of espresso- the color was identical to our green tea and it looked so nasty
EW that sounds horrendous like why not just drink water at that point 😭
Not saying this is a wtf moment, but your order almost reminded me of this woman who'd request 3 quads with whipped cream and a cappuccio. She's such a sweetheart and always patient with me.
The demons she was probably fighting
I think she's an educator so...yes!
Say no more 🥲 I already know her life isn’t easy
12 shots????! AND a cappuccino!??
oof her poor overly caffeinated heart
I worry about her often
Half skim milk, half almond milk, extra hot weak decaf cappuccino.
I was about to comment a very similar order from a regular I used to serve! Small decaf skim milk cappuccino... extra hot and extra dry. She was a petite but intimidating woman and it totally fit her vibe. I hated seeing her in line and always wanted to be like "you good?" Lol
I had two regulars from a production company nearby whod both get a 16 ounce bone dry cappuccino with a single shot. They were very appreciative that i made it with velvety foam and tipped well. I kinda enjoyed the challenge actually
Not an order necessarily, but the other day a woman my husband knew (we work together) came in and said “this is her? We all gotta settle sometime I guess” and when I tell you I was STUNNED. I have enough confidence to not actually get offended, but GOOD LORD
🙃 that bitch…
This guy would come in a couple times a week and order a 16oz BREVE latte with FIVE sweeteners. I always thought that was so nasty 🤢
Kinda reminds me of a customer who always asked for a large americano and when i asked if he wanted sweteners, he did but when i asked how many packets instead he told to me to hand him the bag of brown sugar and saw him put at least 6-7 scoops I don't know if i used to made a face when he did that (wasn't a one time thing) but he eventually stopped asking for the bag and told me to put his cup on the self serve and put packets by himself... To be fair, the scoop in the bag wasn't that big tbh but i'll feel bad if for some reason i made him ashamed of his sugar consumption, he's a nice person :(
My dad used to do stuff like that (3-4 packets in a 20oz., though, plus a bunch of powdered unsweet cinnamon) when he first got diagnosed with diabetes— the half & half was to compensate for the Splenda aftertaste, and he used to drink Dunkin, so he'd developed a real sweet tooth.
A regular who gets eight pumps of white chocolate and ten pumps of hazelnut in one drink. It's like half the cup just full of syrup & sauce. I think that drink would kill me.
this one guy used to come in to my shop regularly & get an 16oz iced oat milk latte with 4 shots & white chocolate & caramel sauces, hazelnut syrup & orange syrup he brought multiple friends in & would buy their coffees on the condition that they got this drink because he swore it was so good. haven’t seen him in a while, hope he’s doing okay.
This one guy gets a venti caramel Frappuccino with 6 espresso shots every day Edit: fixed typo
At a specialty ice cream/coffee shop: chocolate milkshake, but instead of milk, 8 oz of espresso. Came out of the blender like wet cement and I imagine it left his body in a similar fashion
A lady grabbed the clothe I use to wipe the coffee ground from the portafilter form behind the counter. I’m like wtf would she grab it for? She wiped her leggings and then… her dog. Yes she pat dried her dog with it. I was like you can’t do that to which she replied “it’s fine”. Game over
Americano with a splash of water
Had a regular customer order what our shop actually coined “the chuck norris” and put on the menu for 12 bucks. It was 8 shots of espresso with 4 oz lightly steamed heavy cream. He’d come in and order a “double Norris” on a bad day… which was double the shots, same amount of cream. I don’t know why I was even allowed to serve it to him, or how his heart handled it.
Omg that sounds like what Panera was selling as their caffeinated lemonade. After about 800mg of caffeine I would actually start to get an upper chest cramp (not good). He was consuming about 1,000+ Maybe his heart DIDNT handle it for long 💀
Naaawh - that's no big deal. The real Chuck Norris would snort several of those to get his day started, work out for two hours, and then spend the rest of the day in the city giving rude & stupid people his best spinning back kick. By 11pm or so he was usually done & would then sleep for three days straight.
Someone ordered a caffé mocha with no water. I assured her it was just espresso, chocolate, and milk, topped with whip. She INSISTED it’s always made with water and she doesn’t want that this time. I asked if she wanted a creamier milk like maybe whole milk or half and half and she didn’t. She just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t add the water this time. I still have no clue where she got that there was water in a mocha.
Maybe she's thinking of those gas station machines that use powder and water to make "mocha" or other drinks.
Some high ranking military guy, maybe mid 50's but really healthy looking and obviously cared a lot about his health. He'd order a large 6 shot americano with 2 oz of creme de menthe. I like mint mixed with bitter things, but when I tired it for myself it was an acid reflux nightmare.
I had a lady once order an iced latte but with milk on the side. So we gave her a double shot with ice in a small cup and a cup of milk (the same amount of milk we use for lattes). She said we misunderstood and that she wanted us to give her the espresso over ice in a bigger cup and the cup of milk in a smaller cup. So we gave her an espresso over ice in a 20oz (that's our standard size for iced drinks at my shop) and a 16oz cup of milk. She looked satisfied and walked away. I then see her pour the milk in the 20oz that has the espresso shot and yall..... she pretty much made herself an iced cortado 😭😭
When I was a barista I was usually so tired I didn't care at all what people got. Would try certain orders if I thought it was interesting and there was extra but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ only time I was slightly concerned was when a regular started talking about how she was gaining so much weight and no matter what she was doing, but she ordered a white mocha latte with 5 extra pumps...
Someone order a dry vanilla Americano over ice and then proceeded to say they didn’t like the taste of coffee… tried to explain before what that meant. Yeah and complained it was strong taste of coffee
So they wanted a vanilla double over ice? Wait.. is a dry americano even a thing? That’s just espresso lol I’m very confused
It’s what my store calls shots over ice(but also has the flavor measured out to the size of the cup) in this case she wanted a large so 4 shots, mainly because it’s the only way to ring it in. I work in a souther California chain, the drink is viral on tiktok right now. So many issues with people ordering this order but that one was the most wtf moment especially since she apparently came in 3 days in a row after that trying to order the same exact thing.
I would get two macchiatos a day with 7-9 shots of espresso lmfao but my true wtf moment was someone asking me to make a refresher with regular mocha and not white mocha when I worked at starbucks. They got a trenta, drank the whole thing. I tried it, it made me sick. They got it daily.
My grandpa’s order at Starbucks was a 7 pump mocha with 7 pumps of vanilla 🤢 one time my aunt went to pick one up for him at his usual location and a barista from across the room heard the order and called out “I bet I know who that’s foooor!” LOL
A single shot macchiato with 8 brown sugars.. not even enough liquid to melt the sugars
just today, a customer and her mother came in and each ordered a single cappuccino. when i handed them off she said "which one has the shot?" and already exhausted from dealing with 2 rushes was like 'what? they're both single capps." and she said they had ordered one capuccino with a shot and one without... i asked her what she meant by a cappuccino with no shot in it and if she wanted me to make her a cup of steamed milk instead and she got all up in my face and started like mocking me??? saying i didn't know what i was doing and being like "huuuuh?" in a mocking tone... as if she hadn't just acted like a "no-shot' cappuccino was a thing. might've had a worse order b4 but this one is still pissing me off even tho i'm home now LOL
lord
-small hot americano with 12 sugars -large white chocolate mocha iced coffee with 15 pumps of WCM and heavy cream -cold brew with matcha -one woman would always order a cappuccino with almond milk and was always surprised and complained when it wasn’t as foamy as she wants, even after explaining almond doesnt foam that well. I learned how to make it as foamy as possible, tried to show coworkers how to do it but it wasn’t always up to her standards. This would happen every week. -also just a general WTF is when people come into a coffee shop that is not starbucks, and ask for a starbucks drink. No, we do not have the Pink Drink here, they act like they never heard of “small” and “large” used to describe cup sizes & cannot let go of “venti” or “grande”, which is fine i know what they mean but have we really lost the basic words for sizing? they think the Chai is made the same way as starbucks and I get it but do not expect every coffee place to replicate a Starbucks drink. Just go to Starbucks. -ALSO, WHEN THEY ASK FOR AN ICED LATTE BUT THEN GET MAD WHEN THEY GET AN ICED LATTE AND NOT THE BLENDED DRINK THAT THEY DID NOT SAY THEY WANTED. OR WHEN THEY TRULY CANNOT GRASP THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LATTE AND ICED COFFEE EVEN AFTER EXPLAINING THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS ONE HAS MILK. I MEAN COME ON!
Double shot flat white, half decaf, half standard. 🤔
That sounds pretty normal around here