Wednesday, August 31, 2011

No Freebies

Always remember, students: if you are trying to get something for free, you would do well to not be snarky about it.
At work today, we quickly ran out of iced coffee.  For some reason, a tonne of people were wanting it.  I was just starting a fresh brew for two more pitchers of iced coffee (mind you, I started this the second I noticed the iced coffee was down) when this girl ordered a medium iced coffee.  My co-worker informed her that it would be a couple of minutes, since I was starting a fresh brew, unless she wanted an iced Americano instead.  She said she would wait and it'd be no problem.
Hardly a minute went by and I was finishing up some other drinks when I heard a little, "Excuse me?"  I turned around and it's the girl who ordered the iced coffee.  She leaned over the counter and babied up her voice, as if she were speaking to someone slow, "I used to work at a Starbucks and if iced coffee wasn't ready, we would give it to them on the house.  Do you do that here?"  I told her that we weren't a Starbucks ("Oh, you're not a Starbucks?? *Mumbles something with "Starbucks" in it*") and she then asked, "Well, could you ask if you could give it to us for free, since we're waiting?"
I already knew we wouldn't be doing that, but to humour her, I went to the back and pretended to be asking about that.  I came back and told her that, unfortunately, we don't do the same things as Starbucks and we can't give things away for free, but what we usually do is offer Americanos instead, since they are basically the same thing and made quickly.  She looked at her friend, looked back and said, "No, she doesn't like Americanos."  An awkward silence passed and I just sort of nodded and went back to staring at the timer so I could get the iced coffee ready as soon as possible.
Then, with her sweet voice gone, she said, in a tone that dripped with disdain, "...Well, can you at least make it a venti?"
I told her it was not likely.
"Is there a manager?  Couldn't you ask them?"
I said I could get a manager if she wanted.
"How long will that take?"
I'm not sure, it depends.
"Never mind."
She continues to give me a look of, "How dare you not give me my drink for free?!"
I give her the drink and there are more customers.  She yells, with intense sarcasm, "Thank you so much!/Thanks again!"  Twice.  When she gets a straw and when she finally leaves.  Me and my co-worker just said, "You're welcome!"  Her sarcasm isn't getting her anywhere, so it's not like it mattered.

Thing is.... We're not magic.  We can't snap our fingers and instantly brew that coffee in less than two to three minutes.  The most we can offer is a drink that's quicker and almost exactly the same.  If you don't want that and you choose to wait, you know what you're getting into.  No time to wait?  Don't say you'll wait.  Ask for your money back and go somewhere else.  Take that similar drink.  Order something else.  Don't practically demand a free drink, or a larger drink, because we dared to not be a Starbucks and we dared to make you wait a whole two minutes.
If she had involved a manager, she would have just been told the same thing.  Being passive-aggressive and trying to bully me into giving you free goods is not going to win you anything.  Ugh.  People.

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