A Customer Walks in a Coffee Shop......

[yizuman]

Well, this is an interesting tirade that took place between a customer and a coffee shop owner....

http://consumerist.com/5025306/coffe...er-in-his-dick

What you think?

Yiz

[lordlundar]

All this over a cup of coffee. Sheesh!

One of the reasons I drink tea.

[Chanlin]

Just wow, but with the whole ghetto latte thing I can understand why they would have certain policies in place to try and prevent such things. Seriously my solution would be to sell the creamers as a seperate item and screw the condiment bar. But they have a point. Customers who buy a low priced drink and then pour a ton of milk or creamer into their drink that they aren't paying for is just silly.

I mean you get one customer who pours say one ounce of milk into his drink and you get say 15 or 20 customers per day doing that that can really add up. And by the sounds of it they aren't adding just one ounce to their drinks. That chalks up to a fairly large loss of money in materials that the shop would not normally be using. But the whole no espresso over ice policy as a measure to combat this seems a bit over the top.

[NightWatch]

I mean you get one customer who pours say one ounce of milk into his drink and you get say 15 or 20 customers per day doing that that can really add up. And by the sounds of it they aren't adding just one ounce to their drinks. That chalks up to a fairly large loss of money in materials that the shop would not normally be using. But the whole no espresso over ice policy as a measure to combat this seems a bit over the top.

If it was an ounce or 2 I'd agree with you Chanlin. But the owner said somewhere in there to make a ghetto latte, the customer would use anywhere from 8 to 14 ounces to make that ghetto latte. That is a HUGE profit loss. Plus he mentioned the espresso over ice ruins the integrity of the product. So not serving it makes sense.

[crazylegs]

Q. The customer is always right
Yeah, that's true. Actually, nevermind. It's bullshit.

How cool is this boss?

[tropicsgoddess]

That's the first time I've heard of a ghetto latte...but seriously all that over a freakin' cup of coffee?!!

[Chanlin]

But the owner said somewhere in there to make a ghetto latte, the customer would use anywhere from 8 to 14 ounces

I didn't miss that point. I was just going on an example. The point I'm trying to make has nothing to do with profit loss

What I was saying was there are far more customer friendly methods to deal with the ghetto latte thing. Yes I realize this is not the shops only reason behind their policy, but it certainly seems like a big one. Just from a business perspective if there is a high demand for ice espresso then I will serve iced espresso my own opinions of how it tastes or what it does to my product be damned. And knowing about the ghetto latte I simply wouldn't have creamer or milk at the condiment bar. Coffee ordered with cream comes with X amount of cream, if you want more it costs extra end of story and problem solved

[MMATM]

Don't be surprised. Bagel Hell had similar policies, though they never received threats of arson.

For example, they started charging more for larger tea sizes because customers used to have to order by teabag. Many would ask for a larger cup, and then let the tea steep for half an hour until the 20oz cups were as strong as the 12oz ones. Why was this an issue? Because everyone started realizing that ordering the 20oz cups made more sense just in case you wanted to drink more tea. Then those that didn't would pour hot tea into the trash barrels, which would melt the bags and cause burns and so forth. Huge hassle.

I've seen people make "ghetto lattes" before, but I've never heard the term. I also think it is still within policy to make them at Bagel Hell, though the cost in milk and/or cream is probably not helped by the policy. Iced espresso can still be ordered too. I can vouch for the business owner in that coffee drinks poured straight on ice taste terrible. Bagel Hell used to brew lots of extra espresso and then let it cool and refrigerate it overnight, producing cold espresso for iced espresso drinks without the nasty bitter flavor.

Ultimately, I'm in support of the business owner in this case. Yes, the "really not OK" barista was kinda rude, but nothing was said or done that invited or merited profanity or threats of arson. Basically the customer was just a jackass, and now he's banned and the thinking world can rejoice at this small victory.