I lost my job at the coffee shop this weekend.

[suninvited]

A customer came in asking for tea with ice, but then would start complaining when I would add the ice.

I thought maybe I had put in too much ice so I started over and made a fresh cup with less ice.

She asked the manager for a refund after she had her tea, and told him she didn't ask for ice. Turns out she had only wanted the tea cup partially filled with water so she could add ice after it brewed. Geez, why didn't she say so !?!

The manager was really mad about the irate customer and he hates refunding money so he told me to pack my stuff and go home. Forever.

[suninvited]

1. ooops, I didnt see the OP had deleted the other thread

hope this one doesnt get me in hot water!

[Kali]

2. looks like somebody thought they were in GD

[taterguy]

3. This is why coffee shops need to be unionized

[Chan790]

5. In all seriousness, I agree.

We have a trade association, the SCAA, but we share it with the coffeehouse owners (most of whom started out as baristi themselves) which isn't so bad in the case of the indie coffeehouses, but the three largest companies in the field: Dunkin, Starbucks and Peet's, have been refused membership which I think is a mistake. (There's no reason to think they'd join if allowed to as the SCAA has guidelines for employee welfare that they don't want to meet.) However, their exclusion provides them with a defense against being pressed to at-least meet those SCAA standards.

So yes, I'd like it if those of us in the corporate chains would unionize but I'd strongly prefer if they used the SCAA standards for employee welfare and treatment (which benefit the customer, employee and the coffeehouse) over those of the Starbucks Union (that benefits nobody except the IWW* and a small handful of employees that cannot do the job.) SCAA guidelines would insure reasonable industry-standard pay (which is above the current-pay ceiling for Starbucks baristas) and requirements for training opportunities while allowing shops to get rid of employees that could not meet quality and performance standards sufficient to be certified as a barista.

*-Note that I'm strongly pro-union but the Wobblies have seriously screwed the vast majority of Starbucks partners by prioritizing employee-security (e.g. inability to be fired for incompetence) as a demand over decent benefits and pay, demands for decent equipment, opportunities for improved training and realistic means of advancement out of the shops & into the back-of-house for those of us who want it.

[ohiosmith]

4. Consider yourself fortunate that she didn't run you down in the parking lot and beat you with

an old Led Zep LP.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. If your manager fired you for something as trivial as that,

then he's a real jerk.

[jcboon]

7. Customers will try to f___k with you so they don't have to pay.

That's why she wasn't real clear. The manager should know that, he sounds like a jerk.
Lemme call him up and tell him.
I'm sorry you lost your job.

[LeftinOH]

8. Customers are assholes, mostly.

It's a trial to deal with people who cannot articulate what they want or what they are looking for. Ugh.

[MrScorpio]

9. Post your story here:

http://fuckyeahretailrobin.tumblr.com/