I posted the same thing above, but I am soo sorry to any baristas out there who think I am being creepy by looking. I am just curious about how you make stuff. Sorry!

I used to work at a very busy Starbucks in a major city. A lot of these entries remind me of a few "bad apple" co-workers, who had little (or zero) tolerance for dealing with less-than-perfect customers. Most of the rest of us, though, knew it was our job to grin and bear it. This was specifically something that the company worked hard to develop in all their stores, making it a safe and comfortable space that people would want to spend time in. Granted, not all businesses stress this, and a lot of the issues stem from a trickle-down effect from horrid managers. My own take was that I had the opportunity to turn that surly customer's day around, not just by providing them with the product they wanted, but by my attitude. You can control how an awful lot of interactions go by being confident, compassionate, and by trying to get a sense of where the other person was coming from. Sometimes this meant adjusting my own pace or my own energy to match theirs, while conversing with them.

Fun time a Starbucks for me was when I was closing around Halloween and we used the steam wand to replace the snaps in "The Adams Family"

I'm genuinely scared to go to big chain coffee shops, I fell like I need to plan a week in advance and should know the menu and silly size names by heart and research the order 200 times in my head before entering the shop. Way too stressful for me!

This is a two-way street. Customers need to be polite, accept they aren't the only person in the world, and appreciate potential issues, servers need to listen, do their jobs efficiently, and apologize properly when they get it wrong. It shouldn't be hard, but I rarely witness it.

I'm 31 and live in a college town and literally avoid & never go into coffee shops, which are everywhere. After reading this, probably not a place I want to apply to work either.

A new cafe just opened up (not a chain) and they have a sign by the register with a Aust learners permit attached that says "we are a new cafe and all our staff are "learners" and getting used to the layout, please be patient". We aren't in the city so I doubt someone will come in and shout thier order at them. In the city is a different kettle of fish all together

I hope the baristas know that people like my husband, a charming older man, really likes that you remember his name and he knows yours too. Thank you.

Folks, please be polite, especially to the people who make your food. Fast food workers are all lazy af, but if you’re rude, we will go out of our to ruin your food or mess something up for you.