Drinks Take Time

Manifesto Point #7:

Drinks Take Time

Those customers that come inside aren't so bad at this (though there are some), this is mostly for customers in the drive.

It takes a few moments to make your beverage.

Things aren't just instantaneous. Believe me when I tell you, the drink doesn't appear when you order it. Milk needs to be steamed, espresso shots need to be pulled, flavors need to be added, etc. etc.

The time is compounded when there are multiple people in line. All the people ahead of you are waiting for their drink too, and we can't really make yours before theirs. (You'd be unhappy if we did this to you, why should we do it to them?)

It might shock you to hear, but you are not the most important person in the world, and lots of people come in to get coffee in the morning.

You'll just have to wait your turn.

Please Don't Run Me Over

Manifesto Point #6:

Please Don't Run Me Over

This will perhaps be the shortest explanation of all, since I really don't have anything snarky to say about this.

Don't run us over while we're walking through/taking out the garbage/sweeping/walking past/etc. the drive-thru/parking lot.

I'm fairly certain we're not invisible.

We Aren't Trying to Stalk You

Manifesto Point #5:

We Aren't Trying to Stalk You

This may seem like a weird thing to clarify, but a lot of you flip out when we ask for your name. The amazing thing is that most of you come in to coffee shops all the time, and always get asked for your name, and still freak out every time. For those of you who are regulars, if we haven't hunted you down by now, I'm thinking that it's not going to happen.

We want your name to label your cup. This is only to help us distinguish between drive-thru drinks and inside drinks, AND it helps you distinguish your drink when you go to pick it up. Really, that's all there is to it.

No tricks, nothing creepy, we're just trying to make everyone's lives easier.


If it truly bothers you that much, do what one of my customers did, and "name" your cup as you would a pet. (They chose "Colin McCoffee".)

We are not Stupid, Blind, or Deaf

Manifesto Point #4:

We are not Stupid, Blind, or Deaf

There are multiple situations this applies to.

Yes, I can see (and hear) that you are on your cell phone. Can you see that I am trying to hand you your beverage and hear that I'm trying to ask you if you would like a receipt? It really only needs a moment of your attention.

And just because I repeated your order wrong, does not mean you need to repeat it back louder and slower than before. It doesn't help, it just makes us mad. We're usually trying to do two (or more) things at once, and might have simply been momentarily distracted. Also, the headset equipment isn't always the greatest, and there might have been static that obscured what you said.

Finally, (and this applies to other baristas as well), we WORK here. We KNOW how to make your drink. There is no reason to tell us what the layers are, or how to do anything, because we know. We do this all the time.