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Date: 13 Mar 2007 08:27:45
From: phreaddy
Subject: New York Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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However, the best coffee in the world will still suck if the barista
does, too. That was my experience this morning when I went in and
ordered an espresso. "What do you want in it?" "Nothing." "Do you want
a cappuccino?" "No, just espresso." "No water? Nothing?" "That's
right." And clearly, she had had some cursory training on dosing and
tamping. But only cursory. Her hesitant style reminded me of when I
tried a getting a haircut at a beauticians' school. She flushed the
Wega before attaching the portafilter. But she couldn't get both
flanges into the grouphead, gave up, and started all over with another
portafilter. This one worked ... until she actually turned on the
machine. My espresso just dripped out, and she let it go on that way,
for literally about two minutes. I'd have left, but she was trying so
hard, and I had already paid. The funny thing is that I dared to try
it, and although it was pretty bad, I have actually had worse espresso
at places like Charbucks and Caribou.
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Date: 14 Mar 2007 12:08:50
From: daveb
Subject: Re: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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On 14, 2:50 pm, becca <illshowyouinternetsyn...@earthlink.net >
wrote:
> daveb wrote:
> > And you did not hand it back?
>
> > then you just did your part to encourage horrible espresso.
>
> > you don't have to instruct them, but paying for s**t is never a good idea.
>
> > sorry to say.
>
> if you think you can hand it back and explain what's wrong without
> sounding like a pretentious bastard, feel free.
>
> it sounds like the girl is new, at least to espresso, and i'm sure she
> appreciated that he was patient. the first time somebody ordered
> espresso shots from me i was confused too (it didn't help that she
> didn't know espresso, either, and ordered a "large"--i had no idea what
> i was doing but i was pretty sure i wasn't supposed to give her 20 oz.
> of espresso. and yes, i was completely unsupervised, and no, i had not
> been trained adequately). i'm a big proponent of giving any new food
> establishment (or an old food establishment trying something new) at
> least two weeks to learn what the hell they're doing before you judge if
> they're doing it well. and--speaking as someone who's served espresso
> for over five years now, and tries to make the best shots possible every
> time--being friendly and patient with people is way more important than
> encouraging or discouraging bad coffee. i'm glad people were patient
> with me when i was first learning, and i try to be patient with
> customers who don't know the difference between a cafe au lait and a
> latte. maybe he got horrible espresso, but i would bet that as soon as
> she had a chance she asked one of her coworkers or her boss, "I had this
> guy in today, he wanted espresso and NO WATER! What was up with that!"
> and the next person who comes in and orders espresso will get a better
> experience from her. i found out as soon as i could what the hell a
> "large espresso" was, i bet she did too, out of curiousity if not out of
> a burning desire to serve the best espresso she can for a whopping $6/hr.
>
> becca
Ok, well if is prepared by a trainee, then it should be FREE.
would you pay $2 or $3 for something you could not drink? and if you
would why?
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Date: 14 Mar 2007 23:55:40
From: becca
Subject: Re: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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daveb wrote:
> On 14, 2:50 pm, becca <illshowyouinternetsyn...@earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>
>>daveb wrote:
>>
>>>And you did not hand it back?
>>
>>>then you just did your part to encourage horrible espresso.
>>
>>>you don't have to instruct them, but paying for s**t is never a good idea.
>>
>>>sorry to say.
>>
>>if you think you can hand it back and explain what's wrong without
>>sounding like a pretentious bastard, feel free.
>>
>>it sounds like the girl is new, at least to espresso, and i'm sure she
>>appreciated that he was patient. the first time somebody ordered
>>espresso shots from me i was confused too (it didn't help that she
>>didn't know espresso, either, and ordered a "large"--i had no idea what
>>i was doing but i was pretty sure i wasn't supposed to give her 20 oz.
>>of espresso. and yes, i was completely unsupervised, and no, i had not
>>been trained adequately). i'm a big proponent of giving any new food
>>establishment (or an old food establishment trying something new) at
>>least two weeks to learn what the hell they're doing before you judge if
>>they're doing it well. and--speaking as someone who's served espresso
>>for over five years now, and tries to make the best shots possible every
>>time--being friendly and patient with people is way more important than
>>encouraging or discouraging bad coffee. i'm glad people were patient
>>with me when i was first learning, and i try to be patient with
>>customers who don't know the difference between a cafe au lait and a
>>latte. maybe he got horrible espresso, but i would bet that as soon as
>>she had a chance she asked one of her coworkers or her boss, "I had this
>>guy in today, he wanted espresso and NO WATER! What was up with that!"
>>and the next person who comes in and orders espresso will get a better
>>experience from her. i found out as soon as i could what the hell a
>>"large espresso" was, i bet she did too, out of curiousity if not out of
>>a burning desire to serve the best espresso she can for a whopping $6/hr.
>>
>>becca
>
>
> Ok, well if is prepared by a trainee, then it should be FREE.
>
um, no, it shouldn't, unless the situation is dire (i.e., a brand-new
waitress drops a tray of five meals on the floor so that they have to be
made over). and usually, at that point the manager or the employee
suggests that it's free to pacify obviously angry people--i've never
once seen an instance where a customer demanded something free and then
got it. that's just not how life goes.
> would you pay $2 or $3 for something you could not drink? and if you
> would why?
>
when the person serving me is new (and i've worked in food and retail so
long i can usually tell), i either alter what i'm ordering to something
very easy, or i don't order at all. in the instances where i have
ordered something that i then couldn't eat, i usually just chalk it up
to how life goes. i ordered a bagel at einstein's the other day, and
they gave me the wrong kind, but they'd just been swamped by high school
students on a lunch break and were scrambling. i looked at the bagel,
looked at the employees, looked at the line, and decided that it wasn't
worth the $1.50 i'd paid to go get another bagel and waste the one i was
holding. i've seen people get intensely bent out of shape over a
fifty-cent dispute on a bill, and it's made me pretty philosophical
about such things.
becca
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Date: 13 Mar 2007 11:38:18
From: daveb
Subject: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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And you did not hand it back?
then you just did your part to encourage horrible espresso.
you don't have to instruct them, but paying for s**t is never a good idea.
sorry to say.
dave
"phreaddy" <phreaddy@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1173799665.343746.225550@s48g2000cws.googlegroups.com...
> However, the best coffee in the world will still suck if the barista
> does, too. That was my experience this morning when I went in and
> ordered an espresso. "What do you want in it?" "Nothing." "Do you want
> a cappuccino?" "No, just espresso." "No water? Nothing?" "That's
> right." And clearly, she had had some cursory training on dosing and
> tamping. But only cursory. Her hesitant style reminded me of when I
> tried a getting a haircut at a beauticians' school. She flushed the
> Wega before attaching the portafilter. But she couldn't get both
> flanges into the grouphead, gave up, and started all over with another
> portafilter. This one worked ... until she actually turned on the
> machine. My espresso just dripped out, and she let it go on that way,
> for literally about two minutes. I'd have left, but she was trying so
> hard, and I had already paid. The funny thing is that I dared to try
> it, and although it was pretty bad, I have actually had worse espresso
> at places like Charbucks and Caribou.
>
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Date: 14 Mar 2007 18:50:53
From: becca
Subject: Re: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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daveb wrote:
> And you did not hand it back?
>
> then you just did your part to encourage horrible espresso.
>
> you don't have to instruct them, but paying for s**t is never a good idea.
>
> sorry to say.
>
if you think you can hand it back and explain what's wrong without
sounding like a pretentious bastard, feel free.
it sounds like the girl is new, at least to espresso, and i'm sure she
appreciated that he was patient. the first time somebody ordered
espresso shots from me i was confused too (it didn't help that she
didn't know espresso, either, and ordered a "large"--i had no idea what
i was doing but i was pretty sure i wasn't supposed to give her 20 oz.
of espresso. and yes, i was completely unsupervised, and no, i had not
been trained adequately). i'm a big proponent of giving any new food
establishment (or an old food establishment trying something new) at
least two weeks to learn what the hell they're doing before you judge if
they're doing it well. and--speaking as someone who's served espresso
for over five years now, and tries to make the best shots possible every
time--being friendly and patient with people is way more important than
encouraging or discouraging bad coffee. i'm glad people were patient
with me when i was first learning, and i try to be patient with
customers who don't know the difference between a cafe au lait and a
latte. maybe he got horrible espresso, but i would bet that as soon as
she had a chance she asked one of her coworkers or her boss, "I had this
guy in today, he wanted espresso and NO WATER! What was up with that!"
and the next person who comes in and orders espresso will get a better
experience from her. i found out as soon as i could what the hell a
"large espresso" was, i bet she did too, out of curiousity if not out of
a burning desire to serve the best espresso she can for a whopping $6/hr.
becca
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Date: 14 Mar 2007 15:55:56
From: North Sullivan
Subject: Re: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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On Wed, 14 2007 18:50:53 GMT, becca
<illshowyouinternetsyntax@earthlink.net > wrote:
>experience from her. i found out as soon as i could what the hell a
>"large espresso" was, i bet she did too, out of curiousity if not out of
>a burning desire to serve the best espresso she can for a whopping $6/hr.
>
>becca
I've never had a customer ask for a large espresso. Is that a
geographical thing or a rarity?
North Sullivan
(Lots of Americanos,but not large espressos)
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Date: 15 Mar 2007 00:05:21
From: becca
Subject: Re: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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North Sullivan wrote:
> On Wed, 14 2007 18:50:53 GMT, becca
> <illshowyouinternetsyntax@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>>experience from her. i found out as soon as i could what the hell a
>>"large espresso" was, i bet she did too, out of curiousity if not out of
>>a burning desire to serve the best espresso she can for a whopping $6/hr.
>>
>>becca
>
>
>
> I've never had a customer ask for a large espresso. Is that a
> geographical thing or a rarity?
>
i've never had another one ask. i think she'd never had espresso before
(not by itself i mean), and wanted to try something new. it's a logical
mistake when you think about it. large latte, large coffee, large
soda...why not large espresso? shots of espresso are on the expensive
side, so my guess is that when she saw that shots of espresso are
comparable in cost to lattes, she figured she'd be getting about the
same amount of liquid.
now that i think about it, i think the menu at that shop was also laid
out in columns of small/medium/large, and they may not have bothered to
give labels like "single shot" or "double shot" to the espresso line,
assuming that most folks could infer what was meant. so there's a decent
chance that the menu did in fact say "large espresso" and she was just
reading off of it.
one of the things i love about being a coffee jockey, though, is the
questions customers ask. it never fails to amaze me. (right now, "do you
have sugar-free chocolate?" is my favorite.)
becca
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Date: 14 Mar 2007 21:12:08
From: J. Clarke
Subject: Re: Burger Co. now sells Gimme!Coffee
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becca wrote:
> North Sullivan wrote:
>> On Wed, 14 2007 18:50:53 GMT, becca
>> <illshowyouinternetsyntax@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> experience from her. i found out as soon as i could what the hell a
>>> "large espresso" was, i bet she did too, out of curiousity if not
>>> out of a burning desire to serve the best espresso she can for a
>>> whopping $6/hr.
>>>
>>> becca
>>
>>
>>
>> I've never had a customer ask for a large espresso. Is that a
>> geographical thing or a rarity?
>>
>
> i've never had another one ask. i think she'd never had espresso
> before (not by itself i mean), and wanted to try something new. it's
> a logical mistake when you think about it. large latte, large coffee,
> large soda...why not large espresso? shots of espresso are on the
> expensive side, so my guess is that when she saw that shots of
> espresso are comparable in cost to lattes, she figured she'd be
> getting about the same amount of liquid.
>
> now that i think about it, i think the menu at that shop was also laid
> out in columns of small/medium/large, and they may not have bothered
> to give labels like "single shot" or "double shot" to the espresso
> line, assuming that most folks could infer what was meant. so there's
> a decent chance that the menu did in fact say "large espresso" and
> she was just reading off of it.
>
> one of the things i love about being a coffee jockey, though, is the
> questions customers ask. it never fails to amaze me. (right now, "do
> you have sugar-free chocolate?" is my favorite.)
That's not an unreasonable question for a diabetic to ask.
--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
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