Baristas are people too

5-02-2008 @2:36PM Lynds said... After working at Starbucks I completely agree. Ohh and you cant order an iced cappuccino, you cant have iced foam.
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5-02-2008 @3:23PM Kitt said... Baristas have to deal with a lot of weirdness. The Starbucks I frequent seems to have more than its share. Including petty thievery:

http://kittbo.blogspot.com/2008/03/starbucks-weirdness.html


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5-04-2008 @6:06AM B said... How about the baristas behind the counter shutting up (always a personal conversation), listening to the order and getting it right on the first try for a change? So often I have to repeat myself three or four times: once to order, second to correct the order, third to give the order to the actual barista because the order has been lost and fourth to get the drink replaced because they gave me a latte instead of a mocha. All I want is a Venti Decaf Mocha. Its not like I am ordering something complex. I am usually ordering early and there is rarely a que. I don't stutter or stammer and I never have this problem in restaurants or pubs.

I was paying EUR 4.25 (USD 6.60) for my coffee before I finally got fed up and just bought my own equipment for home use.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for respecting restaurant employees. I spent eight years working restaurant/service jobs myself while in high school and university. But to be honest, I could care less about what the barista wants when they don't care enough to get my order right the first time.
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5-04-2008 @3:45PM danielle said... to add to the list...

1. there is NO SUCH THING as regular. we do not have regular SIZE, we do not serve regular COFFEE, tea does not come in REGULAR flavor.

2. if you ask for "extra" room in your coffee, don't get mad if i give you "too much." you're the one that asked for extra.

3. don't try and order a drink when i'm already making one at the espresso machine. seriously.

4. coffee shops are noisy places. please speak up when you order, and don't get huffy if i ask you to repeat yourself.


as for "B" there, perhaps you should choose a better coffee shop. most of us out there actually take care to get your order right, so don't generalize every barista because of a few incompetent ones you've had.
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5-05-2008 @4:14AM Greg Sherwin said... I don't know what it is about coffee, but you never see articles of top 10 things you may not know about your restaurant chef. And here there's a lot more training, skill, and experience that goes into making a good duck confit than in a caffè latte.

An article like this also unfortunately contributes, in small part, to the impression of baristas being unjustified egotists.
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5-05-2008 @7:47PM Anthony said... Greg, I agree that there is a lot more that goes into making a good duck confit than making a bog standard latte. However, I don't think that it's fair to compare a professional chef to a professional barista.

Professional chefs work behind closed doors in their own controlled environments while we baristas are on display, right next to you, making your latte, looking down the line of ten other drinks waiting, communicating with our fellow baristas about needing more milk or a pitcher to be washed, listening to a question about needing more soy at the condiment station, focusing on the shot time and both the milk temperature and texture, pouring your latte, handing it to you with a smile while already mentally moving on to the cappuccino that's next in line while hearing our name get called by someone who has a question about the makeup of our espresso blend.

It's not duck confit, true, but it's a demanding job nonetheless and to do it with precision and consistency takes long, hard hours of training and practice. On a busy day, a barista can make upwards of a couple hundred drinks. And if that barista is good, every single one will taste the same—perfect.

How many duck confits is that professional chef making a night, tucked back there in his kitchen with his small army of sous chefs? Sure, depending on the size of the restaurant, that army will change size. Maybe there's just the chef alone, but you know that will be a mighty small restaurant.

Perhaps you will interpret this as a bit of my own egotism as a professional barista. I rather see it as a defence of my chosen craft. It's the most demanding job I've ever had. Incidentally, I've worked in restaurant kitchens, too and can speak from experience.

Duck confit and lattes are apples and oranges unless you expect the chef to prepare it before your eyes on an open line in a matter of minutes while keeping track of six other things at the same time.

Unfortunately, we seem to live in a society of entitlement and everyone thinks that they're more entitled than the next guy. The point of this article, as the post title points out, is that baristas are people too. So are bus drivers, store clerks, receptionists, waiters and, yes, even that chef preparing your duck confit.

But you never see him, so you probably don't think much of him or how big an egotist he might be himself.
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