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Do You Ever Speak Up, Take it Back?

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  • #31
    I worked out a long time ago that very few businesses, of any kind, welcome feedback that is not overwhelmingly complimentary to them.
    On the rare occasions when I have given negative feedback to the owner of a business it has been very unwelcome.
    Most businesses do what they do. They do it that way because that is the way they do it. If you disagree, you are a dickhead.
    They don't go out of business because there are plenty of people out there who aren't very discriminating and will be happy with the service however mediocre it is.
    If the coffee is crap I just get up and walk out and never come back. If the first coffee is rubbish, the replacement will be also.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Rocky View Post
      I worked out a long time ago that very few businesses, of any kind, welcome feedback that is not overwhelmingly complimentary to them.
      On the rare occasions when I have given negative feedback to the owner of a business it has been very unwelcome.
      Most businesses do what they do. They do it that way because that is the way they do it. If you disagree, you are a dickhead.
      They don't go out of business because there are plenty of people out there who aren't very discriminating and will be happy with the service however mediocre it is.
      If the coffee is crap I just get up and walk out and never come back. If the first coffee is rubbish, the replacement will be also.
      Cant argue with your assessment of the situation Rocky, I've seen it over and over again, it's a bit like criticizing other peoples kids, a pointless exercise that's guaranteed to lose you friends.

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      • #33
        I love it when customers speak up - it gives me a chance to exceed their expectations - but not so much when staff members get it wrong: today a customer supposedly complained that her coffee was 'too warm' which I thought was kind of strange, coz the last time I made a coffee that was too warm, except on request, was probably 1987...

        So I made it again at about 60C with no preheat on the cup and she sent it back for being too cold - arghhh!!!!!!

        Further investigation reveled that ir was a hoy coffee that she was after in the first place - so three times lucky!

        But she did make the effort of coming to the register afterwards to compliment me on the coffee - so perseverance is a virtue...

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        • #34
          I'd only bother taking it back in one of my regular cafes where I have a standing friendship with the baristas. Then again I'm a big snob and will usually walk for 15 minutes to get a coffee I know that will be good than try a new cafe.

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          • #35
            Really wanted to speak up yesterday when my partner decided she just had to have a coffee from the GJs at the local shopping centre. The guy behind the machine who was get up like a very poor imitation of Capt. Jack Sparrow (dreads with beads, head wrap, big earings etc), was going through the motions of appearing to fresh grind and brew but he wasn't. He had a pre-prepared shot sitting there and was grinding fresh into a single spout portafilter while shoving the pre-prepared glass under it but brewing fresh into another glass. He served the pre-prepared shot. Don't know how long it had been sitting there but there wasn't a queue waiting. I told my partner not to accept it and was going to set him straight but was asked not to. No wonder so many people are disenchanted with so called baristas when this sort of thing goes on. Maybe I'm out of touch as I personally haven't bought store made coffee for a very long time. I'd rather drink tea than bad coffee.

            PS She said it was crap coffee. Surprise, surprise.

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            • #36
              Originally posted by CafeLotta View Post
              Really wanted to speak up yesterday when my partner decided she just had to have a coffee from the GJs at the local shopping centre. The guy behind the machine who was get up like a very poor imitation of Capt. Jack Sparrow (dreads with beads, head wrap, big earings etc), was going through the motions of appearing to fresh grind and brew but he wasn't. He had a pre-prepared shot sitting there and was grinding fresh into a single spout portafilter while shoving the pre-prepared glass under it but brewing fresh into another glass. He served the pre-prepared shot. Don't know how long it had been sitting there but there wasn't a queue waiting. I told my partner not to accept it and was going to set him straight but was asked not to. No wonder so many people are disenchanted with so called baristas when this sort of thing goes on. Maybe I'm out of touch as I personally haven't bought store made coffee for a very long time. I'd rather drink tea than bad coffee.

              PS She said it was crap coffee. Surprise, surprise.
              I empathise with you CafeLotta, particularly re the Jack Sparrow character, one of my pet hates is these strange scruffy unwashed characters in cafe's standing behind coffee machines wearing weird little hats and sporting whispery beards, they look like they they and their clothing could do with a session in a washing machine on the heavy cycle.
              The pre prepared shot is bull*h*t as well.

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              • #37
                A while back I was travelling to fix PC's at a branch office & got a GJ's long mac and was browsing the food for a snack when I happened to look over at the coffee machine. He'd poured a single shot and I was about to step over and tell him I wanted long, strong when he turned to a dispenser on the wall and topped it up with this... *shudders* stuff that looked like the shite you pour out of the slops bucket.

                I stood in front of him, sugared it and tasted it and handed it back and said I'd like a long strong DOUBLE SHOT macchiato please. I pointed to the dispenser and said, 'I don't know what that crap is but I want a proper espresso with a little milk in it.

                I got it and iyt was crap coffee anyway, just not quite as vile as the first one.

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                • #38
                  Originally posted by Yelta View Post
                  I empathise with you CafeLotta, particularly re the Jack Sparrow character, one of my pet hates is these strange scruffy unwashed characters in cafe's standing behind coffee machines wearing weird little hats and sporting whispery beards, they look like they they and their clothing could do with a session in a washing machine on the heavy cycle.
                  The pre prepared shot is bull*h*t as well.
                  The thing that really sets me off is that "I'm it and a bit" attitude!

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                  • #39
                    Originally posted by Journeyman View Post
                    A while back I was travelling to fix PC's at a branch office & got a GJ's long mac and was browsing the food for a snack when I happened to look over at the coffee machine. He'd poured a single shot and I was about to step over and tell him I wanted long, strong when he turned to a dispenser on the wall and topped it up with this... *shudders* stuff that looked like the shite you pour out of the slops bucket.

                    I stood in front of him, sugared it and tasted it and handed it back and said I'd like a long strong DOUBLE SHOT macchiato please. I pointed to the dispenser and said, 'I don't know what that crap is but I want a proper espresso with a little milk in it.

                    I got it and iyt was crap coffee anyway, just not quite as vile as the first one.
                    That's why these days I'll only drink coffee at home and refuse to pay for the shite you get from most retail outlets. Don't have the time or interest to search out the few that do it right. What a shame the industry doesn't have a licensing requirement for a minimum standard before they can start charging for a brew.

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                    • #40
                      The main issue is whether constructive criticism will be received as a personal attack or as you intend it. There are a few coffeeshops where I would feel comfortable in providing a a negative opinion, but I would only do so if I had previously given praise and built up that rapport.


                      I've heard such things like, "but we make hundreds of coffees a day" and "it's just a ~$3 cup of coffee they should get over it" from former co-workers and employers. Other people are just so into themselves that they can't fathom the possibility that someone else didn't enjoy their coffee despite taking 99 shortcuts.
                      What I do instead is support the people who earnestly care about the product they are serving.

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                      • #41
                        I rarely speak up unless making a positive comment. I usually stick to the places where I know they can make good coffee, or I drink tea, water or beer.

                        Some of the worst coffees I have had in Sydney are in areas with plenty of passing trade, like near the Opera House or at Central Station where they sell no more by going to the trouble to make it any better than coffee coloured dish water. I don’t think it has any effect if I complain at these dishwater factories where many coffee drinkers mask the bad flavour with heaps of milk and sugar. I drink macchiatos.

                        Coffee is usually much better at the base of the tall office blocks where they cater for the regulars and make some effort to get repeat patronage.

                        Barry

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                        • #42
                          I agree that the 'Tourist Traps' often have the worst coffee because the management has the attitude "I'm never going to see you again so who cares."
                          There is probably a much lower proportion of 'Coffee Snobs' among the tourist trade than you would expect to find at a cafe in the business district.

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                          • #43
                            Originally posted by CafeLotta View Post
                            What a shame the industry doesn't have a licensing requirement for a minimum standard before they can start charging for a brew.

                            I often think this; so much of learning to be a good barista is just spending time on the machine filtering through all the good and bad advice that you have received from those who came before you. It is an industry hobbled together by witch craft and incompetence parading itself behind the word 'art'. If the industry standardised itself upon the science of coffee making just a little bit more, I think it would go a looong way towards removing this sort of issue.

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                            • #44
                              Originally posted by Caneurysm View Post
                              I often think this; so much of learning to be a good barista is just spending time on the machine filtering through all the good and bad advice that you have received from those who came before you. It is an industry hobbled together by witch craft and incompetence parading itself behind the word 'art'. If the industry standardised itself upon the science of coffee making just a little bit more, I think it would go a looong way towards removing this sort of issue.
                              Bit like the old fashioned art of making a cup of tea, a few could do it well, most made an average cup and some were bloody hopeless.

                              Unlike our current crop of coffee makers who demand the title of "professional barista" no fancy names for those that made tea professionally, they were given the title of (Tea lady)

                              Somehow I doubt the term Coffee boy would be acceptable to the tribe of highly trained professional barista's out there, but honestly, that's all they are.

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                              • #45
                                Today I had a little old granny return her coffees for not being hot enough (I thought I had made them hot in the first place but apparently not) so I made them again with a massive preheat and went to town on the milk

                                And I asked her when she came to the register how she liked her second round to which she replied, "they were absolutely delightful"

                                So in this instance I would say that perseverance is a virtue

                                I also had some cafe owners (from where I dont know but you can usually tell) come in and turn their nose up at our offerings - which was kinda funny really because the place was jumping at the time - which makes me wonder if you enter a place expecting to be disappointed, then invariably you will be...

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