coffee in cville as a barista

I’m going to rant really quick about being a barista here in C’ville (part time, 11 ish hours a week bc I’m a student).

Y’all— I’m so exhausted from the types of customers my shop gets (not a chain). I get it, if you go somewhere not Starbucks you expect quality. But it feels sometimes like because of how fast Starbucks is, customers are impatient and have some pretty wild demands.

Like be so for real… you’re going to complain to me about how the cappuccino is too wet or how the drink has gotten cold because you didn’t come get it in time even though I called it out when Starbucks or Dunkin’ makes shitty coffee for the same price that you drink anyway?? I’m so tired of the entitlement, like if I give my time to customer service then I’m stared at by customers expecting speed and then get complaints by customers expecting quality. I’m tired of feeling like a zoo animal having every single thing corrected and micro managed.

I completely understand that I can just leave my job and I’m even very grateful to have been hired. And this is my 5th year working in a food service job, but coffee specifically has just been different.

TLDR: Being a barista here is exhausting because of the Starbucks-fluence.