Patience and Caffeine, or The Lack Thereof...

We recently - well, fairly recently - moved to the Portland, Oregon area of the universe. (Which is worth a blog itself, but I digress.) Starbucks reigns here and since it felt like home to us, we frequented several on a regular basis. Not familiar with street names or when one little town ended and another began, we nicknamed them. That way, when we discussed going to one, we'd just have to say, "Let's go to the Hidden Starbucks" and we both knew which location the other was thinking of.

The Ice Starbucks - needs no explanation to anyone who suffered through the winter of 2016/2017 in this area. The parking lot has the added fun of being on a slope. Then there's the aforementioned Hidden Starbucks - tucked back in the far corner of a strip mall, the front door is hard to find. It looks like you might be walking into a tiny pay-day loan office but then the typical Starbucks emerges once you open the door. And then there's the Work Starbucks - the one located closest to my husband's work and the Home Starbucks, you get the idea.

I was in the Ice Starbucks a couple of months ago, waiting for my iced tea, when a lady who had placed a mobile order marched in. Yah, she marched. She looked at the empty Mobile Order section, didn't see her drink so she started pounding her fist on the counter shouting, "Where's my order? I placed a mobile order and it isn't here!" Those of us PATIENTLY waiting, raised our eyebrows, looked at each other wondering if we needed to vacate and leave room for the crazy lady. A barista called out a name. We'll just say it's "Ann" because really, I was witnessing a crazy person in action and didn't focus on her name.

"Yes, WHERE'S MY ORDER?"

"We're working on it. We have two more drinks to go," replied the ever PATIENT barista.

Crazy Ann had ordered fifteen, 15, that's ONE-FIVE mobile order drinks and expected them to be sitting there when she walked in. And, if she had bothered to look, the barista's were placing them in carry containers behind the bar until the order was filled, then all fifteen drinks, in four carry containers were set out in the Mobile Order pick-up area. Crazy Ann needed caffeine BEFORE she ordered caffeine.

This morning I got up at 7 - it's a Saturday, so I slept in - to find my husband half asleep in his chair watching "Mysteries at the Museum." He had woken at 2 - thanks to the herd of Great Pyrenees dogs our upstairs apartment neighbor keeps - and was unable to go back to sleep. After dragging himself out of bed at 5, he was ready to go back to bed by the time I got up.

I packed up my briefcase and came to the Home Starbucks to do some writing. I set my briefcase at one end of a long table, put my purse on a stool, took out my wallet and phone and followed a guy that had just walked in to wait for my turn to order. They were crazy busy in the drive-through this morning and barista's were running back and forth working on drinks, breakfast sandwiches, pastries - no one was standing still. 

We waited ten seconds before the guy in front of me starts shouting, "Hello? I've been waiting."

I'm thinking, Really? This is your version of waiting?

"Hey!"

A barista flying by with two sandwich bags in one hand, holding the drive thru head gear ear piece closer to his ear with the other, paused and said, "We'll be right with you, Sir."

The guy starts talking, to no one, really, "You've got a bunch of people in here and I've been waiting. I'm getting tired of waiting."

A barista making drinks looked up and said, "We'll be with you as soon as we can, Sir. We're a little busy this morning."

"I've seen busy. This isn't busy. You need someone here to take my order."

"Can I help you, Sir?" a pleasant barista at the register asked. 

Does the guy in front of me order? No. He complains about how long he's had to stand there waiting to order. He asks for a manager so he can complain some more.

Now I'm THINKING, but of course not SAYING, Excuse me, but now I'm waiting because you can't order, you have to bellyache. 

After being told the manager is talking to a drive-through customer and will be over as soon as he can, the guy finally orders. Does he then move down so I can order? No. He stands there bellyaching to the barista some more. The manager finally came over and the guy moved out of my way to continue his complaining. 

Really. How long is too long to wait for a cup of caffeine? 

Baby Blogs

This is a baby blog. Merely to test the system. So not much writing will occur today, as I want to see how this works. Marketing. Would rather be creating than setting this up. But once up, the fun we will have.