Tuesday, September 12, 2006

More about Coffee at Borders

Update on Borders Coffee.
2-18-8
Nothing has changed. The faces may be a little different. The piercings may have become more infected, but the style of service is the same. What is with these kids? The coffee is no good. They are too busy looking at their reflections in various shiny things to come take orders promptly. I asked for a bagel with butter. The guy just took it upon himself to toast it without asking. I don't want my bagel toasted. It hurts. He could have asked. How hard is that? What, he can't talk to grown ups?



I just wanted to reaffirm my opinion of the service at Borders.
My son and I went to Borders Books because we cashed in a bunch of change at a Coinstar. If you aren't willing to let the machine take a cut,you can choose a gift card. We had 48 dollars worth of change from cleaning the house, so we got a Borders gift card.

We got some books. I got one about the Dustbowl called The Worst Bad Time, or something like that. Then we went to the coffee counter. There were two people behind the counter. They saw us, but they were involved in a really awesome conversation,so we waited. Eventually one Barrista, or Barristo, or whatever the boy coffee pumpers are called, came near the register. I said, "Can you take our order?"

He responded, "Wow, I don't know if I dreamed some lady ordered a cup of coffee, or if it was real. I made the cup of coffee but I don't know what to do." I said, "Well, if you wait a while, she'll get mad and come to the counter, then you'll know if it was a dream or not." Then he walked away, but a lady came to the counter and he realized it was real and gave her the coffee.

I asked again if he could take my order. He said, "I don't know what I'm doing. They just fired everyone and I'm the only one here." (There was actually someone else behind the counter as well.) I asked again if I could order, and he said he was ready now.

I order two coffees and a brownie. He gave me the coffee and rang me up. I asked for the brownie a couple more times. He rang that up, and gave it to me. Obviously it was really difficult for him, so I didn't make a fuss.

I saw that there was a tip mug next to the register, but I thought it must be a dream, so I disregarded it. I didn't think he was using his money in a productive way and I didn't want to contribute to whatever it was that made him so crappy.