Hey, barista. On a recent afternoon at a pleasant cafe in San Jose you loudly shouted out orders that were ready, forcing about 30 of us customers to listen, so that one other customer might hear his order from anywhere in the coffee shop. But why subject all of us to your harsh, unpleasant voice, so that one person—who should be listening and paying attention anyway—gets his order right away? I’ve heard that popular corporate coffee chains, where the majority of customers have to-go orders, has lowered the bar by training baristas to loudly announce orders. But why should this become the norm for other cafes, where most customers want to converse, read, study, or even just peruse their smart devices? It’s bad enough that many baristas now seem to think music should be for themselves, not for us customers. (Did this start when we all became more self-absorbed and engrossed in our own virtual worlds?) But baristas, please bear in mind that there are others in this world, and your job is to serve them, not to make the cafe’s ambience unpleasant.
I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to [email protected], or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.
