It genuinely depends on how the customer treats/interacts with me/my team.
Here are some barista stories about memorable regulars over the years, across various cafĂŠs.
The woman who worked in a nearby government building and always wanted a âlarge caramel frappe with extra extra whipped cream and extra extra caramel and the extra drink in another cup.â I was the only one on the team who ever made it to her specifications and she adored me for it, so I started talking to her more (when she wasnât on the phone). We ended up being work-neighbor friends and when I had to visit her job for some help, she was not only delighted to see me, but also helped ease the process along to get me what I needed.
The single dad who changed his mobile order name to a different pop culture reference every visit. (âShrek,â âMarty McFly,â etc.) My whole team was delighted every time he came to visit, and we all collectively mourned when he came to pick up and told us he was moving away.
The lady who would sit in our cafĂŠ for like 6 hours at a time and never come up to the counter, just repeatedly mobile order another venti dragonfruit refresher with light ice under the name â[Name] PinkLady,â and then she would never pick it up from the counter in a timely manner. She got on our nerves.
The lawyer who had some specific white mocha preferences but who was so sweet; once she seemed to be acting a bit sore so I asked her about it and she told me sheâd hurt her back playing with her small child so I made her drink extra nice for her and left a little note on her cup. I enjoyed talking to her so much that leading up to my departure from that cafĂŠ I offered up my contact information to stay in touch.
This mean old lady who would come through the drive-thru multiple times a day with the most sinful order Iâve ever received, in these exact words: âcaffe ventay [not venti] vanilla bean Frappuccino with 13 scoops vanilla bean powder.â [Mind you, in proper Evil Coffee Siren lingo, it should have been âventi (size) caffe vanilla bean Frappuccino (drink name) with 13 scoopsâŚ(modification)â; how she phrased it was (part of drink name) (size) (rest of drink name) (mod). This just irked me, not in a reasonable way.] This drink always made leftovers, and one day, we each tried a sample cup of the leftovers. Reader, when I tell you it had the mouthfeel of cold beach sand and the vanilla was so in-your-face as to taste rancid! And of course she would always come during a rush and never treat us kindly.
This guy I only saw a couple of times, but he would always come to our drive-thru right during closing when the blenders had already been washed and order two frappuccinos â notably, the crème kind, meaning no coffee. He was an old man, late 60s or early 70s Iâd wager. Once we asked him about what he was up to and he said that the frappes he ordered were a special treat for himself and his wife, to whom he had been married for over 30 years. We held it together until he left and then we cried.
Those are just some regulars Iâve had who I remember well.
Sometimes if someone is really specific about their order for a long time and suddenly it changes, I might be moved to ask them what inspired the change, but I generally say they donât have to tell me if theyâd rather keep it a secret. (I like to be playful with customers I enjoy so itâs kind of an âalright, keep your secrets đ
.â) But if Iâve noticed theyâre a shy person I might not ask at all because I donât want to frighten them.
I think itâs just in line with human nature to start connecting dots with faces/names and orders you encounter repeatedly, and in a general way, I loved having regulars. It meant, in a way, that what I did mattered to somebody so much that they wanted a repeat experience. Thatâs something to be proud of, and Iâd go out of my way to keep that trust that was being placed in me.
The only exception to that is if the regular is rude, inconsiderate, cruel, or inappropriate. Once my shift manager called the cops on a regular who would only order (free) water and sit in the cafĂŠ for 6-8 hours at a time making flirtatious remarks at the high school girls on our team â and our store manager refused to do anything about it even after months of complaints, so the shift manager took matters into her own hands after she received a complaint that was the straw that broke the camelâs back. Thatâs a pretty extreme scenario and Iâve only the once experienced something like it, so so long as you donât do something of that nature, youâre probably fine. Lol.
