Ok, here’s the background story:

We have run our company out of the same location for years. Like, at least 15-20 years. There is one local coffee shop in the neighborhood that has been around FOR-EV-ER. Because of this and because of the ease of access, we use one of the upstairs sitting areas to have our supervisor meetings for work. This typically entails 7 or 8 of us coming in at 7am, purchasing some coffee, and then sitting down for our meeting. No big deal.

This past Friday was no different. The 7 of us showed up and I purchased 6 coffees/chai teas and a donut for the group of us. One of my employees has a 40 minute commute, so he had already bought Starbucks on his way into work. Again, no big deal… or so I thought!

As of late, this local coffee shop has started to BOOM in business, which is completely awesome. Unfortunately for us, this means that it gets really loud around 7am and we were all having a hard time hearing each other over the noise of the other customers. We were sitting next to a meeting room with a locked door, so I went back downstairs to ask one of the baristas what we would need to do in the future in order to secure that room for our meetings. Her response to me?

“Well, you could start by not bringing Starbucks into our store.” Naturally, this was followed by a death glare in my direction.

Of course, since it was 7am and I obviously hadn’t drank any of the coffee I had just purchased, I was not quite on my toes yet and couldn’t think of a witty response. Instead, she got the super blank stare. I explained to her that my employee had a 40 minute commute and needed his coffee before making the drive. I also carefully reminded her that I had just purchased 6 cups of coffee, as well as some snacks…which I do every single Friday, and have done for the past 10 years. After all, it wasn’t like we were freeloading here! What does she say next to me?

“I just find it really offensive. This is a  coffee shop after all, not Starbucks. I’m offended.”

Needless to say, I still had no idea how to get inside the damn meeting room, and I was pretty irritated. I turned around and went back to our employee meeting, but as the day went on — and the rest of the weekend — I have grown more and more annoyed at this barista! Is it okay to treat customers that way?


In their defense, I will say that the two usual baristas that I have known for years are the sweetest and friendliest women ever. However, they have hired two 20-something women to accommodate the influx of business, and it was one of these two that spoke to me. But still….

I told my dad later, and he was equally fired up. After all, she spent more time bitching at me then she did answering my question (still waiting on that answer!) However, when I told my mom about it, she agreed with the barista and thought we should leave the single cup of Starbucks outside of the shop.

Obviously, I disagree. My logic is that WalMart doesn’t kick you out of the store if you come in wearing clothes from Target, assuming you are purchasing something while you are there….right? (Not the same, I know, but it’s similar!)