Member-only story
Why has it become okay to berate and demean hourly workers?
They roast their own beans, not that it matters to me — I don’t drink coffee — but it does matter to the line of people standing in front of the counter. It’s Thursday, my morning writing day, and I’ve placed myself in the best seat in the coffee shop: an oversized, well-worn leather chair that has a view of the entire place.
A few other people sit at tables, headphones on and laptops open, but most customers order and wait for their to-go drinks. Sometimes, I catch snippets of polite conversation the barista makes with the regulars but mostly, the din of the espresso machine drowns out what’s being said.
Until she walks in.
I’ve seen a version of her a hundred times. She’s busy. So very busy. And she clutches her phone in her hand, eyes glancing at it every few seconds like she may miss something important in the thirty seconds it takes to order. She is sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette, sometimes male, but always, always loud.
The college-aged barista smiles and greets her. The woman nods in her very busy way and dives into her order. “I want a frappé with non-dairy milk and light ice.”
“Great. What’s your name?”
She shouts her name while repeatedly banging her credit card against the reader. “This isn’t working,” she says. “Why isn’t this working?” Bang. Bang. Bang. “You need to upgrade your card readers.”
The barista leans over the counter and touches the device. The tattoos on her forearm show. “Maybe if you wiped your card off?”
The woman recoils as if she’s been attacked. “I know how to use my card. Thank you very much.” She bangs her card again. “What part of new card reader don’t you understand?”
Finally, she gets her card to work, and the next customer steps forward.
Twenty-five plus years ago, I worked in retail, and my employer had a policy of the customer always being right. Strangely, no one abused it…or me. Even when they couldn’t return an unworn item six months after purchase, I was never sworn at or insulted. I never had anyone demand that I be fired because I didn’t fold tissue paper right.
