Customer 'Stunned' After Barista Mocks $1.50 Tip — 'I Feel So Bad'
How much do you have to tip for a coffee?
maxbelchenko | Shutterstock Imagine walking into a coffee shop, being polite to the barista, and leaving a tip. It seems like you've done everything right, right? Well, one customer posted on Reddit that he was mocked by the barista at a local coffee shop because he only tipped $1.50 on an $8.50 latte.
Servers deserve tips. No one is arguing against that, at least until the restaurant industry changes its pay structure. However, what happened at this coffee shop was definitely not fair to the customer. His tip was 18% — nothing the barista should have ridiculed him for.
A customer was left 'stunned' after a barista mocked his $1.50 tip.
Mix and Match Studio / Shutterstock
The customer explained that the coffee shop was quite artsy, with plants and a handwritten menu on a chalkboard. "I ordered a latte," he said, "handed the barista a ten, and said, 'keep the change." The customer explained that there was about $1.50 worth of change for the tip. The barista's reaction? "She stared at the bill like I'd just handed her a used tissue," the customer wrote.
She then asked: "One dollar?" The customer explained that he tried to laugh it off, thinking she was joking. But she wasn't. The barista sighed dramatically, slid the money into the tip jar, and said, "Guess I'll try not to spend it all in one place."
If you stop at this interaction right here, you'd most likely already agree that the barista wasn't being very nice. But the thing is, it didn't stop there. When the customer went to grab his latte, the barista stopped him and said, "Oh, wait. You wanted foam, right? For a dollar?" Then, he wrote, "she proceeded to spoon exactly one sad bubble on top and handed it over like she was granting a royal favor."
Bad customer service is bad for business.
Here's the thing. The tip wasn't exactly 20%, but it also wasn't anything to balk at either. In fact, 18% is a solid tip at a coffee shop. He really had nothing to be embarrassed about.
The person who should be embarrassed, however, is the coffee shop owner. This should go without saying, but not treating your customers nicely only harms your brand. According to a Microsoft report on customer service, 96% of customers surveyed said that good service is integral to loyalty. NINETY-SIX PERCENT!
Guess what happens when you have loyal customers? They not only keep coming back, but they bring in new customers. That's how a company grows. You know what happens when one customer has a bad experience? They warn everyone to steer clear of that business.
Could this tip have been better? Sure! Was the tip bad? No. This barista was out of line. As one commenter noted, "As a server… this is so unprofessional… I can’t imagine acting like that. I’m in semi fine dining now but even when I was at a dingy sports bar where I knew everyone for nearly a decade I wouldn’t act like that."
The customer didn't confront the barista.
The customer didn't stick up for himself in the moment because he said he was too stunned to say anything, so he just walked away with his latte. Unsurprisingly, he said he won’t be going back to the new coffee shop again, however.
In this case, simply walking away and not going back to the shop was the best course of action, but as other commenters noted, leaving a review couldn't hurt either. The owner or manager should definitely be made aware if this barista is talking to all her customers that way.
Look, maybe the barista was having a bad day. That's definitely a possibility. But when you work in customer service, you have to fake it, or you could get fired. That's why it's such a hard job. Getting a coffee shouldn't be an activity exclusive to the uber-rich. $8.50 for a latte is a lot. This customer tipped enough.
Matt Machado is a writer studying journalism at the University of Central Florida. He covers relationships, psychology, celebrities, pop culture, and human interest topics.
