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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think fussy people ordering coffee should always be in a separate queue

288 replies

HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 10:06

Drives me mad. I just want to buy a sandwich, and in front of me is someone ordering 4 coffees with very exacting requirements.

OP posts:
RizzleDrizzle · 17/10/2020 11:38

How am I meant to know what coffee you want. Just say skim latte or flat white etc. It’s the same for tea as well, I’m not a mind reader how do I know what tea you want!

Exactly! But I suspect what OP means by tea is English breakfast with milk and probably 2 sugars, probably made with fully boiled water so it burns the tea, and they’ve never looked at the menu and actually realised that as server a tea please is as annoying as hell

And coffee isn’t just black instant granules that you pour again boiling water over again burning the beans,

Pelleas · 17/10/2020 11:38

@Goatinthegarden

If you’re on a lunch break you don’t want to spend most of it queuing.

I take a packed lunch to work (or pick up a Sandwich at 7:30am enroute to work)because I haven’t got time to queue at lunchtime.

No one is making you spend time in a queue, it’s an entirely optional activity.

Not all work places have a fridge where you can store a packed lunch.

Not all jobs start at 8/9am. Not everyone lives somewhere with 24 hour supermarkets. Good luck picking up a sandwich en route if your shift starts at 6am - and even if you find one, you still need somewhere to store it until your break.

UncleFoster · 17/10/2020 11:39

@christinarossetti19 there is never going ti be anything difficult about ordering cold milk so just order cold?

HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 11:41

I had 2 children just outside the cafe - didn’t want to bring them inside - so wanted to be quick so I could get back to them...

OP posts:
UncleFoster · 17/10/2020 11:41

One of my friends use to order a large with a half shot of decaf and that did make me laugh because it is basically just milk and hot water. Just admit you dont want any coffee

MagpieSong · 17/10/2020 11:43

I think learning patience might help. Maybe go to that daydreaming thread from the other day and learn how to pass the time? Grin

It never bothers me. I’m in a coffee shop and the person is ordering coffee, so non issue. Mines usually a black americano but I quite like listening to the hazlenut non dairy latte frappucino with sprinkles but no cream type orders.

Cloudybean · 17/10/2020 11:44

I used to work in a coffee shop, aside from the iced drinks it doesn't actually take that much longer to make the 'intricate' ones. I have quite a precise order just as I figure I'm paying a hugely inflated price for a cup of coffee, why not get it how I like? I'm not arsed about what other people think, and I doubt many think I'm going to make up an order so I sound sophisticated. Such an odd view.

HyggeTygge · 17/10/2020 11:44

Totally agree OP if it's a single cafe (ie the only place you can get meals) especially at family places. The amount of times I've been in a farm cafe or even bloody kids' play cafe just wanted to buy a sausage roll that's just sitting there on the counter waiting to be put on a plate or in a bag with a screaming baby while someone orders two very different individual handcrafted specialccinos. Fine if that's what you want to order but a separate waiting area/queue would be great.

RizzleDrizzle · 17/10/2020 11:48

The worst type of people are parents (usually dads) ordering coffee in innapropriate places like ice cream vans, burger vans, the fish and chip shop

Ah now I do agree with that, you do have to be place appropriate, although I’d hope in this day and age they’d at least offer a soya option.

If your ordering tea or coffee from burger vans/ice cream stands/greggs then yes it’s tea (English breakfast) and the only question is milk and sugar and coffee is probably some variation on Nescafé, kenco another instant brand, possibly something filtered or lativizza if your lucky absolutely if you want your double shot salted caramel coconut latte or your lady gray with milk dont go to that sort of place.

RizzleDrizzle · 17/10/2020 11:52

@HarveysPJs

I had 2 children just outside the cafe - didn’t want to bring them inside - so wanted to be quick so I could get back to them...
That’s not the coffee orders fault or problem OP,

Now who sounds superior, you sound massively entitled, I’m more important than any one else because my preciouses are outside.

annabel85 · 17/10/2020 11:52

I get half an hour for lunch when i'm in the office, I could spend half of that in the queue for coffee.

I can't stand queues in coffee shops. I go when it's quiet.

MorrisZapp · 17/10/2020 11:52

The problem with these type of places is they're not set up for efficiency. If they're offering loads of fancy drinks then they need a system that allows them to make these without causing ridiculous hold ups.

Starbucks has pretty much a production line, they know what they're doing. Each staff member plays their specific role.

But in art gallery cafes EDINBURGH PORTRAIT GALLERY YOU HAVE TRIED MY LAST NERVE you have a row of smiley middle class ladies recruited for their appreciation of the late expressionist movement rather than their ability to juggle multiple tasks in a methodical fashion.

So the poor sods with a hot meal on their tray will stand for fifteen minutes as it cools to room temperature while annoying gits in statement arty earrings MY MOTHER ask for each drink only when the last one is made.

Server in Matisse t-shirt airily starts warming up the scone after the hot drinks are made. Then same server does the cash bit which is like watching Melania Trump operate a robomop.

No party involved has any concept of the presence of the queue which now reaches the bus station.

And the worst part is these fuckers charge considerably more than the multinational chains they so distain, while operating a system designed to ensure no refreshment touches your lips at the optimum temperature.

The only reason I want them to stay in business is because if the wacky knitwear mob turn up in Starbucks they'll crash the system while chatting to each other about sticking with Schitts Creek until it gets good OH MOIRA IT'S HILARIOUS

MissMarplesGlove · 17/10/2020 11:53

with a screaming baby

Oh god, I can't bear screaming babies in cafés. It means the poor old assistant behind the counter can't hear my order, when I really need a cup of tea to help with my headache from the screaming children.

See, not so nice, is it, to have your impatience visited on you?

nosswith · 17/10/2020 11:54

The people with very fussy requirements probably spend the most money, and therefore in some cases are why there is still the coffee shop there.

HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 11:54

@HyggeTygge it is the pressure of having the children outside. My 9 year old can placate my 18mnth old but I can’t leave them waiting for too long! I like individual handcrafted specialaccinos - I’m going to adopt that phrase!

OP posts:
annabel85 · 17/10/2020 11:57

@DeltaFlyer

But a national trust cafe still counts as a coffee shop right?

I'd see your point if you were in the queue of greggs for example

Right by my office there's a Greggs that (pre-Covid anyway) was always busy and you could have a queue out the door but you'd still get served reasonably quickly. Since they put the fancy coffee machines in it's still five minutes in the queue if there's only two people ahead of you because they're always ordering coffees.
Doggybiccys · 17/10/2020 11:57

Lol OP. I took my daughter to Costa precovid and she wanted a hot chocolate with all the trimmings. An old guy in the queue behind me tapped my shoulder and said “what are they like with all their demands “ (marshmallows etc) and I just laughed then he’s ordering and it’s one soy latte, one chai tea blah blah .... made me chuckle

HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 11:58

@MorrisZapp that’s bloody hilarious, you’ve made my morning!

OP posts:
littledrummergirl · 17/10/2020 11:58

I would love to go into a cafe that sells a cup of coffee made with nescafe and a kettle/hot water tap for £1.00 with milk if needed.

Marylou62 · 17/10/2020 12:05

This thread has really tickled me! I never drink coffee, never have..
What gets me is when they make pretty patterns on the top of the foam...What a waste of time when there's a queue.

RizzleDrizzle · 17/10/2020 12:07

[quote HarveysPJs]@HyggeTygge it is the pressure of having the children outside. My 9 year old can placate my 18mnth old but I can’t leave them waiting for too long! I like individual handcrafted specialaccinos - I’m going to adopt that phrase![/quote]
Then don’t go to a busy coffee shop on a Saturday morning

ladybee28 · 17/10/2020 12:08

@Marylou62

This thread has really tickled me! I never drink coffee, never have.. What gets me is when they make pretty patterns on the top of the foam...What a waste of time when there's a queue.
Four wiggles of the wrist. Takes literally two seconds.
crochetcrazy1978 · 17/10/2020 12:08

I used to be a barista and found it irritating when people said 'i just want a coffee ' . Which one?!? You wouldn't go into a cake shop and say ' I just want a cake'.

hereyehearye · 17/10/2020 12:10

I think the OP is an inverse snob (the kind that MN loves tbh) but as someone who always has my bank card out ready to go in the tesco checkout, I sympathise about being stuck behind someone else fumbling for 15 minutes over their stupid fucking purse.

The OP's problem is that without the wanky coffees, these places would go out of business because no one is going to pay £5 for a black coffee with no milk or a builder's tea.

myshoelaces · 17/10/2020 12:11

As an aside has anyone else noticed the assumption that if there is a black and a white coffee then it's the man having the black coffee and the woman having the white?? This happens so often to us it surely cannot be a coincidence!!

If I order a whisky in a restaurant it will be given to my dh when it comes out. Same as ordering a steak.