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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
HyggeTygge · 17/10/2020 12:42

@crochetcrazy1978

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'.
Actually, this is another thing Grin Quite often at some of the places I go there's a display case of cakes with no labels so I have to ask what the cakes are and try and hear the server list them all. Why not just write it down so I can use my long time in the queue seeing if any are suitable!
thenightsky · 17/10/2020 12:47

@HarveysPJs

I’d apply the same to toilets. This cubicle is for those who want a quick wee - and this cubicle is for those who want to spend 20mins doing God’s knows what...
Yes! My running partner for many years was a bloke. Along the route was a block of public toilets. We each went in our side and invariably came out at the same time. He always said he'd never come across a woman who was so fast in and out of a toilet. What else is there to do in there but pee and do a hand wash?
PenelopePilchard · 17/10/2020 12:48

My last experience of a coffee shop was one on the journey home from holiday last year. It took so long to get a coffee made I swear I could have driven home quicker and made one myself.

I miss the days when an irish/floater coffee after a meal seemed so glamorous............. (a glass of coffee with double cream poured into it off the back of a spoon so it floats on top for those too young to remember ) Grin

GabsAlot · 17/10/2020 12:51

i get scare going into starbucks i just want a coffee i dont know all the bloody fancy names

myshoelaces · 17/10/2020 12:51

@PenelopePilchard

My last experience of a coffee shop was one on the journey home from holiday last year. It took so long to get a coffee made I swear I could have driven home quicker and made one myself.

I miss the days when an irish/floater coffee after a meal seemed so glamorous............. (a glass of coffee with double cream poured into it off the back of a spoon so it floats on top for those too young to remember ) Grin

Christ I remember trying to make those as a 17 year old working in cafes. The cream was in a giant piping bag and would be coming out both sides. While the cream on top of the coffee if not placed just right would simply fall and melt into the coffee as a big blob.
Original poster
HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 12:53

Oooo yes, I love those Irish whiskey coffees. And I can see myself getting VERY specific about the alcohol content there...
Okay, okay - I can see I’m being unreasonable. And yes - I do have every sympathy with specific dietary needs.

OP posts:
Original poster
HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 12:57

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs_hveAt5mg Not great quality - but thanks to whoever said to look this up!!

OP posts:
GabsAlot · 17/10/2020 12:57

@crochetcrazy1978

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'.
you might do if there just sitting there with no signs as to what they are
Jaxhog · 17/10/2020 13:03

I hate queuing up behind the person ordering a 'special' sandwich - with soya spread, no mayo, with extra fried onions and tuna and extra small tomato pieces on gluten-free bread. When I just want a bog-standard latte.

ragged · 17/10/2020 13:05

I don't have any opinions about coffee orders, but...

Trying to use the swim-pool the other day, strictly limited time slot, the woman in front paused a minute at reception to complain -- I think about people not using hand sanitiser. The way we get in the pool, we don't touch anything except our own stuff from before we enter the building until we get in the pool. No lockers, no change rooms, all automatic doors, pile our stuff at pool side. I gave her 30 seconds & then pushed in front of moaning woman to scan my card & go in. Moaner looked most peeved, especially when I didn't use the hand sanitiser.

Make sure your need to moan doesn't inconvenience others.

intheenddoesitreallymatter · 17/10/2020 13:08

Yes, I go into a coffee shop and order a coffee with an alternative milk.

Preferably oat but I can stomach soya depending on the brand.

I will repeat that it cannot have dairy or lactose or nuts.

Not because I'm showing off but because if they get that order wrong I will go into anaphylaxis and I can assure you OP, that will make it far more difficult for you to get your 'coffee'.

Stand back, wait your turn and don't be so bloody superior. You have no clue what someone else is going through.

To you it's a posh coffee, to them it's something far more important.

RustySpringboard · 17/10/2020 13:09

@HarveysPJs

I’m sure it makes them feel superior to order the most intricate sounding coffee they can think of. And they never say ‘thank you’ - just a look of ‘not quite what I wanted, but I suppose it will do’
Is this really about coffee? I would hazard that other people's 'feelings' and 'looks' are all a matter of your personal perception. They're just ordering coffee.
thenightsky · 17/10/2020 13:11

@YouokHun

Ah yes, the giant drum of Maxwell House. There's still one to be found in every NHS kitchen.

Original poster
HarveysPJs · 17/10/2020 13:16

@intheenddoesitreallymatter I do apologise, and of course it would be wrong of me to be impatient when you have specific dietary needs.

OP posts:
YouokHun · 17/10/2020 13:18

@thenightsky I know, I’ve spent quite a bit of my time seeking refuge among the drums of Maxwell House, bags of 1000 Tetley teabags and (when someone’s feeling flush) stale custard creams in an NHS kitchen/therapy hub/crying zone.

Maxwell House is a grade or two up from the 1970s establishments I’m thinking of.

MrsHSW · 17/10/2020 13:23

YABU. Maybe they have an allergy? Maybe they want it extra hot because they'll be taking it back to the office/or its cold outside and they will be walking?

Squirrelblanket · 17/10/2020 13:26

I'm in agreement about two different queues for loads of places. Post office: one for everyone who wants to pay bills/do banking/sort car tax/passports and one for people who just want to post something.

Bars: one for people who want to order a round of very fiddly cocktails and one for people who just want a pint.

And I agree on the toilet thing. I know that some people may have health conditions that means they may take a bit longer in there but it feels to me that the majority of women spend AGES in the cubicle and they can't all have IBS etc!

Macncheeseballs · 17/10/2020 13:30

Women have periods

solopretation · 17/10/2020 13:32

I agree with you OP but you would have hated me recently. In a foreign country which doesn't understand cups of tea I asked for a large tea at a motorway service station and after a lot of discussion they gave me a cup of hot water as I had teabags in a suitcase and they didn't have any real tea - they then said they didn't have any milk and after a bit of discussion during which I was deeply shocked that they could possibly offer tea if they didn't have milk I said I was really sorry but i would leave it. I then discovered some milk in the shop part which they hadn't been aware of and queued again and said please could I have that cup of hot water after all. You should have seen their faces. I was very tired from hours of driving and really needed a cup of tea is my only defence.

Leflic · 17/10/2020 13:39

@intheenddoesitreallymatter

Yes, I go into a coffee shop and order a coffee with an alternative milk.

Preferably oat but I can stomach soya depending on the brand.

I will repeat that it cannot have dairy or lactose or nuts.

Not because I'm showing off but because if they get that order wrong I will go into anaphylaxis and I can assure you OP, that will make it far more difficult for you to get your 'coffee'.

Stand back, wait your turn and don't be so bloody superior. You have no clue what someone else is going through.

To you it's a posh coffee, to them it's something far more important.

You couldn’t get any more superior than this post.

Ok so you have a genuine reason for wanting a “special” coffee but it’s still a non essential item. You need consideration for others in the queue as does everyone else. As you say, you don’t know what anyone else is going through.

mumsiedarlingrevolta · 17/10/2020 13:41

I was in Costa the other day getting an iced latte.

I looked at the board and saw they had two sizes so asked for the large.

There is no large. Only small and medium. How can something be medium without there being a large?

slightly off the point but it is a coffee shop annoyance

KiposWonderbeasts · 17/10/2020 13:45

@KatherineJaneway

"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing, or who on earth they are can – for only $2.95 – get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino."

Grin

That's from You've Got Mail, isn't it?

Marvellous Nora Ephron.

SpeedofaSloth · 17/10/2020 13:47

"I want a cup of coffee and no questions "
👏 Bravo, sir. Exactly. (Looking at you, Starbucks drive-through people.)

CounsellorTroi · 17/10/2020 13:48

@Macncheeseballs

Women have periods
Doesn't take that long to change a towel/tampon/mooncup. I used all three in my time.
EvaporatedHour · 17/10/2020 13:49

I always seem to get stuck behind the person ordering about 10 items all with very specific requirements and changes, then I'm rushed through the till by the assistant when it's my turn as if it's been me holding the queue up.