The Boiler Room Cafe Minneapolis: Expensive and Burned Coffee, Rude Service
I haven't fully spoken my peace over the incident at the Boiler Room Cafe in Minneapolis this morning. I work in the service industry. I help paying customers for a living. So I know how to treat them. One thing you should never do is swear at them or tell them to go elsewhere, because customers owe you nothing.
You might think you've got them right where you want them--they already payed, right? So why treat them well? That seems to be the attitude. The fact of the matter is that you work for them. Without the customers, you don't have a business. That doesn't mean you need to put up with abuse from customers, but it does mean that there are appropriate ways to deal with potential conflicts.
People don't go to coffee shops for the coffee. I know that sounds strange, but the fact of the matter is that coffee is cheap and people can just stay home if they want a good cup of coffee. I certainly would never go to a coffee shop if I wanted a reliably high-quality cup. I can roast my own beans at home in my popcorn popper and have the best light roast in the state in 20 minutes if I really want to. No, there are two things that people purchase from coffee shops.
- Proximity (it's a close and convenient place to get out and have a drink)
- Atmosphere
- Friendly Service
The first item--proximity--has the weakest claim to our patronage. Coffee shops are a dime a dozen, especially in a city like Minneapolis. The second and third items in the list make up the bulk of the reason people go to coffee shops. If you have bad or uncomfortable atmosphere it cancels out the motivation to leave the home in the first place. If you have rude customer service on top of it, don't plan on being in business for too long.
Cafes provide a service--not a product. People who don't like to provide good service should choose a different career path. The Boiler Room Cafe has terrible and hostile service, which defeats the point of going out for coffee instead of enjoying a better cup at home. I'd rather see a Dunn Brothers in the neighborhood--they have better coffee and they know how to treat customers.
Comments
I fully agree that the Boiler Room is the worst coffee shop in the Twin Cities. It's a half block from my apartment, so I go occasionally, usually in the winter when I don't want to walk to Franklin & Nicollet to Tillie's Bean.
Today I ordered - stay with me here - a large soy latte with vanilla flavor. The barista (and I've been one, Dunn Bros alumni) had no clue how to make a latte. I've seen this with other employees as well.
The first thing this guy went for was the skim milk. I told him it was soy I had asked for. He makes the drink and forgets the vanilla. I remind him and he puts about an eyedropper full in it (as opposed to what ends up being about 1/2 oz. in any regular coffee shop). He gives me the latte, charges me, then I notice that it's a medium and not a large. When I point out that it was a medium, he says, "I charged you for a double (medium)." Well, genius, I asked you for a large. (No, I didn't actually say that.)
He sighs and pulls another shot (the espresso head was about half full of grounds), puts the tamper in the head lightly, and turns it about a quarter turn. Whatever happened to the "30 pounds of pressure" rule? I'm basically getting weak coffee with steamed milk. He goes into the fridge where he has put the soy pitcher and puts more into the cup. Mmmm, tepid latte. I have to remind him to put more vanilla in it, and he allows me what looked like about 4 drops more. While on the walk home, I tasted it - the soy was sour. I asked for my money back and got it, but not until he had asked me a whole lot of questions about why I didn't like it and telling me they don't give refunds.
In a nutshell, I've had ambivalent service, I've had tortoiselike slow service, I've had outright nastiness from one barista (who appears to be gone now), and I've gotten bad drinks from people who do not deserve the title of "barista" because they don't know how to make the drinks people ask for.
I'll be walking the extra 4 blocks to Tillie's from now on.
Posted by: V | October 12, 2009 2:00 PM