Am I an unreasonable person?

I agree with everyone else.  I also think you may have issues disputing the charge.  You paid for it, and took possession.  From that point on it was yours.  The other coffee is a different story.  Personally I would have went up and demanded my money back on the drip and then demanded a manager.  I've left a restaurant before because they were unreasonably slow, but not before speaking with someone.  I think many eating places are at the mercy of who they hire, especially as a manager.  Businesses reflect their managers, and if they do not care, neither will their employees.

In reply to SVreX :

With all due respect SVreX he gave them 20mins.  That's all the chance you should get in the free market.  That was actually a huge amount of time in the service industry - a huge amount of time. Respectfully Nutherjrfan. 

Your expectations were not unreasonable but your reactions might have been. But as someone with some frustrations in life I sympathize 100%. You can't control certain aspects of your life so when something you do have a measure of control over goes bad it's really really infuriating. I've been there. Hell I've been there TODAY. All you can do is take a deep breath and try to get your frustration under control. If you can't -- well start to the blastin' and charge backin'!

Another comment. Try to tell yourself "this anger isn't about the coffee." Because deep down you know it isn't. The coffee set it off yes. But the TNT in a nuclear bomb isn't what causes the big boom it's just the thing that sets the chain reaction in motion. Sounds like today the coffee was your TNT.

nutherjrfan said:

In reply to SVreX :

With all due respect SVreX he gave them 20mins.  That's all the chance you should get in the free market.  That was actually a huge amount of time in the service industry - a huge amount of time. Respectfully Nutherjrfan. 

With all due respect, there is no indication that he ever spoke to an owner or manager about the problem, either this trip or previous ones. So no, he gave them no opportunity to correct the problem. 

Expecting a low level employee who is obviously either lacking training or capability to self correct when there is a problem is some sort of consumer magic. Blasting the company on social media with intent to do as much damage as possible is unreasonable, and vindictive. 

It may often be typical, but it is still unreasonable. 

His expectations for good service were reasonable. His expectations for the employee to correct the problem without managerial guidance was not. His reaction to try to inflict harm was wrong. 

His expectations were perfectly reasonable. He just over reacted a little bit when he didn't get what he wanted. Not entirely out of the ordinary these days. He will probably realize this and remember for the next time.

I think I would have talked to a manager, explained the wait, returned the coffee and told them I would try again another day.  If treated the same way a second time, go to the manager, "Remember me?"

Good service you may never mention to anyone, bad service and 10 people find out.

The things I do not know about the situation- 

Did you remind them about your coffee or did you just chill? You said there was only 4 customers. What other things were going on in the shop? How familiar were you with the staff? Was it the usual suspects or were there a pile of rookies?

I ask, because retail is a fickle thing. 4 customers in 40 minutes doesn't mean there wasn't a bunch of other stuff happening. In my down time I am always prepping and reloading for the next situation. Reloading my milk case, restocking chicken, etc. Taking care of my high turn items. Additionally, there could have been plenty of other things. My store isn't very busy from a foot traffic perspective. But I'll do 10k without so much as an ankle through my door I  truck orders and prepaid lists, etc. 90% of my day is stuff no one ever Sees. Now I am aware coffee is a bit different than restaurant supply, but retail is retail. Last but not least,  rookies. Most customer service jobs have positively retarded turnover.  Im almost always training someone. To that point...you gotta take off the training wheels sometime. I prefer a sink or swim approach, because I like to see if they can think on the fly. Which means, a lot of times I'm watching rookies from the shadows and seeing what they do in their own. You coulda had a pile of rookies up front. 

Point being,  yes you're a valued customer. It's entirely possible, you got your beans. Coffee wasn't done, and they might have just lost your cup in the shuffle. Blasting them social media, disputing the charges,  all of that? Might have been a bit much. Id give em another chance. 

20 minutes for a cup of coffee, I'd have gone back and poured it myself.

But I've been thrown out of more than one Denny's for getting angry my food is taking forever and just going back to cook it myself. Mostly drunk, sometimes sober. Same deal though, 2 scrambled eggs and toast is not a 45 minute meal whether I'm alone in the restaurant or it's jammed full of people. 

It was unreasonable for you to leave something you already paid for on the table. The note, left for the manager, would have sufficed.

I would have left after the original 9 minutes but I wait on line like a petulant child so I'm not a good yard stick.

I think the original problem belongs in the 1st world problem thread "My special custom brewed coffee took too long" and the response was a huge over reaction.

Capt. are you on any new or off old meds recently ?

While I too would've asked about the status of said coffee while waiting so long, with the intent of contacting the owner to explain the situation, I do sort of understand Cap's frustration. 

I find that for whatever reason, the culture of certain types of retail businesses is changing to a much slower pace. As if by waiting longer, we're assured getting something quality. That it means the product is made JUST for us. I swear this is because fast and efficient can be viewed as "corporate" and "relax man...it's all good..." is viewed as cottage industry standard. 

Which is interesting, because I have always loved street food and farmers markets. The get-you-in/get-you-out as quickly possible mantra. Yes, the product has been on the shelf all day, but gimme yo damn money and get outta here! 

I notice that in certain retail spaces, the efficiency of labor is lacking. It's like nobody ever told their employees to multi-task. I also blame it on the inability for lots of people to really, truely think dynamically. To say "hey this customer is waiting by himself for coffee beans...he probably isn't enjoy it...lets get these beans out ASAP." or maybe they just didn't tell you that the beans weren't quite ready yet. 

In reply to pheller :

The frustration is totally valid. There's a taco bell by me that's a guaranteed 20min wait. My tacos are soggy as E36 M3 every time I get them. But I also know it's the most slammed taco bell in the area, so I try to be cool. I also have the tendency to remind impatient shiny happy people that sometimes things take a minute, or There's 17 people ahead of them. 

spitfirebill said:

In reply to captdownshift :

You need a Snickers. 

What he needs is a good cup of joe.

SOMEBODY GET THIS MAN A BERKLEYING CUP OF COFFEE!

stanger_missle said:

spitfirebill said:

In reply to captdownshift :

You need a Snickers. 

What he needs is a good cup of joe.

SOMEBODY GET THIS MAN A BERKLEYING CUP OF COFFEE!

I think decaf may be what is really needed. 

The soft bigotry of low expectations.  I'm not particularly well liked at work sometimes because of my higher standards.  There is a lot of resentment towards guests because a lot of them can be downright rude from the get-go.  Not after 20mins but from the get-go.  For all that I wasn't the employee that got flipped off and had a call-back this week.  And we don't have low-class guests either.  Tourists sure but no riff-raff.  Each interaction pays for my rent and also can get me fired on the spot.  At times I joke that in the service industry we are unlicensed therapists given the expectations to make the guests visit special but then when you're charging $17 for a glass of chardonnay you better be competent and attentive every single moment.  Every single moment. Especially when those around you aren't.  One final comment.  Maybe it's because I deal with lawyers, Senators, Generals, Secretaries of State, Supreme Court Justices, US AGs, Defense Secretaries, future Presidential candidates, Rick Dees, Shaq, Steph Currys super hot mom and the stunning AT+T girl that I give a damn or maybe it's because I'm one of the ever diminishing few that seem to care about a job even if they don't like it.  

In reply to nutherjrfan :

I'm just not liked because I'm not at work to make friends and I absolutely do not care who knows it. I'll be friendly, etc, but at the end of the day, getting paid is all there is. 

Yikes. I'd say you were being unreasonable, but I don't really want to say it because you might go off and blast me on social media without letting me know you are unhappy with me.

nutherjrfan said:

The soft bigotry of low expectations. 

I'm really not sure what you meant with this phrase. It was first used by GW Bush as a reference to racial differences in Education. I see no connection here. 

You obviusly work in a high end establishment. As you noted, you'd get fired if you acted like that. However, in order for you to get fired, management would have to be informed. 

I have extremely high expectations. But as a leader, I also accept responsibility when those under me fail. It my job to train, prepare, adjust, correct, and fire people if necessary. But if my customer never tells  me there is a problem, they are denying me the ability to do my job and the opportunity to elevate my staff to meet high expectations. 

I deliver premium services to my customers. They have a right to expect it. But when my team drops the ball, MY expectation is that the customer will bring it to my attention in an appropriate way, so I can continue to meet their high expectations.  

I am NOT suggesting accepting low standards. 

It's nice to be able to be unreasonable on social media.  I used to have to write my angry missives to managers on tables in ketchup. 

In reply to nutherjrfan :

Holy E36 M3! Rick Dees is still alive?

Yes. Unreasonable in this instance.

Maybe their only hot Costa Rican quit and they went looking for another one.

You say "they berkeleyed up my coffee and it berkeleyed up my whole day."  Naw man, they berkeleyed up your coffee and YOU berkeleyed up your whole day. Youre letting your emotions run wild in inappropriate ways. You obviously have a lot of hard stuff going on, we get that. We totally do. Maybe the stress isnt being dealt with properly, things are building up and this is how its showing itself. I mean your reaction in this situation isnt a huge deal, but what if next weekend its a close friend or some one you love thats sets you off, and you fly off the handle and say something you regret? That sucks. So deal with your things, find some peace. Youll be glad you did. Much love brutha.

gearheadmb said:

You say "they berkeleyed up my coffee and it berkeleyed up my whole day."  Naw man, they berkeleyed up your coffee and YOU berkeleyed up your whole day. 

True statement, although sometimes there's no good solution.  

I got frustrated with the fact that there isn't such a thing as fast food near my job any more, despite there being 4 'fast food' restaurants.  The choices are:  1) reasonably staffed, polite, but sometimes have to cook whole new batches of stuff without warning until after you've paid, 2) painfully understaffed, 3) not busy, adequately staffed or so it seems, but lazy, disorganized and slow, 4) small local deli that takes 10 minutes to produce a sandwich but at least you EXPECT it to take that long.

So if I am in a hurry (because of my own planning shortcomings) and have 5 minutes to stop and grab food...I don't.  Because it may take 30 seconds and it may take 12 minutes, the second one isn't an option, and there's no way to know.

I have adapted by going only to #4, only if I have time to relax, solely because they move at the pace appropriate for what they are serving and it doesn't irritate me that they are inefficient. :D

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ozpkzjl-oCU