IRL: Work Related

Alright, this happened a couple of hours ago, so while the experience is still fresh in my mind(relatively)let's walk-through a particular event(similar to a scripted battle in an RPG where you can't win, the only option is to lose...well that's the overall feeling anyway)during my shift. I work at the illustrious Barnes & Noble Cafe(I know, It's awesome, you should be jealous)and ever since the two free-standing Starbucks establishments closed down over Christmas we've been busier than usual. Naturally at certain points of the day we have rushes of customers wanting to get something for lunch, or before they go into work at the mall, etc.

During one of our minor rushes we had a lady walk up and order a hot Grande Chai Latte(medium sized, spicy vanilla flavored tea concentrate, with steamed milk), I ring her up and she patiently waits for her drink at the end of the counter. Meanwhile, my boss is making that customer's drink, queuing up the next drink in her head, and talking to the head manager of the store about a certain employee(whom I never got to meet because she quit after a week). Now you normally wouldn't put a shot of espresso in a Chai Latte(because It's not in the recipe but you may alter the drink to your liking, Chai Latte + espresso = Dirty Chai...work terminology, sorry)but with 3 things going on at once you're bound to have a lapse in concentration every once in a while and that's fine because we're all human, we make mistakes and that is perfectly acceptable. The Chai Latte is completed, called out(accidently with a shot of espresso in it, but not mentioned), the lady picks up her drink and is on her way without incident and the day goes on.

The rush continues and I notice the "Chai" customer walk back up, and she looks upset. She looks around, skips the line and walks right up to the counter where the drinks are being placed and utters: "This is disgusting! I ordered a Chai Latte, a drink that isn't suppose to have coffee in it!" Mind you, she's just mouthing off(being self-righteous like all of our wonderful and memorable pretentious customers are)to my boss(very, VERY bad move, you just DON'T DO THAT). All streams of time at that point just froze, everything stopped and I felt my heart skip a beat or two, you could feel an immense pressure immanating from one specific focal point...the boss. It took all of my strength to remain calm and seemingly unaffected by this great force, but my gut told me to just get out of there, kind of like this:


My boss is a fair person, and she tried to deal with this person in the best manner that she could, calmly asking if we could remake that drink for her. The response was...rude, if I could describe it: "...I want a refund! You should be paying attention and not having a chit-chat session with your friend over there!" Ahhh, work...customers are just so damn chipper you know? Annoyed, and obviously angry, my boss refunds the drink and the day continues on in awkward silence.

Let me say that I haven't tasted fear like this in a good long while, from disbelief, to a false calm, panic, then the need to just run and get out of there while riding out the adrenaline rush. I have the perfect way to completely sum up and illustrate my story on this one:



Enjoy the whole thing if you'd like but to see my point just skip ahead to about 43 seconds and watch from there to the end. The best stories to this day, have come out of that cafe, sometimes work can be a pain but moments like this will be remembered till the end of days.