That’s not on the menu…

I had a walking coffee date with a friend of mine last week.  She had forgotten her mask, so I went in to order for us.  “One oat milk, iced latte and one almond milk, hot latte please.”  Sounded simple, but communication was getting crossed.  The barista thought I meant a half oat milk, half almond milk latte.  She did only see one person, so I explained I was getting two drinks, and we went through the order again for clarity. At the end I apologized if I had confused her.

“Oh no you’re fine, I have one customer who comes in here and orders: a macha powder, 1/2 pump liquid vanilla, latte.”  Apparently there’s both powder and liquid forms for macha and vanilla.

Another barista came up, “Oh that’s nothing, I have one guy who orders 1.5 oz. of decafinated coffee, 1 pump of syrup, 8oz. hot water, etc., etc.”  I couldn’t keep up with all the details.  At first we joked about how it seemed unreasonable, but then we came around to something more sincere.  This particular customer comes in almost daily, and only wants his coffee made by this particular barista, because she fills the request.  And as a bonus they’ve developed a relationship over time, that may have never happened if he wasn’t willing to ask for what he truly wanted and her being accepting of his request without grimace.

This customer is asking for something specific, they’re equipped to make it, and he’s paying for it.  It’s not on the menu, but it’s possible.  Is he being overly demanding?  He’s not rude about it.  Is he not entitled to it?  These are made to order drinks.

I want that type of confidence.  To ask for what I want, even if it’s not listed.  Maybe what we want isn’t unreasonable, maybe we just judged it that way.

Ask for what you want.