August 3, 2008

• A quick but no less bitter diatribe.

  Let’s preface this with the fact that I work in a Safeway Starbucks. If you’re not familiar, we have to pay for our drinks, but the money we spend goes toward Safeway Fuel Rewards, after you spend so much ($100), you get a $.10 discount off every gallon of gas on your next fill-up (at a Safeway Filling Station, of course).

  I worked this morning, it wasn’t overly busy but definitely steady. No time to just sit on my haunches. After work, my daughter and I checked out the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile that was parked outside, got our picture taken and of course, a wiener whistle. I wanted to run a few errands and I wanted to be quick about it since my daughter really needed a nap. So, what errands did I need to run? Well, I earned a fuel reward and I needed gas so I decided to go to the nearest Safeway Gas Station, which is not my store but a few miles away. So, I go to the pump first. I put in my club card, my credit card and am ready to fill up but notice the pump hasn’t given me my discount. So, I had to get the attendant to fix it for me. Okay, no problem. Then, I needed just a couple items (4 to be exact) from the grocery store, so I ran inside the store, picked up the items (especially buying Safeway-brand because I get a 10% discount, not much but hey, you take what you can get) and then I brought them over to that Safeway Starbucks (to get my Iced Grande 2= Room Americano) and pay for my selections.

  Holy crap, you’d have thought that I ordered 27 drinks and had at least 50 items to ring up. The barista was alone (hey, the store was empty) and didn’t seem to be very uh, on top of things. I wanted to wring his neck, or maybe just shove him aside, grind my own beans (side note, I bought a pound of the Gazebo blend and I absolutely love this stuff! I’m not much of a drip coffee person, but I am learning so very much about it at my new job and I think it’s amazing), ring up my groceries, and make the damned Americano myself. First off, I had to ask him to put ice in the cup before he poured the shots. Uh, that’s the standard for making an iced Americano. If he was new, he shouldn’t have been alone, so there is no excuse for that. He took 2 years to grind the beans, and I’m not talking about the actual grind cycle, he obviously had trouble opening the bag and then as I was putting my groceries into my [REUSABLE!!] bag, he informed me that he hadn’t seen one of the items and therefore hadn’t rung it up.

  Okay, I’m already ticked off at this point. My daughter starts running off toward the balls (plastic, inflated ones you sicko) and I’m trying to keep her in check while simultaneously trying to tell this kid how to do his job without being condescending, paying for the separate purchase (damn you, Red Baron Pizza!), and not losing it right there and then. And to add insult to injury, my 10% discount would not come up. I could have saved $.68 and now what will I do? Finally, we got out of there to run our last errand and finally go back home. We ran over to the Einstein Brother’s Bagels to pick up a half dozen and a sandwich for me, but it was so crowded that I 86-ed the sandwich and got out of there before my hair started to go grey (from stress mind you, not old age).

  So, now I sit here, ever so more calm than before with my cinnamon-sugar bagel and a glass of ice water. You know, in hindsight, I probably didn’t need the Americano and it’s 225 mg of caffeine, nor the trouble it caused me buying my other items at that particular till. Live and learn they say, but I find way too many people not doing the latter, that poor barista for instance… Someone should tell him not to quit his day job. Or, wait, that he SHOULD quit. Just not me, I don’t want the bad karma but especially not the bad espresso shots.

  • 3:38 pm
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