16 Barista Horror Stories That Will Make You Want To Start A Petition For Awarding Them Each A Medal Of Honor

Lets give a shoutout for all those baristas out there. We love you! We need you.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• June 25, 2022

Let's give a round of applause to all the baristas out there who cheerfully greet us cranky customers in the mornings and send us off with a nice start to the day, aka the morning cup of coffee, which is the foundation for all that follows. You name it: meetings, dates, and phone calls.

Baristas are truly lifesavers—they prepare that lovely, sweet coffee that gets us through the day, they serve tasty shakes to the people on a hot summer day, and they basically provide a much-needed service. But all is not well in the land of the barista.

For starters, they work in customer service, which has its own set of issues that have been well chronicled. Another challenge for baristas is... their overall work.

The biggest problem of all is the entitled and narcissistic customers, with no regard whatsoever for the people around them.

Coffee shops and bars should have two lines - one for people who actually want a cup of coffee, and the other for narcissistic and entitled people with ludicrous demands. And that second line should be served only if there is no one in the first line.

And it’s not just the crazy customer demands that create a problem. The way people are behaving in the coffee shop is also disgusting (especially in the bathrooms).

Baristas are sharing their horror stories, and we have selected some of the most interesting ones. Take a look:

1. Nasty...

"Once, I had a lady come up to me during our busiest time to tell me there had been a 'situation' in one of the bathrooms. Turns out the situation was that she crapped herself, put her dirty underwear in our trash can, and left other unmentionables all over the floor and wall. 

Nice."

—ashleighs4f2cc78dc

2. Customers keep losing stuff... often very weird stuff

"A woman came in and ordered an iced latte, and then went to the restroom. For about 25 or 30 minutes, we keep hearing clanking and heavy scraping sounds from inside the bathroom.

Finally, she BOOKS IT out of the shop. She had literally taken our entire toilet apart. 

The tank was deconstructed, components were all over the floor, and the bolts at the base were undone. Guess what our plumber found in the piping? 

The woman's anal beads. She'd dropped them into the toilet and tried to get them back."

—annas42a33461f

3. The little girl who splattered poop all over the walls:

"One day I was cleaning the bathrooms and a little girl asked if she could use the one that I was not currently cleaning. All I could hear were thuds and booms coming from the one that she was using.

After about 10 minutes, she came up to me with a handful of paper towels. She held them up to my face and asked, 'Do you have a trash that I can put these in?' 

The paper towels were full of diarrhea! I proceeded to look behind her and there was poo smeared on my cleaned wall, toilet seat, and everywhere else.

I tied gauze around my face and went to go clean it up. Worst day of my life."

—amandawalker

4. Petty thievery:

"I saw a nice person put a $5 bill in my tip jar. I got super excited about getting a large cash tip that night.

I saw another person in line stick their hand in the tip jar. I innocently assumed they were putting money deep into the can so it didn't stick out.

I was super disappointed at night when I realized the asshole stole my $5."

—mariaannec

5. Here's a penny pincher for you:

"On my third day working at a coffee shop, a guy came in asking for a bottled coffee drink.

Me: "We don't have that, but a mocha would be pretty similar, do you want to try that?"

Him: "Sure, I'll have the biggest size."

Me: "Great, that will be $5.97."

Him: *pulls out several fist fulls of change from his pockets (mostly pennies)* "I don't know how much is there but you can count it."

Me: *Dies inside and counts change for 10 minutes while line forms* "Great, I just need 11 cents from you!"

Him: "Oh, actually can I add a panini?" *pulls out a 20 dollar bill*

I have never been so frustrated."

—violist99

6. Bubbles:

"I had a lady throw her extra hot, no-foam latte in my face because there was a singular milk bubble in her cup. It hurt like a bitch, but it was satisfying to watch the TSA agents tackle her for assaulting an airport employee.

I ended up in the hospital."

—amishgirl281

7. Take the following steps:

"A customer informed me that someone had crapped all over the bathroom. I blocked the bathroom with numerous tables and chairs, turned out the lights, and even put up a sign saying it was out of order.

Someone not only ignored the warnings but walked in and used the bathroom, got shit all over their shoes and proceeded to walk throughout the shop, leaving a trail of shit steps. They then yelled at me at how disgusted they were at the bathroom.

After I left work, I still saw her footprints of shit on the sidewalk all the way up the street."

–Jillian Bader, Facebook

8. The shoes

"A woman began screaming at us because her daughter had spilled her drink on her own shoes. She didn't want another drink.

She demanded that we give her $200 to replace the shoes. She sincerely believed that it was our fault."

—nataliet4c97a014b

9. This pregnant woman who only wanted a muffin:

"A lady who was very pregnant ordered two iced coffees and a pumpkin muffin. Because of the rush, we had run out of the muffins and I apologized profusely to her. 

This full-grown woman literally laid down on the counter and started crying as her husband started screaming at me that he was going to call corporate and report me because this was the third time we had been out of pumpkin muffins. With one final 'Go to hell,' he assisted his wife out of the restaurant."

—kenzlou

10. The thief of free WiFi:

"One day, a customer was watching porn in the lobby with no headphones with the volume at full blast."

—nickye433939da1

11. The whipped cream visit every week:

"We had a group of teenagers come in frequently and all they would order were waters and short cups of whipped cream. Then they would sit in our lobby and lick the whipped cream off of each other."

—jennr4ab11fa64

12. The stray doggo:

"One afternoon, we were hit with an inspection. Our boss took the inspector on a tour of the store and, as soon as they got up to the second story, a little pug came tearing down our coffee line.

Somebody got a broom and somebody else started waving around a trash bag. After awhile, a girl came in and said, 'It's okay, he's just hot.'

She scooped him up and left the instant the inspector came back down the stairs. I was in the middle of the room with a dustpan and no broom and somebody else had an inflated trash bag nowhere near a trash can.

Our boss muttered, 'What the hell, you guys?'"

—erinendsley84

13. This heinous attack:

"A man carrying a toddler came into the store and got himself a coffee and an apple for the small boy. The child started choking on the piece of apple.

The man was useless. He was just sitting there and yelling at this poor kid to hack it out.

I ran over, scooped up the child, and did the Heimlich on him, making the kid shoot the piece of apple out. The man then proceeded to scream at me for 'touching the kid and hurting him.'

He tried to complain to my manager for 'assaulting' his grandson."

—b4588b0c4c

14. Bill Nye came and caused havoc

"It was 3:30 in the morning when my manager called to let me know that all four people scheduled at my store had called out and I was on my own. By 4 a.m. there was a line waiting that was 40 people deep.

Around 7 a.m., I looked up and Bill Nye was standing at my register. I was starstruck! 

I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have (because of Bill), and I slipped and fell flat on my back on the nasty floor and hit my head on the way down. It sucked.

I had to work until 3 p.m. covered in soap while I was bleeding from the head."

—amishgirl281

15. This sultry beauty:

"I had a regular who wanted his misto at like 200 degrees, but only said that he wanted it extra hot. One morning, another barista made his misto.

He came back yelling about how it wasn't hot enough. Then he poured his coffee over his arm to prove his point and left a puddle of coffee."

—briannamichellep

16. The Macaroni and Cheese Mishap:

"A 10-year-old boy ran in and desperately asked to go to the bathroom. Someone was in the men's one, so I told him to use the girls'.

He stared at me, burped, and proceeded to projectile vomit right in front of me. Twice. 

Worst of all, the vomit was bright orange and yellow because he had just eaten mac and cheese. The pasta wasn't even digested so when I was mopping it up, 

it kept getting stuck in the strands instead of going through the filter in the mop bucket."

—domitilasol

Being a barista is not easy. They are skilled in handcrafting tasty, flawless beverages and are an integral part of their customers' days.

They develop personal connections and create memorable experiences, and they collaborate to create a friendly store environment. They are not your punching bags, people.

Try to remember that.

Damjan