A barista has been applauded for their response to a grumpy customer’s insistence on ordering “his usual”: asking him to recite his order, every time.
The barista and original poster (OP), user TheMossyFish, shared her story on Reddit, explaining that the routine has played out since their first day on the job.
According to their post, the customer opens every interaction with the same request—”I’ll have my usual”—and expects the OP to remember his order despite infrequent visits and a staff schedule where the OP works alone on weekends.
Each time, the OP is met with eye rolls, sighs and visible frustration when they ask him to explain his order.
The order itself is straightforward enough: a 16-ounce mocha, but his insistence on being recognized has become the sticking point.
“Most of the time, he makes a face right as he drinks the coffee and then goes, ‘It’s OK,’ and walks away,” the OP wrote. “Once, he made a scene because the lid popped off the cup, and he insisted I had no idea what I was doing.
“Anyway, by now this man has been… memorable enough for me to remember his order, but I usually insist he orders it anyway, out of principle.”
They pointed out that the customer’s demeanor never shifts toward friendliness, and in a series of edits, they addressed some common assumptions.
There are no tips allowed at their workplace—”so I have zero financial incentive [to remember his order]”—and no coworkers to discuss the situation with because no one else is present during those shifts.
“I really don’t mind our little dance; with every single customer I ask what they want…. not exactly out of the ordinary,” the OP noted.
Reddit users overwhelmingly backed the OP, with many slamming the customer’s behavior.
One user urged the OP not to give in, writing, “Resist! What a miserable goober he is,” while another added, “I think it’s funny you keep making him tell you. Make his mornings as annoying as he is.”
“It’s good to take him down a peg; to realize that he’s not important enough for people to remember him, nor what his ‘usual’ is,” one contributor remarked.
“He’s too full of himself. Just say what you want each time you order.”
‘Aired him out’
The exchange fits into a wider pattern of service worker anecdotes attracting attention online.
In one example, covered by Newsweek, a Starbucks employee described their act of revenge against a customer’s extreme order.
“Some dude mobile-ordered this drink to [f***] with us,” they explained, adding, “So I aired him out to the whole cafe.”
Outside of viral anecdotes, workplace experts point to structural issues that shape these moments.
‘Defuse rather than escalate’
Guidance from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School notes that, “When determining how to deal with difficult customers, employees often lack adequate guidance.”
The same piece adds, “Conflict resolution training can be a powerful means of enabling employees to defuse rather than escalate confrontations with angry or otherwise difficult-seeming customers,” offering context for why front-line workers are often left to improvise.
The OP ended their post by asking whether it would be easier to simply make the customer’s drink or continue insisting on the standard order process.
The comments, however, suggest many Redditors see value in treating every customer the same, even when the routine becomes its own kind of ritual.
Newsweek has reached out to TheMossyFish for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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