Local business blacklist
A friend keeps a significantly long blacklist of places he will not return to. A business can qualify with anything from food poisoning to not providing a robust-enough greeting when my friend enters the establishment. It doesn’t take much for a business to get on his list, and once a business is on, there is no coming back. New employees, new owner, different location — doesn’t matter. We used to argue with him that it was a specific employee at a specific time of day, and did he notice the million other people the employee was trying to serve at the same time? They should at least get a return visit to determine whether the offense was an isolated occurrence.
“Doesn’t matter,” he’d say. “They are dead to me now.”
“But if you keep this up, every restaurant and bar in Portland will be on the list and you’ll never be able to leave the house again…”
“I have my standards, and they blew it. End of story.”
While I also keep a blacklist, it takes a bit more to offend me and I usually conduct return visits. No business I’ve conducted a return visit to has been able to redeem itself, but I have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Enter my dilemma. There’s a coffee place in my neighborhood that I have written about favorably before. We had a very uncomfortable experience with them yesterday, and I no longer have any interest in giving them my business.
Aaron and I stopped by to get coffee before we ran errands, which is part of our weekend routine. We both ordered house coffee with room for cream. The barista/owner asked us if we wanted a shot of espresso in our coffee since he had an extra shot made. I declined but Aaron accepted. I paid for our drinks (including the extra shot!) and tipped a dollar, which I consider pretty good for three dollars worth of coffee. At this point Aaron notices that there is not enough room in his coffee for cream, and asks the other barista to dump out some of the coffee so he has room. She replies with a perky, “Oh, there’s room! Just wait for the froth to come down.”
Aaron was unconvinced and told her so, but she insisted that there was room for cream. He tried fixing up his coffee, but discovered (as he suspected) that there was indeed no room for cream. He brought his drink back to the counter and asked the barista/owner for either a larger cup or for him to dump out some of the coffee.
“I can’t do that. You’ll just fill the difference with cream and I’ll have to charge you.”
Hmmm… no deal, as it seemed a bit bogus to us. We took our cups and left without our customary, “Thank you!” as we exited.
I can understand that as a small business owner he has to worry about his bottom line, but it is frustrating that he made a decision that would have taken pennies to keep us happy, but ultimately cost him all of our future business. We’re regular customers and we tip well — what’s the problem? The coffee’s good and the staff friendly, but I have such an icky feeling after that exchange that I do not want to set foot in his shop again.
While I will continue to tease my friend the next time he puts a business on his blacklist for leaving their open sign unlit when they are indeed open, I can relate to his desire to avoid a business when they commit a faux pas.
It would be interesting to know if that person was the owner or not… I do enjoy their coffee and would hate to lose such a local business to one person…
Rare that I give a second chance… But, I like the place.
He’s definitely the owner. We’ve talked on a couple of other occasions, and he has identified himself as the owner.
I like the place, too, but for them to be that short-sighted with regular customers just annoys the hell out of me.
Then that is very upsetting… Sad… So few good coffee places that AREN’T Starwhores AND within walking distance…
I’ve ended up persnally boycotting several businesses based on owner qwirks. Ultimately, he left you with no choice. I would recommend writing to the local Indy paper, get a letter formally published and sending to the owner.
-Rob
The best revenge is doled out subtly and/or subliminally over the course of many many return visits.
I’ve often been told to loosen up when making a similar call – and sometimes I do, but IF I do, it’s never the same.
IF I go back, I remove part or all of my personality and just get what I came for, at least until I see significant repentance on their part. It’s usually accompanied with a reflective forgetfullness of their tip or (better) a tip of a penny or two, just to let them know I didn’t forget but rather that I know how to tip accordingly.
Have you tried telling them they blew it? Maybe you’ll get a free cup out of the attempt.
Besides, big picture, why should they pee all over your good mood. The best revenge is to choose happiness and allow them their bitterness.
Bitterness… isn’t that why you needed room for your cream anyway? Ohhhh, there’s a whole unexplored metaphor in there somewhere.