| rev:text
| - I really don't know why, but I have never really much cared for this place, which is a shame, because it's close to home, and I had figured I would spend a lot of time there, especially since it's not just open to the bustle of Walnut Street but also open late. I miss the friendly coffee shops I'm used to in the San Francisco area, and the flow of people, and had thought this one would be a good substitute, a new home-away-from-home kind of place to just kick back.
I'm just not very comfortable there, though, and I don't mean the not-very-comfortable chairs, which really aren't all that different from many other places.
Maybe it's the high ceiling, which robs it of any feeling of coziness that is nice to have in a neighborhood coffee shop. It's a big space, with a lot of room between tables, which is nice for maneuvering around, but works against the coziness factor as well.
The only average food and drink don't help, nor does the lack of trash cans next to the sweetener/milk stations, necessitating a schlep across the broad expanse of store to throw something away - which isn't easy with your hands full, especially when one of them is needed to wield a cane.
The garage door front makes it a lovely spot on a day or evening that is not too hot and not too cold, but it still doesn't overcome the feeling of... I guess the feeling of not feeling particularly welcome. Ever. Somehow, there's just really no "there" there. There's a coldness, a sterility, about the place that is just discomfiting.
I was in there tonight, and the place was as silent as a tomb, despite at least half the tables being occupied. There was quiet music, but not one single conversation, and other patrons actually gave me the hairy eyeball of disgust when I took a call, even though I kept my voice low. Weird... Can't blame the patrons for the place, but it was still odd with a bunch of millennials all around.
What really got me, though, was when I went to get a refill on my ice tea, and the guy at the register wanted to charge me for it, and gave me a rash of very unfriendly, whining, reluctant shit when I told him the other guy I'd bought it from had said they do give one free refill.
I'd asked about refills when I'd paid, and was told that they don't normally give them in the plastic cups, but only in glass ones for there - but he hadn't even asked me if I'd wanted it for there or to go, just gave me the plastic to-go cup after ascertaining what size I wanted. So, he said I could in fact have a refill when I pointed that out. How was I to have known they even *had* another option? I've never gotten ice tea there.
But #2 guy didn't seem at all impressed that I'd been sitting right there all along, not too far from the end of his own nose, and planned to continue doing so. He did finally sort of agree to give me the refill at no charge, after first insisting on full payment, then only very reluctantly saying that, well, OK, he *supposed* he *could* give me a *discount*, but his attitude was loaded with such massive resistance, reluctance, stinginess, and sheer lack of interest in anything resembling desire to provide even passable customer service that I just left my cup on the counter and walked out.
Now look. I can easily afford a second glass of tea; this isn't about the money in the slightest. It's about the attitude.
It's about refusing to honor what another employee already promised, or to even check with the other guy about it - i.e. truly abysmal customer service and not giving a customer the benefit of the doubt. It's about a very "We don't want you here and don't care at all about making you feel welcome" tone - which was amply reflected in the twisting, sneering kind of expressions on his face.
It's also about incredible stinginess.
I mean, what difference does the material of the glass make when the customer is *sitting right there*, if the refill would have been willingly given otherwise?
And it's freaking *ice tea*, for heaven's sake - probably the very cheapest non-tap water beverage to be had anywhere because it is, by definition, so totally watered down. And cheap to start with, because most tea *is* cheap, and you know there's no way they are using the top shelf stuff for it.
Plus my having a plastic cup means one less dish to wash, which means a bit less water and dish soap used, etc.
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