The old saying “the customer is always right” seems to float further and further away from the hospitality world each day.

While I don’t think the customer always needs to be right, they should always be treated with kindness.

One man took to Reddit to share his experience as a customer.

I’m in the UK and was with friends at one of the main coffee shop brands.

I won’t say which one but it’s similar to Costalot. It was a few days after Christmas last year (important for later).

The man immediately noticed the barista’s arrogant demeanor.

When I was served by the barista, it was obvious i was going to have an ‘experience’.

This guy acted haughtily and spoke to people with a sneer, and came across like he considered himself a prince amongst men.

He had a long floppy fringe that he kept brushing out of his contempt-filled eyes every few seconds.

Not only was the the barista the cashier, but also the one in charge of making the order.

He clearly didn’t want to be there or deal with the likes of me.

Awkward for both of us.

It was a two man team so a barista would take the order and make the drink. So he had to make whatever anyone ordered.

Despite the drink being clearly advertised, the barista implied it was too late for the customer to have his preferred order.

It was very early January, and the shop still has advertisements up for Christmas seasonal drinks.

I’m a fan of uncommon flavoured coffee or hot chocolate and said shop was advertising a Black Forest Hot Chocolate.

Black Forest is basically dark chocolate, black cherry and cream.

I ordered one and the barista looked me up and down and sneered “that’s a Christmas drink”

Here comes the debate…

Me – “Yes”

Barista – “It’s after Christmas”

Me – “Yes”

Barista, smirking – “So I can’t make you a Christmas drink”

Me – “But you’re advertising it and you’ve still got the ingredients open behind the counter”

The man felt he wasn’t being outrageous in his request to the barista.

This drink is basically a shot of the flavoured sauce, hot chocolate, and cream on top. It’s not that onerous or taxing to make compared to a normal hot chocolate. It’s literally a normal hot chocolate with a flavour syrup put in.

Barista, sighing and rolling his eyes “it’s not available right now”

Thankfully, our writer is observant and intelligent.

I wondered if he was being a tool for some unknown superiority complex, was being lazy and didn’t want to make this beverage, or if there really was some directive. So I threw up a weather balloon question.

Me – “ok fine. In that case, would i be able to buy a single shot of a flavoured syrup please? It says they are 35p on the board”

Barista, dismissively – “I don’t see why not”

Step one…

Me – “can I order a shot of the black cherry syrup there, but in a medium sized takeaway cup?”

Barista tuts and silently turns, gets a shot of said syrup in a cup for me and contemptuously places it in front of me.

“Anything else?” he sneers.

Cue my malicious compliance…

Step two… Genius.

I slide cup back to him and say “can you make a medium hot chocolate in this cup for me please, and stir it well before you put the whipped cream on top?”

Barista grimaces and realises that I’ve followed his instructions completely and still got myself a Black Forest hot chocolate.

I stand and watch him make it, which he does with the most reluctant and bitter energy imaginable.

For the record, it was pretty good.

Slow clap.

Reddit users were in favor of the writer.

One person shared their experience as a barista and reminded everyone that it’s “just coffee.”

Another reader shared that his local spot happily serves him any drink as long as they have the ingredients.

This person was exhausted by the coffee scene being filled with baristas like the one our writer experienced.

Hopefully the barista can learn to serve up some kindness with those coffee orders.

Want to read another story where somebody got satisfying revenge? Check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.