Our delivery company sucks.
I was trying to think of a more eloquent way to say that, but god, they just… they just suck. I feel like throwing a gallon of CURDLED MILK at their truck. I feel like throwing my head back C. Brown style and yelling it. Ladies and Gents, this is an actual photograph of me taken when I found out that the delivery company fucked up our milk… when I was making red, yellow, and blue lattes.
We have a company that comes in every night and brings our milks, breakfast sandwiches, food/pastries - everything that we need fresh and a new supply of everyday. They really make a big mess up once or twice a week.
Its an absolutely terrible feeling to open a fridge at 5 in the morning to find like 20 gallons of spoiled green-tinted (yuk) milk. During every gallon I open and pour down the drain, I get more mad and think about how much I hate those stupid delivery guys. Milk is the main ingredient for most of our drinks. How can we not have a crucial part of our products? What if Olive Garden didn’t have breadsticks? What if McDonalds ran out of ketchup?
We are usually understaffed as it is, so when this happens, we loose a partner for a 1/2 hour or so while they run to another SB or - if the delivery company messed up all of the milks in the area - the grocery store to buy more milk. A gallon gets used fast, so they have to get a lot. Do you know how difficult it is to carry more than 3 gallons of milk?
So what’s worse than finding ruined milk in the morning? Having ruined milk and not knowing about it! There was a period about a month ago when no one seemed able to foam the milk properly - especially for cappuccinos. It was bizaar. We called our repair man saying that the steam wand wasn’t working right. He came to our store, was a douche, and said we should all be retrained on how to steam milk. Apparently, he steamed some half and half perfectly, so it was working fine.
We later found out it was our delivery company’s fault. They were freezing some of our milk, and got to us in liquid form. Milk like this does not foam properly - especially for cappuccinos. We had no idea that this was going on! Its embarrassing to tell a customer “sorry, we can’t make a cappuccino.” What kind of coffee shop can’t make cappuccinos?
Oh and they love forgetting things. Like bagels. Do you know how annoyed people get when they can’t get their multi-grain bagel toasted with cream cheese? Almost as annoyed as when we have NO breakfast sandwiches. Which reminds me, we have breakfast sandwiches that we need to keep in a refridgerater because they have meat and cheese. Those things can’t just be chillin’ on the counter overnight. I GUESS THE DELIVERY PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE THIS. We’ve come in a few times to see the sandwiches above the refrigerator and 10 or so degrees above temperature. Customers don’t seem to understand why in the world we wouldn’t have any breakfast sandwiches! Its like Tiffany’s running out of white ribbon!
They usually come after we’re gone, but sometimes they come while us baristas are alone in the store closing. They’ve always creeped (I know, crept, but who the hell says “whoa, that really crept me out”) me out the max, so now I try to keep it to a minimum “hey, how are you?” and “have a good night!”
A few months ago we noticed their truck parked outside the store while we were closing. Twenty or so minutes later when we left, they were still there and still hadn’t come in yet. When we passed the truck we saw two of the delivery guys sitting in the front seats SLEEPING. Shit, I wish I could take a nap instead of making a bigillion frappuccinos.
When I asked one of my managers why we put up with it he said “they’re cheap.” “But they do this stuff all of the time, why can’t we change to a new company?!” “because they’re cheap”
Everything’s been making me so irritable at work so all I have to say is Aaugh!
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