Great Expectations

My husband and I went out for coffee last Wednesday night. We went to a local “star” coffee shop. John, the man working behind the counter, was more than friendly. He gave us many interesting options for our evening cup of java. John almost sold me on something new, but I decided to maintain my loyalty to a delicious cup of chai tea latte.

My chai is the same every time I have it: medium, skim milk, and two sugar substitutes. John made the perfect drink. The spicy aroma rose through the steam. I could already taste it. I opened the sweetener packets and poured, adding the finishing touches. All I needed was a stirrer, and I could take my first flavorful sip. I looked. I looked again. I looked once more. There were no stirrers. “Hmmm, this is odd,” I thought. “I’m sure it must be someone’s responsibility to keep an eye on these things.” I decided to let friendly John know. I knew he would get right on top of the situation.

“We don’t have any,” John said apologetically. My countenance dropped. “Excuse me?” John answered again, “Yes, that’s correct, we do not have any stirrers.” “Wow,” I said a bit puzzled. Thinking I could probably joke with him a little after our opening conversation, I asked the obvious question. “Isn’t this the ‘star’ of coffee shops? What do you mean you don’t have any stirrers?” Then he said something even more amazing. “We haven’t had any for two days.” I wanted to sip my chai to bring some comfort to this unbelievable situation, but everything in my cup was still improperly blended! I decided that I owed it to the coffee drinking public to dig deeper into this mystery.

“So, mister friendly man behind the counter,” John smiled knowing more questions were coming. “How is it that the ‘star’ of coffee shops can be out of stirrers? Stirrers are just a given. We don’t even think about them. They just exist. Like air, and taxes. What happened?” He started laughing. “Well, our regulars take two or three at a time, and we ran out sooner than anticipated.” I thought I could get away with one more question. “If this is a regular occurrence, shouldn’t the person ordering account for it?” John nodded in agreement. “You would think, ma’am, but the upper echelon is all new, and they don’t know how to order. We’ll have more on Friday.”

I decided he had had enough of my polite inquisition. Friday??? I could not get it out of my mind. A coffee shop out of stirrers for one week, how does that affect business? I am only a once or twice a month customer. Will the once or twice a day customers still come in after a five-day stirrer shortage? As I considered these questions, a stirrer suddenly appeared before my eyes. John smiled. “Here you go, ma’am, we are supposed to save these for our oatmeal, but I had to give you one.”

They had oatmeal, but no stirrers? Go figure!

This Week’s Question: What expectations do your customers have? Do you take for granted things like an updated menu, clean restrooms, or being open during posted hours of operation? What intangible expectations do they have, such as eye contact, a smile, or prompt service? Walk in to your business as a customer, and see if your business meets your expectations.