Blogs Feb 12, 2013 at 10:45 am

Should All City Coffee Have Fired the Bitter Barista?

Paul Constant
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Comments

1
That's a good angle for a high quality experience. I'd retweet a snarky tweet about me by a barista.
Baconcat on February 12, 2013 at 10:53 AM Report this
2
Snarky customers have Yelp, snarky baristas have Twitter.

The only significant difference is that baristas can't survive without customers. Who knew?
TheVripper on February 12, 2013 at 10:59 AM Report this
3
Depends. Even if off-the-clock, having a bitter employee can be harmful to employee morale and the customer experience. But if it's more snark than nasty, that would be fine with me.
Matt the Engineer on February 12, 2013 at 11:01 AM Report this
4
In a service oriented economy, isn't this an additional, and optional, service, offered free of charge?

If you can't stand the tweet, stop using the Internet. We made it to watch coffeepots and beam time, not for companies.
Will in Seattle on February 12, 2013 at 11:08 AM Report this
5
Where is the option for "the people at Sprudge are assholes for giving out his name and place of employment?"

Also, the layout of Sprudge looks like a bag of dicks.
Theodore Gorath on February 12, 2013 at 11:26 AM Report this
6
If anyone knows this guy, you know he's actually super sweet and great with customers, hence the outrage at Sprudge. He never compromised service, just brought humor to the service industry.
Baller on February 12, 2013 at 11:28 AM Report this
7
I liked and related to all the ones about customers but the ones about how shitty his boss was and tweeting on the job rubbed me the wrong way. If you're going to do something like this you should also be good at your job.
care bear on February 12, 2013 at 11:29 AM Report this
8
Sprudge are assholes, whoever they are. Bitter Barista is awesome & funny.
very bad homo on February 12, 2013 at 11:32 AM Report this
9
I'm with @5, fuck those envious dickholes.
chinaski on February 12, 2013 at 11:38 AM Report this
10
Mark can say and post anything he wants on his own time, but if he uses his on-the-clock time, that is a problem and it is kind of unethical. The coffee shop overreacted though. All of this might have been resolved by saying, "Mark, consider yourself thoroughly chastised. Please don't do this while at work and I would really appreciate your co-operation."

But to cut someone off from his livelihood? Unless he was stealing from the register or threatening another employee or a customer, no. It was a dick move, an inexperienced move, too. Never pays to can someone unless you absolutely have to. Too expensive financially and morale-wise.
Bauhaus I on February 12, 2013 at 11:40 AM Report this
11
"to cut someone off from his livelihood"?? that's a bit dramatic.

I'm with 7 - I like the blog, it's very funny, but posting/tweeting on company hours, and especially talking smack about the boss is just begging to get fired. I hardly think any sort of reprimand would be effective, and to tolerate that from an employee would be the sign of a completely ineffective boss.

genevieve on February 12, 2013 at 11:56 AM Report this
12
Publicly badmouthing the company you work for and its customers is one of the dumbest things you can do as an employee. Don't do it, you'll be fired. There is no such thing as an employer who finds this kind of stuff good natured fun. It is damaging to their business and they'd be a fool not to get rid of you.
Brandon J. on February 12, 2013 at 12:01 PM Report this
13
I realize that being a customer servant is not the grand calling most people imagined for themselves, but if you feel utterly put upon merely from the sight of someone's bicycle helmet mirror or price complaint and you need to tweet about it perhaps you're not cut out for the job? Because people ARE going to do way more fucked up shit than that, and if you're struggling with the little cringe-inducing stuff, you're gonna have a really hard time when someone actually flips out.
PineStreetBomber on February 12, 2013 at 12:02 PM Report this
14
I think he's really funny, and I sincerely hope he lands on his feet.

But tweeting about your customers and boss, and failing to sufficiently anonymize yourself while doing so, is really fucking stupid.
bleedingheartlibertarian on February 12, 2013 at 12:04 PM Report this
15
Tweeting snarky shit about your job on company time is a risk. But I support it and think it was funny.

Outing the tweeter by revealing his real identity is pretty fucked and I think Spludge or whoever sound like assholes. And trying to justify it by claiming you were butthurt that someone somewhere was wasting company time is fucking pathetic. Apparently you were that tattletale kid in school, and also apparently you think tweeting from your smartphone during lulls is "stealing" time from your employer. Great job policing those baristas. They've really got it too easy.

beef rallard on February 12, 2013 at 12:31 PM Report this
16
"to cut someone off from his livelihood"?? that's a bit dramatic.


@11: Not dramatic at all. A person's job is and has been referred to as his livelihood for as long as I can remember.
Bauhaus I on February 12, 2013 at 12:40 PM Report this
17
Using company time is probably the worst argument possible for this. It's a good thing I spend my full 8 hour shift just thinking about all the tweets I'm going to post, and wait until after I clock out to actually post them.

I'm sorry, did you just go to the bathroom? How did that help us with our profit margins? Sneezing? Not unless your sneeze helps bring in new business.

There is a difference between delaying a customer to call your friends and talk about shoes, and spending a minute or two of downtime thinking about yourself and not the company you work for.
Christampa on February 12, 2013 at 12:49 PM Report this
18
this all just seems like internet 101. also, I've read the Bitter Barista, it wasn't that funny.
gi on February 12, 2013 at 12:54 PM Report this
19
Sprudge=assholes. Should I track down all their dirty secrets and try to get them fired or bankrupted?
Spike1382 on February 12, 2013 at 1:10 PM Report this
20
The guy's an idiot. You can't make "jokes" about your customer service day job that imply you are giving people bad service/bad product because they are jerks.

He would have been fired at ANY business for this crap.
J.R. on February 12, 2013 at 1:14 PM Report this
21
Right or wrong, let this be a lesson to the kiddos: freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences.
SRJ on February 12, 2013 at 1:20 PM Report this
22
He should have been promoted.
Angrybeaver on February 12, 2013 at 1:35 PM Report this
23
I'm most offended by the notion of publishing a Twitter feed and selling it as a book. It's come to this? Jesus.
kerri harrop on February 12, 2013 at 1:58 PM Report this
24
@16 - but getting fired as a direct result of one's actions can hardly be considered "cut off from [one's] livelihood". Unless you allow that the knife was in the barista's hand.

I do think Spludge or whoever they are outing the guy is a jerk move, but the fact that they found out his identity means he did a crap job of hiding it.
genevieve on February 12, 2013 at 2:08 PM Report this
25
Absolutely LOVE significant poll numbers where the results are almost evenly split between firing and retaining (different reasons, same opinions). A nerve has been touched....
Jaymz on February 12, 2013 at 2:21 PM Report this
26
He describes deliberately screwing up peoples orders and mocks legitimate health issues. Does that mean he will give me food that makes me sick just because he is "bitter"? That is way more than just wasting company time. It is fucking with peoples health and wellness and taking pleasure in it. This is not what a customer service based company wants in an employee. He deserved to be fired. There lots of folks out there who need jobs and don't hate people.
Granny Smith on February 12, 2013 at 2:26 PM Report this
27
I'm w/ 5, there is a line on the internet between sites that denounce posting personal information (reddit) and the one who don't (gawker, 4chan).

Spludge crossed that line.
Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on February 12, 2013 at 2:34 PM Report this
28
When I worked at a local coffee shop years ago one of the things that drove me nuts was attempting to make it seem like I was doing something useful on the clock if the boss was around (and didn't want to shoot the shit).

I know, if you have time to lean you have time to clean, but during slow times you end up with a lot of nothing to do in a small coffee shop.
Unregistered User on February 12, 2013 at 3:34 PM Report this
29
@18 That's because most people think they have a great sense of humor but most people are wrong.
McGee on February 12, 2013 at 3:49 PM Report this
30
No one comes off looking good from this. Sprudge looks cruel, the coffee shop seems vindictive, the bitter barista website wasn't funny, and let's not even discuss his 'music'.
on February 12, 2013 at 6:21 PM Report this
31
Just FYI, if you read the Kiro interview with him, he states that the blog is satire. He said that he actually did enjoy his job, his customers, and his boss. The statements were never true or meant to be true. He didn't mess up orders on purpose, he wasn't snarky on the job with actual customers the way he is in the blog, etc. It was just a humorous blog not to be taken seriously. Also, if you've ever worked in the service industry, you deal with bad customers and everyone vents about it. A lot of people can relate to his tweets which, really aren't that bad, or as hateful as the comments you see posted on the internet.

So everyone else gets to be mean, but he shouldn't have been?
on February 12, 2013 at 8:33 PM Report this
32
Typical passive aggressive NW behavior from Sprudge but this will go full circle. Fired = lame short dick move from owner.

All the whiners chiming in about his bad attitude, poor service, so mean, boo hoo hoo need a big cup of shut the fuck up
Mr. Fucking Diggles on February 12, 2013 at 8:52 PM Report this
33
#31, you must be the bitter barista...

If I read someone's blog or twitter where they stated that they hated their customers and intentionally screwed up their orders to the detriment of the customer's health, I'd a) never go there b) tell the owner so he'd fire that jerk.

If it was meant as "satire", it didn't come across as such. Just a lot of nasty negativity where he threatened customers all day long. Stupid.
anita772 on February 16, 2013 at 1:49 PM Report this

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