Employer

Stylish Coffee

Mr. Braeburn glanced at the mirror on his way out the door. The rather unusual combination of Highland Scot and Comanche looked back at him with a cheery smirk. "Hello, buddy!" he greeted his reflection. "Ready for another long day? No? Well, let me fix your hair, and your tie, and... Aren't diamond cuff links overkill and ostentatious for a work day? Yeah? Let's go with... Oh perfect. Onyx is exactly the right tone! Ready to go? Ok, bye!"
With that, Mr. Braeburn jogged out of his bedroom and out of his city home, and jumped into his vintage Diesel BMW.
The morning was crisp and frosty, and Mr. Braeburn shivered while his car heated, but he smiled. Frosty mornings always saw an increase in sales. Today would be fun. Today was his Quality Assurance Day of the month. He would visit ten locations of Braeve Coffee and see how the customers were being treated, talk to the manager and employees, and order a drink or snack.
And check the books when he got home, but hey, the day would be fun. He grinned, and ten minutes later, pulled in to a location in the more industrial part of town. The drive through was packed.
Good sign.
When he pushed the doors open, the location was packed.
Good sign.
There were three baristas working busily, with big friendly smiles on their faces. They were friendly and welcoming but not familiar or flirty.
Good sign.
Professional behavior was important in busy locations.
The line moved quickly, and to Mr. Braeburn's surprise and delight, he was served five minutes after entering the shop. He left each barista a tip of five dollars, and took his black coffee to a window table and sat near a group of contractors who were gearing up for a hard day's work in the chill fall air.
Mr. Braeburn tried the wi-fi. It was a little slow. He flipped out his notepad and headed his first page.
Riverside Drive Location
Staff: five stars
Atmosphere: comfortable, geared toward blue collar workers. Note to play country or classic rock, no Euro pop or classical at this location.
Wi-fi: Needs to be faster.
Coffee quality: Passably fair. Should probably check on the beans and oversee a roasting. May need to choose another provider.
He sipped the coffee again, tasting it thoughtfully.
"Hey, guys. What do you usually get here?" he asked the contractors. They looked at him with the polite condescension that a working man has for a suit, and the oldest one answered, "Coffee with cream and sugar."
"You like it, or do you think they should up the quality?"
"Heck no! We don't cotton to that fancy stuff that costs six bucks for a sixteen ounce. Good strong simple coffee is why we come in here. If we wanted that hipster coffee, we'd be in Starbucks. This is a good shop. You come in here, they don't waste your time, and they don't charge you more than you can afford for a morning coffee."
"Awesome! That's what we like to hear!" Mr. Braeburn exclaimed. "You folks don't freeze your noses off, now."
The contractors gave him polite smiles, smugly concealing their superiority to this poor wimp who couldn't handle a day's work in freezing weather. Poor sap probably would die if he had to work in 33° pouring down rain.
Braeburn could see their thoughts and smiled his own amusement.
Customer Satisfaction: Yes. Do not change coffee.

The next shop was near a school. It was already crowded with teenagers grabbing their froufy coffees, cocoas, teas and breakfasts. There were two baristas working, obviously rushed, and with the college kid's superiority toward the high schoolers. As soon as Mr. Braeburn strode in, carrying an expensive leather tote and sporting onyx cuff links on a custom tailored suit, the baristas suddenly looked less bored and started tossing their hair and smiling big toothy smiles.
Not good signs.
He made to get in line, but a barista beckoned him to the head of the line.
Very bad sign.
He got in line anyway, and waited nearly fifteen minutes for a frappucino.
Average.
The barista flirted desperately with him, ignoring the acne-faced boy she was ringing up.
Very bad.
He took his drink to a table where a few teens with laptops sat.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked, politely.
Surprisingly well mannered for teenagers, they all looked up and nodded silently, one boy with glasses saying "sure."
"Thanks." Mr. Braeburn replied, and dug out his notepad.
Northside high school location
Staff: Two stars. Customer service is terrible. Consider hiring new staff, must visit with manager more often.
Atmosphere: Very teen oriented. Do not play classical or old music. Stick to pop or popular instrumental arrangements of current hits. Try to find trendier furniture and maybe some more energetic color schemes.
Wi-fi: Excellent. Note; that is probably why this location is even successful.
Coffee Quality:
Here Mr. Braeburn took a sip of his sugary drink. He curled his lip. Nasty, overly sweet, but for it's kind, it was perfect. The coffee flavor was good quality and the drink didn't depend on sugar to be palatable, it simply was the nature of froufy coffee to be too sweet to Mr. Braeburn's taste. "What do guys get here?" he asked the teens at his table.
"Mocha."
"Chai latte with whip."
"Black coffee."
"Caramel frappè."
"The Crème brulée."
"Is it good here, or is it just convenient to the school?"
"Well, it's good, it's like half the price of anywhere else, and the wi-fi is awesome. But the baristas are awful." the kid with glasses said.
"I noticed that."
"You know, you kind of look like this isn't. .. I mean, not to be rude or anything, but this doesn't really look like your kind of place." the kid replied, somewhat to Mr. Braeburn's surprise. Usually people didn't offer to talk to strangers.
"Yes, it's not my usual haunt. What gave it away? The cuff links or my seamed and ancient face?"
The teen laughed.
"This is like, the teen's coffee shop this time of morning, and yeah, you're a bit more pricey looking than the usual clientele. What is that, a Gucci tote, or is that Armani? I mean look, Danny over here gets everything from the thrift store 'cause Wal-Mart is too expensive!"
"No, I wouldn't be caught dead with Gucci! This is made by Paolo Aguilera. Less widely known, but Paolo doesn't sell you Calvin Klein with a brand name and a mark up. This, young man, is known as... Wait for it... Quality!"
The teen laughed again. "Yeah, you don't fit in here, not at all."
Mr. Braeburn grinned at him and turned his attention to the notepad again.
Coffee Quality: Good
Customer satisfaction: Less than perfect. Must improve customer service ASAP, when updating shop must be aware to keep décor low key, do not intimidate current casual clientele.
"Nice to meet you, gentlemen." he nodded to the teens who were already absorbed in their laptops again. They offered him distracted farewells, and he walked through the door marked "Employees Only" to talk to the manager. This was one place that didn't need to wait until next week to get back on track.