I grew up here in Austin, and I always had the admittedly biased view that the people here were friendly. Although this was the case throughout the rest of the city I visited this week, Epoch Coffee left a bad taste in my mouth. Let me begin by saying that I am not surprised by the occasional rude barista. They have them in my new home, Houston, I'm sure. However, the Epoch baristas are in a league of their own, to use the old cliche. They actually yelled at my sweet old mother for not having made a purchase in the first ten minutes of being in the shop. One barista actually said, ''Get out now,'' even though I was heading to the register to make a purchase for us. He then told her ""Every second you spend here--we're basically paying for you to be here.""
Yes, that is excellent business sense. Insult the customer. Wait--I don't recall learning that in my marketing class. It must be some sort of cutting-edge business strategy they're teaching there. I'm surprised he's working at a coffee shop when he'd probably be at the top of his class in MBA school.
In conclusion, I was appalled at the utter lack of decency exhibited by the employees. They are clearly devoid of people skills as well as the desire to please customers. I am embarrrassed that this place is actually considered somewhat representative of my hometown. Heck, it's in the neighborhood where I grew up. I expected a lot more. Was the coffee ok? It was lukewarm. The croissant was a croissant. But my trip to the coffee shop with my mother--that was utterly ruined.
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