How to Ask your Customer on a Date
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your coffee is super hot
…and so are you!
These tips have been successfully tested, and are surprisingly effective. Although I haven’t actually asked a customer out (my co-workers have), I have made it possible to be successfully asked out by the customer (even better!) on a few occasions. Yes, the coffee shop is more practical than any online dating website. Isn’t a cafe where all classic first dates begin, anyway?
▪ Luckily, Baristas are paid an abysmal salary to chat people up and get to know them. So, not only doing are we doing our jobs if we’re genuine, forward and approachable, we are also doing ourselves a favour. The friendlier and flirtier we are, the more points we will score with our crushes… and our store sales.
*Make like a latte: sweet, bold and right at his/her fingers tips. Nothing is more attractive than confidence: A Barista who isn’t afraid to do her job right.Customer tip: Just because your Barista is super friendly and flirty, doesn’t always mean she is into you. It could be the person before you or behind you in the line-up, so be wary of direct eye contact.
▪ The secret of: Consistency! If a Barista knows her crush has a regular time he/she comes in, DUH, she will often change her work availability! She’ll consistently be friendly to all customers, but give extra attention to her crush so he/she will look forward to coming into that particular location and never miss a morning.
▪ Play all the positions. The lovestruck Batista will alert a few trustworthy co-workers about her situation. Then the Barista team makes sure she can easily adjust her position so that she is calling the line (taking orders) right when her fave crushtomer comes in. Then she’ll sneakily slide to the register when it’s time for him/her to pay, and quickly push aside the other Baristas and make the beverage (perfectly) by the time the crushtomer is at the bar hand-off. Next she’ll “conveniently” get sent by the supervisor to re-fill the milk at the condiment stand where her crush is now standing alone, adding sugar. If the Barista is clever, she will be able to transition this routine smoothly enough to have a sweet conversation lasting from the moment the crushtomer enters the store, to when he/she leaves, blushing. Also, he/she will be impressed by how amazing the Barista is a her job…unless the Barista is clumsy like me. Once I exploded an entire pitcher of milk, and dropped hundreds of dollars from my register on the floor because I was so nervous. I got lots of laughs from the line-up and eye rolls from my co-workers. I did score a date, but probably only out of sympathy.
WARNING: Be careful not to tell the wrong co-workers, which can lead to Barista gossip and caddy-ness in the coffee shop.
▪ Three words: Free beverages always.
▪ Let the crushtomer know your work schedule. This is a clear indication of if he/she likes the Barista in return: if the customer crush remembers what shifts she works and starts coming in to see her in action at the coffee shop, well, that Barista will soon be doing a little dance when she gets down tonight!
▪ Constantly bus the cafe so that you are on the other side of the counter and therefore, easily approachable to the customer...and the café will sparkle (scoring you extra points with your manager!). On one of the occasions when I was asked out, I was in the middle of changing the garbages. I panicked as my crushstomer approached me, and chucked all the bags hastily into the dumpster…and the store keys along with it! Yes, I got a date, but first I had to endure the longest shift of my life: Digging through trash in the back alleyway, in tears, well past midnight worrying I’d lost my job with the keys. It was wasn’t the ideal start to romance. But I did get a free fancy dinner out (and then some) the next night.
▪ Dress up for work. think “Pretty Woman”, but instead as a Barista is serving coffee with dignity, and probably not to Richard Gere.
▪ An audacious Barista will write her name, number, and cute messages on the cup. YES YES!!! It’s not tacky. It’s hot, and it works (as long at her penmanship is legible).
▪ Details Details Details! After a Barista gets her crushtomer’s order down, she must make sure she moves the conversation to anything else BUT coffee. It’s crucial to really get to know them as a person, just like reading an online profile. Remember, customers often come to the café because they are neurotic and unable to start off their day alone, so showing interest will really make them love you. Awwww…we are all only human after all.
▪ If a crushtomer hasn’t asked the Barista out yet, then it’s time to turn the tables! At the end of the day, it’s just a customer right?! The worst that will happen is he/she will switch stores, or the Barista will have to wear a coffee bag over her face for the rest of her shifts. Soon that Barista will fall in love with the next tall-dark-handsome-non-fat-cappuccino who walks through the door. Win!
Love,
Coffee Girl