Friday, December 28, 2007

Square Peg, Round Hole

At Tully's coffee this morning, I noticed they'd added stanchions to control the flow of the line. The front of the line is now marked by a small sign that says, "Enter here" and is on the far side of the entrance of the store, not exactly intuitive since you have to walk to back side of the registers instead of just stand in front of them. As I waited, I noticed one or two people get in line from the wrong end, completely defeating the purpose.

When I finally got to the front of the line, I had the following conversation:

Me: The new line is kind of confusing.
Lead barista: Yeah, you should've seen it the first day. Everyone kept coming in the wrong side.
Me: Maybe you could make the sign bigger. Or go back to the old way.
Lead barista: This is more user-friendly.

Yeah, because user-friendly means pissing off your pre-caffeinated customers. Oooh Tully's, if I didn't enjoy your coffee so darned much...

Posted by at 10:34 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll have to work on converting you to a Monorail devotee. Friendly baristas who remember your order, very good coffee, and rarely any confusion. Of course, their one convenient location wouldn't help you when you're at home, which I'm guessing is when you visit Tully's.

January 22, 2008 10:02 PM
Folly Blaine said...

I love Monorail. It's my main source for mochas and lattes, but when I just want a grande black coffee (for $1.97) I go to Tully's. Monorail also sells Macrina Squash Bread, which I would eat everyday if possible.

At home I brew a pot of Tully's coffee and drink it with a liberal amount of Bailey's. It is my weekend vice.

January 23, 2008 8:03 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)