Last Weekend: CCB (Lisbon)

This past weekend I went to the CCB in Lisbon to catch up on the temporary exhibitions. Had time to see two: Entre Memória e Arquivo* (Between Memory and Archive) and Sou Fujimoto: Futurospective (I am Fujimoto: Futurospective). it was a mild experience.

Unexpectedly however, also at the CCB but this time at the coffee shop, I had an unexpected and unpleasant surprise.

I was unfortunately met by a barista from hell at Este Oeste Pizza Sushi Café. One of those boys that talk, walk and try to act like girls, you know the type. Talking out of the corner of his mouth, with spite that I could never have caused or inspired in those short five minutes since approaching the counter, he finally stopped ignoring me and asked me what I wanted from across the bar. I didn't want to shout my order at him, so he had to come closer to hear me. As soon as I said that I wanted a small bread with cheese and just a little butter, he turned his back at me and left me hanging without taking the rest of my order, my words suspended in the air. I was dazed by his rudeness. Minutes later, another barista came to ask if we had already been served, and took the rest of our order.

When it was time to pay, I opened the bread just to make sure I was getting what I was paying for, only to see that there was no cheese inside the bread, only a coffee spoon equivalent of butter in the middle, but nothing else. I called the other barista and showed her the bread; embarrassed, she fixed the bread for me, apologizing for her co-worker.

The point to this is simple: people you hire must be ambassadors of your brand at all times. If you own a coffee shop or a restaurant, you cannot hire servers that don't represent the good food and service your brand is about. Nobody wants to eat food made by people that hate their jobs, and hate serving others, no matter what kind of place they found work at. Respect for your clients is something your brand and employees must own at all times, because ultimately, clients are the ones paying their salaries. If they can't respect them for any other reason, they should respect them for that. Instead of feeling that he is too good for his job, he should try reading Kazuo Ishiguro's **The Remains of the Day, and learn something about dignity in service, or just simply quit that job.

I will never eat there again; I expected a more sophisticated food and service experience.

* Photograph by Francesca Woodman.

**The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

    1989

    English

    Novel

    Faber and Faber

    ISBN 9780571225385