Take care of your customers!

We baristas are a special breed. We are a uniquely skilled set of people. We know way more about coffee than the average Joe ever will (get it, Joe? ha ha). Depending on the cafe we work for, our definition of the perfect cappuccino will vary. Shots of espresso will look and taste different, and we will time and judge them differently. The fact that there's so much knowledge and product diversity just within the industry makes me all the more convinced that members of the general public possess an even wider array of assumptions about the coffee their baristas serve them.
I've mentioned before about customers becoming irate after being served a latte without foam, when in fact the defining characteristic of a Cafe Nasty latte is its foamlessness.
I have learned over the span of my short career to never assume the customer knows what she's talking about. Fortunately, because coffee shops tend to build up a clientele of regulars who do, over time, get familiar with all the little technical terms their baristas throw around, most customers I serve know exactly what to order and how to ask for it.
I like to think I'm pretty adept at spotting the tourist and quickly adjusting to my helpful, non-judgemental coffee snob mode. Our big chalkboard menu that's posted high on the wall behind the counter is sparsely worded, and a little enigmatic in its drink descriptions. It's a menu written for coffee jerks, who of course will only order off the menu anyway.
During a busy shift spent making coffee for regular customers whose special drinks I've committed to memory, it can be difficult to snap myself out of my uber-barista haze and slow down to take the order of someone who may never have been to a cafe like this in her whole life for all I know.
It may sound strange, but when these moments arise, I embrace them fully because they always remind me why my job is as enjoyable as it is. Serving a delicious mocha to an excited new customer is fun. It's a special little experience, and I try to remember as often as possible to appreciate the joyful simplicity of it.
I cannot get caught up in the hustle bustle or I will stop having fun.
Baristas, exercise your patience muscles and answer customers' questions graciously and thoroughly. You want them to return to your cafe many times in the future, and a willingness to find out exactly what they want, scrapping all the fancy coffee lingo and talking like a normal person, is a huge part of providing them with an experience they'll want to repeat.
Bless you, good friends.