Yesterday, we went to Leeds to do some shopping in preparation of our upcoming big day (yes, getting married soon!) At lunch time we decided to go get some food and a drink, we wanted to go to Starbucks but both the Border’s Starbucks and the actual Starbucks shop on the street were packed (20+ queues.) So we decided on Costa Coffee, 93-97 Albion Street (near Harvey Nichols) for our mid-day drink and snack…I wish we had queued for Starbucks.
It got to my time to order, so I ordered us a Gingerbread Latte, Hazelnut (or some nut) Latte, 2 mince tarts and 2 panini’s that needed heating up. The woman on the counter put the order in the till, took payment and then…no drinks…no one told the guy doing the drinks for about 5 minutes, so while other people got served, I was just standing there. Eventually they realised he needed to make the drinks and so they begun.
That day, their dishwasher was broke as well, so all orders came in their cardboard cups, this was out of their control in all fairness, but it would have been nice to see someone there working on it, it was busy, something like a cup is pretty important at a coffee shop, especially when the customer level is going up.
Someone who placed their order while I was stood waiting asked for a slight alteration to the standard drink (missed the actual item ordered, but caught the part where he said “but can you…” – two women responded saying, we’re awfully busy so we can’t do that for you now because (and I quote) “if we do that for you, everyone will want it” – a line I have a personal grievance about – it also shows a lack of any care for customers.
Then another conversation unfolded, I missed the start of it, but the ending was superb (note, the manager was working on the floor too):
Manager: “This is the first time this has happened, sorry.”
Customer: “Well that’s not true, I was in here a few days ago and got the same excuse, so it’s certainly not the first time.”
Manager: “Well it’s not happened while I’ve been here, I’m the new manager.”
I found this particularly offensive to a customer – just lie to their face why don’t you?
Finally, and this is what made me want to post this. The toilets…oh my god. For a start, there is one toilet for both males and females. A small room that has the toilet and the sink – so if you’re done with the toilet, you can’t let someone else use it while you wash your hands. That’s nothing though, compared to the urine all over the floor, the used tissue on the floor and, best of all, the toilet brush on the floor covered in shit, yes, shit. It was truly disgusting in there, yes it’s a toilet used by customers so it’s going to get messy every now and then, but leaving urine on the floor and a shit covered toilet brush is beyond acceptable. The picture shows the cleanliness pretty well, just click to enlarge.
Incidentally, the coffees looked like regular coffee’s, no extra finishing touches or anything, very bland.