Do you want milk in that?

And breathe……….

Do you want chips in it?

Seems to be a "special" day for shop assistants 😕 (leave your brain at home day?)

"Coffee without cream please."

"Sorry, we don't have cream"

"OK, coffee without milk then."

If you've ever done a job like that, you would realise that because most people just ask for a coffee, it becomes automatic to ask if they would like milk – it generally has less to do with being thick and more to do with being tired and bored.

Of course some of the snobs that frequent this forum would never have had to demean themselves by working on a shop or cafe, so wouldn't be aware of this.

Ohh don't, some people here work in shops and seem to think that laughing at one person's idiocy is indicative of every shop worker across our once-great nation.

But great none-the-less 🙂

I asked for a black coffee in McD's once, and the young black assistant said "don't you mean coffee without milk"……no, BLACK COFFEE

My pet hate is a bit different here: the insidious corporate Americanization that tries to made us ask for ridiculous things like a 'grande Americano'. I WANT A LARGE BLACK COFFEE NOT A BLOODY GRANDE AMERICANO. It used to be so much easier.

And don't get me started on skinny lattes…

I refuse to acknowledge the words french fries in junk food places. Or regular if I don't have it every day etc

Flash on his way out of the coffee shop

Try asking for coffee in the States by the time they have gone through the 48 varieties of hot water with caffeine in it you have lost the will to live

What I hate is when you stop for a damn fine cup of coffee, somewhere in North America, and then become part of a David Lynch scripted murder investigation that will – eventually – cost you your soul.

cafe negro por favor… ?
cafe noir si'l vous plais… ?

Could this be 'cos in place that sell all these strange varieties of coffee if I want a normal coffee I ask for a large black coffee but with space for a splash of milk? I think many folk do that. If you ask for a white coffee you get half coffee half boiled milk which is disgusting. So asking if you want milk in your black coffee may not be as daft as it seems

Of course the best option is to avoid the chains anyway.

geoffj, if they'd asked if I wanted Venti or Grandissimotwatti, I would have been very much at a "Falling Down" state of mind…..just with better guns! 😉

Pah! "Double espresso and a glass of tap water please" is all you need to know in a coffee shop.
If it doesn't make your eyes bleed its not strong enough.

double ristretto aP you big softy!

Hardly the end of the world and pretty much as grumm said, besides you may have been talking to the next Edgar Degas or Rudyard Kipling who is currently earning their keep.

Germans have it best. "Grosse Braune bitte". I'd like a big brown one please. Speaking of which, my lah-tay is just taking effect 😯

Triple espresso in a mug. Twice. On an empty stomach. It's like the bastard son of napalm and Red Bull.

Then try walking around a busy shopping street without acting like Cornholio from Beavis and Butthead.

I refuse to acknowledge the words french fries in junk food places. Or regular if I don't have it every day etc

French fries being distinctly different from chips….and regular can be indicative of shape at least…

I've had more fun asking for white coffee with a dash of milk…..

Hardly the end of the world and pretty much as grumm said, besides you may have been talking to the next Edgar Degas or Rudyard Kipling who is currently earning their keep

If he could talk with crowds and keep his virtue,
' Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,

the post might not have been started.

you may have been talking to the next Edgar Degas or Rudyard Kipling who is currently earning their keep

Or the next Bob Dylan…

One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go.
To the valley below.

Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself
You've never learned to read or write
There's no books upon your shelf
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark.

One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go.
To the valley below.

My pet hate is a bit different here: the insidious corporate Americanization that tries to made us ask for ridiculous things like a 'grande Americano'. I WANT A LARGE BLACK COFFEE NOT A BLOODY GRANDE AMERICANO. It used to be so much easier.

Then stop going to big chain coffee shops then FFS.

The nice girl at Leith Hill Tower asked me if I wanted milk in my tea once. I think I said "just a dash please". I'm not sure what she heard me say, but she definitely felt that I'd crossed the line. 😳

Small, Medium, Large. Nothing wrong with those descriptions. Whilst they're relative and not absolute I find them more useful than the toss these organisations get hung up on using. I am one of those stubborn gits that refuses to use the terminology they foist upon us. Nothing to do with living in Yorkshire…

And don't get me started on skinny lattes…

What's wrong with skinny lattes?

Then stop going to big chain coffee shops then FFS.

+1.

The world changes, get over yourself. I bet there's been plenty of old codgers coming out of bike shops then logging onto oldgitworld.com and posting 'I only wanted a bloody bike, not a flippin freeride jeycore lite fully whatsitted ponce machine'.

Embrace diversity, the world is more fun when you're not on your own bitter lonely beach fighting the tide of modernity 🙂

An Americano is espresso with hot water, 'black coffee' is usually normal filter coffee – they are different! 🙂

Nothing to do with living in Yorkshire…

I surprised the choice extends to any more than 'do you want that in a cup or a mug' and 'Sugar and milk are on the table behind you' if you live in Yorkshire.

Keva – Member

cafe negro por favor… ?

That kind of looks Spanish, but in Madrid it's customary to ask for "cafe solo , por favor?" 😉

Remind me of the movie geoffj's pic's from

Unless myfather… you are in Itlay where an Americano is filter coffee!
By the way CFH did you say "Can I get…" because you can't that's what the person behind the counter does!

it's coffee, not a life changing experience.

Was in Boden the other day, picking up another single cup French press (as I am so hamfisted they appear to be disposable) and the sales girl was wearing a company tee shirt which said 'perfectly formed' on it, and she absolutely was…She even had the grace to smile politely when I told her I liked the company dress policy…

See? It's not all bad.

don simon,

latin american Spanish – central & south america.

I think some folk need to switch to de-caf.

I guessed so.

What gets me is the rise of the phrase "Can I get…….", whatever happened to "Please may I have……."

I know words change, OK, but soon we will all grunt at each other in suedo american.

Standards matter.

whatever happened to "Please may I have……."

don't we mostly say "please can I…" ? 'May' seems a bit fussy…

suedo american

AKA pseudo :o) Or is the blue suedo american shoes ?

Well see, I might be the only one that did spot the irony here.

Ponce wanabe with no taste at all get into fancy coffee shop and ask for a LARGE black coffee.
Shop assistant decide to take the p1$$ out of him, as no one with decent taste ask for a large black coffee…