A northwest suburban bakery is pouring hot water (or coffee) on what they say is a big problem in the service industry that needs to be talked about – politeness.
Putting up a sign in their quaint but popular Barrington bakery, Ambrosia Euro-American Patisserie is hoping to spark a new conversation among the guests that flock to their local shop.
The sign features a number of possible ways to order a coffee-- the more polite the option, the lower in cost.
Simply asking for a large coffee would be $3.25, but saying “Hello, large coffee please” would be only $2.50.
“Teaching manners one coffee at a time,” the sign reads.
The bakery said that while it’s not actually charging customers more for being impolite, it hopes to start a conversation on an issue that often goes unnoticed.
“It’s just to make a point,” said manager Flora Rivera, daughter co-founders Deborah Rivera and her late husband Richard Rivera. “We get a lot of compliments on how friendly and polite our staff is and it’s something that we’ve taken pride in for the last 27 years of owning Ambrosia.
"That’s the way it should be," she said. "We’re not going above and beyond by being polite, we’re doing our jobs. But when you get compliments like that you start to realize how many people don’t treat you the same.”
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While Rivera noted the sign was just posted Friday morning and hadn’t garnered much attention yet, she said some customers have taken notice. One customer said he appreciated the sign and noted the topic is one that needs to be talked about, she said.
It’s not the first time a café like Ambrosia has taken a stance on the issue.
A diner called La Petite Syrah in Nice, France, went viral after posting a similar sign in their shop in 2013, warning that impolite customers would pay a price.
The sign read:
"Un café - €7 [£5.90]
"Un café s'il vous plaît - €4.25
"Bonjour, un café, s'il vous plaît - €1.40."
Similarly, La Petite Syrah did not enforce the price increase, but merely hoped it would serve as a gentle reminder to customers.
In July, a Virginia coffee shop also garnered attention for a sign outside its shop offering lower prices for polite patrons.
A photo posted to imgur in July garnered more than 2.1 million views.
“Working in a coffee shop you do get a lot of people throughout the day who come in and not really conscious of their actions and moods toward the barista,” Barista Billie Byrd told the Washington Post.
Back in Barrington, Ambrosia plans to keep the sign posted for at least a little while in hopes of keeping the conversation going.
“How are we going to teach our kids to be polite and have manners if we can’t even say, ‘Hello’ and ‘Please’ when we order a coffee?” Rivera said.
