by I have worked at a popular Italian Market for the past couple of years, a few blocks from where I live in the Bronx. Overall, it’s been a fun, educational, and challenging time, but interacting with wave after wave of hungry, decaffeinated people every day can get a bit overwhelming at times.
It’s interesting to see all the different people who come shop and hang out at this Italian market. Musicians, diplomats, Italians, students, Uber drivers, retirees, construction workers, moms, locals, all of them. They want espressos, lattes, cappuccinos, sandwiches, pasta, pastries, gelato, and they need it now! Most customers are pretty cool and nice, but some of them can really test your patience and sanity.
After being behind an Italian Deli counter in the Bronx for the past 2 years, I’ve started noticing some interesting patterns and behaviors among customers that I want to explore and share with you.
The “Just a Coffee” People
I get this type multiple times a day. They come up to the counter and ask, “Can I just get a coffee, please,” then stop there and say nothing else. I swear to God, man, many times I’ve contemplated just giving them a black coffee or an espresso. I mean, that’s what they asked for, right, “Just a coffee.” But after going through this routine more times than I can count, I know they don’t just want plain black coffee. I usually wait a couple of seconds to see if they will tell me how they like it, but then I go ahead and ask, “Regular black coffee? Any milk?”
I never like to ask “how do you take it?” because I’m scared that maybe one day some psycho might reply with a “I take it up the ass.”
In the most extreme cases, what they actually want is a half-decaf, half-regular espresso latte with almond milk, no foam, one Splenda, 2 pumps of caramel, and a little cinnamon on top. In simpler cases, they want a little milk or a tiny drop of cream or a latte or whatever.
And specialty coffee is rising in popularity. More American adults now drink specialty coffee than traditional coffee—48% had specialty coffee in the past day, a new record. Espresso-based beverages such as lattes, cappuccinos, and caffè mochas play a key role in specialty coffee’s rising popularity, and a record-high 47% of American adults had an espresso-based beverage in the past week, up by 17.5% since 2022.
Behind the counter, during a rush or a busy day, you want the line to move smoothly, and these little hiccups where you have to extract the order out of the customer because they think you’re a mind reader really start to add up since half of them want to customize their own Frankenstein creation of a coffee.
The Chatters
Chatters can be cool sometimes. They may tell you a funny joke, a story, or some interesting information out of the blue. Sometimes the Chatters order something to go, and they’ll briefly chat at the counter. Other times, they may order something to stay.
The tickets keep printing, the phone and the bells keep ringing, and you have 20 sandwiches to make, water and coffee to bring, and a salad and an omelet ringing in the kitchen that are also ready to go. You realize that your team members are busy with other tasks, so you’re going to have to take it upon yourself to bring this cappuccino and the omelet to the chatter.
In one hand, you hold the omelet and the coffee. In the other, you load a tray with 2 glasses of water for table 3, a salad with dressing on the side for the lady by the gelato, and 2 empty glasses to make orange juice at the orange machine for table 7. On your way out, your buddy at the slicing machine might ask you to bring more Swiss and prosciutto from the basement on your way back because we’ve run out.
If you’re smart enough, you will drop off the coffee and the omelet to the Chatter first, so they know not to stop you to chat with all the shit in your hands. And even then, they may still stop you to tell you something real quick. But sometimes you pick the wrong route and end up delivering the last order to the chatter. And once they see your hands are empty, that’s when they’ve got you by the balls.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on the chatters, though. There may actually be something to these little interactions. A study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science had customers either engage socially with a Starbucks barista—smiling, making eye contact, and having a brief conversation—or make the transaction as efficient as possible. The customers who interacted with the barista reported more positive feelings afterward, with the researchers suggesting that even small interactions with strangers can contribute to a sense of belonging. Keyword: BRIEF.
Maybe there’s another reason some people like to hang around and chat. Sociologists use the term “third place” to describe social spaces outside of the two places where most of us spend our lives: home and work. Coffee shops, cafés, bars, libraries, and other neighborhood gathering spots can become places where people regularly see familiar faces, socialize, and feel connected to their community.
But some of the Chatters start becoming a problem. On the one hand you feel bad for them because they may seem lonely, on the other hand they may really slow you down and make it hard to leave especially when they start talking about serious or personal stuff. Then they come everyday and start talking to customers or whoever they see and I can see it bothers some who just want to chill out and enjoy their lunch and not have this person hovering over them and talking their ear off the whole time.
The Points Junkies
Every business sets up its points system a little differently. At our store, to get points for your purchase, you either tell us your phone number before you pay, or you have a 5-second window after you pay to tap a big green “CLAIM POINTS!” button and enter your phone number. If you miss those first two steps, you can claim your points with a code printed on the receipt that tells you to text it to a specific number.
Phone number before paying → “CLAIM POINTS!” button after paying → Code printed on receipt
Pretty simple, no? Well, these points can be a big headache sometimes, especially with older people, in my experience. Some customers don’t care about the points at all, while others, it seems, mainly come to the store not to shop for products but to get their points fix. “Points, points, points! I want my points!” They can hold up the whole line because they forgot to put in their phone number and then act like it’s your fault that you didn’t remind them.
And apparently, the points addiction goes far beyond our store. According to the 2025 Bond Loyalty Report, the average consumer participates in 17.4 loyalty programs.
It’s gotten to the point where some customers view loyalty points as something they’re owed rather than a reward for their continued business. I get it—you earned the points, you want the points. But if you forgot to put in your phone number, missed the giant green “CLAIM POINTS!” button, and ignored the code printed on your receipt, I don’t know what else you want me to do.
The “I’m in a Rush” People
Some people are always in a rush. I mean, I get it, and maybe it’s the certain times of day when I see these people—when they are heading to work or picking up their kids from school, and their kids are running around the store causing havoc, and they want to get their shit quick and get going. But please don’t tell us, “I’m in a rush,” when we are stacked with orders and trying to get them done as fast as possible and up to standard.
I understand that some places might be slow with the service, and if the employees are sleepwalking, then waiting 10 minutes for a cup of coffee starts to boil your blood with rage. But the one thing about the place I work is that we are fast, and speed is one of our attributes.
If you are in a rush, leave your house earlier, call ahead to place your order, place your order online beforehand, do whatever you need to do, but you being in a rush is none of my concern. That’s on you. Like I’m gonna drop everything I’m doing because you decided to stroll in thinking that we are going to prioritize your order above everyone else’s because you are in a rush. We are in a rush too. Please wait your turn.
The Back and Forthers
In the store I work at, we don’t have traditional restaurant table service. It’s a beautiful little Italian market, and the atmosphere is very laid-back. A customer orders everything at the front register, and if they want to stay, we give them a table sign and bring them everything they ordered.
When I drop off some coffee or food at the table, I always ask, “Is everything good? Would you like anything else?” to make sure the guests are comfortable and have everything they need. It’s cool if they ask for some extra parmesan or salt and pepper or for a glass of ice real quick, but some people just keep asking you for shit and have you running back and forth. You bring the extra parmesan; they ask for extra bread. You come back with the bread; they ask for butter. You come back with the butter; they ask for a new fork because they dropped theirs.
I hear tickets printing, and I just spent the last 5 minutes bringing shit back and forth to this one person. I jump on the slicer to help with the sandwiches and cold cuts. Then I feel a presence behind me, standing on the other side of the counter. I hear, “Excuse me.” I continue slicing. I hear “Excuse me” again, and I know it’s directed at me because my teammates are occupied with other stuff. I don’t want to look back, but I’m tempted to see this person’s face, to see what they look like.
I turn back, and it’s that same person again. “Can I just get some extra olive oil?”
In that moment, I feel a fire burning inside the pit of my stomach. A wave of rage overcomes me. I say, politely, “Give me a minute, please. I’m slicing. We’ll bring it to you.” They don’t hear the last part and keep standing there, watching me. I drop everything I’m doing, pour some olive oil into a little bowl, and hand it to them as fast as I can.
I try not to snap, no matter what. In a busy rush, it’s better to find a way to give these people what they want as fast as possible and not get too close to where they’re sitting until they leave.
They couldn’t ask for bread with butter, extra parmesan, and olive oil on the side when they placed their order? Don’t they see we’re in the middle of a rush and running around like madmen, slicing and cutting and steaming and mixing and serving?
And apparently, I’m not the only one who deals with this. There’s even a term for it in the restaurant world: “one-timing.” It’s when customers ask for things one at a time, sending their server on multiple trips instead of asking for everything they need at once. The problem isn’t necessarily what they’re asking for; it’s how they’re doing it.
The Picky Menu Customizers
We have a lot of room for customization at my job: build-your-own sandwiches and omelets, a choice of pasta shapes for hot food selections, and coffee customizations. We do it all. But sometimes certain customers take it to a whole new level. The owner does accommodate a bit too much sometimes, which has conditioned certain customers to stroll in and add their own creations to the menu. I understand his side though, but some of the out of the blue requests drive us crazy sometimes.
“Can you make sure the next batch of grilled chicken is not salty?” one person asks me, for their one sandwich. Everybody enjoys our chicken. Now I’m gonna go into the kitchen and tell the chef to change up the whole recipe for the chicken because it’s too salty for this one person.
Or this lady who would come in and request that her pasta be exactly 200 grams with 300 grams of chicken. Like, do you see any of that on the menu? We have many pasta dishes, and we all live or work in the same community, and yes, it is harder to turn down people from your community, but please don’t ask me to go get a whole scale and weigh your pasta to exact measurements and such because you decided to be on a diet.
Or another customer who comes in and wants a chicken parm on a hero, but half chicken and half eggplant parm. Imagine me strolling into an Italian restaurant and asking for that, or going to Shake Shack and asking for a double burger but, instead of the second patty, to put fried chicken. It’s absurd.
But apparently, customers have come to expect a lot of freedom when it comes to customizing their food. An article from Restaurant Business cites a Technomic survey in which 72% of consumers said they expected restaurants to allow them to customize meals. But the same piece notes that operators reported downsides, including slower service and higher food and labor costs.
And the trend keeps growing. In August 2026, Datassential reported that around 7 in 10 consumers modify their restaurant order in some way, while 69% say the ability to customize is very important to them. Among Gen Z, only 20% typically order menu items exactly as they appear on the menu.
As much as this can piss me off and derail the flow with an out-of-the-blue request, the trend doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. As always, we’ll make it happen.
Last-Minute Guests Who Don’t Want to Leave
You may have a long day at the store, go through multiple rushes and orders, and finally start to wrap up. Delivery apps stop taking orders at 7:30 PM, our kitchen closes at 8 PM for walk-ins and takeouts, and the market closes at 8:30 PM. We usually clock out at 9 and head out. After the delivery orders shut down, we usually start wrapping up the meats, putting away the salad bar, and cleaning the coffee machines.
But once in a while, once in a while, you have someone come in at 7:57 PM, or a group of people walk in, or various groups start walking in at 7:50, then 7:55, then 7:57, and they all want pasta or sandwiches or cappuccinos to stay. When you think you’re giving the last push of the night to wrap it all up, you get diverted by a bunch of side quests that, more often than not, hold the whole team up from finishing on time. The market opens at 7 AM every day and is open for nearly 14 hours, and all of these people want to stroll in three minutes before the kitchen closes and when we’ve already cleaned the coffee machine.
And often, they don’t leave at 8:30. We don’t kick anybody out if they’re eating, and we allow people to finish while we are busy with closing tasks. But then 8:45 rolls around, then 8:50. We’re putting up the chairs, we’ve turned off the music, we’ve dimmed the lights, we’re sweeping and mopping, and these people are still lounging without a care while we’re all waiting.
And apparently, this is common enough in the restaurant business that there’s even a term for lingering customers like this: “campers.” You can give these people all the nonverbal cues—putting up the chairs, turning off the music, dimming the lights, sweeping and mopping—and guests who are aware usually pick up on it and start wrapping up. But many others don’t seem to notice at all, which forces you to go up and politely say something. And even after you say something, it may still take them another 5–10 minutes to get up and go.
