Coffee shop finds clever way to get customers to be more kind to their staff

Kindness is a precious value that mankind often takes for granted, owing to its self-centered motives. We meet people at the local eatery, on the streets, and at our workplace who make our lives easier; yet, we don't feel the urge to pause for a minute and thank them for everything they do. In fact, some people who feel entitled treat service people as if they don't deserve respect, and that itself paints a horrifying picture of the so-called modern world. To stop people from disrespecting their staff, a coffee shop came up with a clever way, and we absolutely loved it!

The coffee shop in Grandin Village, Roanoke Valley, found a perfect solution to customers mistreating their staff members. So, they introduced a new scheme where they decided to charge different prices for coffee depending on the customer's behavior with the staff. They put a signboard in front of the shop, informing people about their one-of-a-kind scheme that quickly went viral on social media. "Welcome to CUPS!" the board read, before describing the very details of their scheme. So, if a customer said, "One small coffee," the shop would charge $5.00, but the minute they added a "please" at the end, the price was reduced to $3.00. But wait! That's not the end! If an extra-sweet customer arrived at the shop, asking, "Hello, I'd like one small coffee please," they would be charged only $1.75 per coffee. The picture of the signboard was shared on X (formerly called Twitter) by SkyGoBuy (@skygobuy).

Austin Simms, who came up with the mind-blowing signboard, said he was only trying to be funny and had no idea it would grab so much attention in such a short period of time. "I decided because I need to solve all the injustices of the world to start charging more for people who didn't take the time to say hello and connect and realize we're all people behind the counter," Simms shared with the WDBJ. Moving on, the man said, he wrote the message on Sunday, and by Monday, it was already featured in a newspaper in England, before a bunch of cameras started showing up. Simms said he wanted people to take a minute to greet people behind the counters with a little "hello" that would mean everything to them. 

Meanwhile, reacting to the sign, @catcam30 commented, "People are rude & that's why customer service jobs are short-staffed." As rightly pointed out by this user, today, unfortunately, we have more people who are extremely cruel and rude to those serving them. As shocking as it may sound, a survey found that more than half of all employees (53%) whose jobs involve direct interaction with customers reported having encountered verbal abuse, threats, and whatnot. Similarly, another user who goes by @mtherealpinoia on the platform said, "A great way to show young people how far good manners will get you." Another user, @moorewales, wrote, "Wonderful incentive and reminder to everyone to be thoughtful and kind!" Questioning the very mindset of most people, someone else, @steven_massy, pointed out, "Sad sign of the times. We now have to pay bribes to induce civility!"