By Jordan Stepp
“It’s like a drug.”
Every day, Justin Coates sees hundreds of caffeine addicted students and professors. And it is his job to see that they get what they want.
Coates, a seventh year history major from Alpharetta, works at the Zell Miller Learning Center branch of Jittery Joe’s Coffee. He gets up early every morning to start making special blends and brews for patrons with a serious need for caffeine.
“We get a lot of regulars here,” said Coates. “Some people come in three or four times a day just to get their fix.”
As he finished his sentence, a regular customer happened to walk in. She orders her usual, the “half-calf skinny no whip mocha.” She pays for her drink and leaves. Coates can’t help but smile. His boss, manager Caleb Nipper, laughs as she walks away.
“She’ll be back again around noon,” he said.
“And at closing time,” said Coates.
Coates and Nipper know their customers well. Sometimes they don’t even have to ask about majors or Greek affiliations. The proof is in the coffee.
“You can tell who the sorority girls are because they always order these really low-fat sweet drinks,” said Coates. “It’s a bit of a status symbol. We call those drinks ‘Milledge Avenues’.”
If the order is very complicated, there is a good chance that the customer has been to Starbucks, explains Nipper. Different majors also are easy to spot by their drink choices. The harder the major, the more caffeine is needed in the drink. According to Nipper and Coates, the most common customers at Jittery Joe’s are business and science majors.
“We try to pay attention to what they want,” said Nipper. “We like interacting with the customers.”
Samantha Paulsen, a barista at Expresso Royale Coffee, likes the social aspect too.
“You get to know certain people and their likes and dislikes,” said Paulsen. “Sometimes we see a regular across the street and start making their order and will have it ready by the time they step in the door.”
Paulsen, a musician, has been serving coffee for over six years and has also been able to “type” people when they walk in the door. But she likes spending time with her customers and actually asking what they do.
“I just like to talk to them a bit,” said Paulsen. “It’s the summer now and there’s a lot more time to just relax. But I’ll be up at 5 a.m. again tomorrow!”
Edited by Marcus Crawford
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Marcus and Jordan,
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice scene-setting feature with lots of good quotes and even a little dialogue banter. Good tone throughout.
The lead might be the weakest part of the story, both because it's a cliche and because it's a quote out of context. Quote leads generally aren't very strong, because whoever said the quote isn't writing your story. You should be using your writing skills to make the most out of the unique story you're going to tell. In this case, you might have started with description of the regular customer coming in and the banter that went along with it. Or you could write more of a summary lead about how the employees "type" customers by their orders.
It would also be good to have a customer identified and quoted in the story -- especially the regular customer who takes up a few graphs. Who is she, and what's she up to?
Overall, though, a nice feature on deadline.