I was just reading a message board thread on the most disgusting drinks people have had to make at cafes for their customers. This one got a chuckle out of me, so I thought I’d share.
Back in the olden days (early nineties) we had a customer in our shop in San Diego. The customer was a very nutty-crunchy looking woman whose husband ran a health food store. She had two children who would come into the cafe with her, and one was an infant.
Anyhow, she would come in each morning carrying a little tupperware container filled with milk. She would politely ask for a cappuccino made with ‘her’ milk. The barista would dump the contents of the tupperware into the steaming pitcher, steam it, and use it to make her cappuccino.
Of course it was soy milk she was giving us, which she got from her husband’s health food store. In those days, no coffee bar had soy milk on the menu, we certainly didn’t.
But since most of the baristas had no idea what soy milk was, and since this customer had the habit of referring to the contents of the tupperware as ‘her’ milk, and because she had an infant, the rumor started going around among the baristas that it was her own breast milk she was wanting steamed for her cappuccino in the morning.
Predictably, the baristas started to freak out. Many refused to steam ‘her’ milk for her. Many started planning to report the lady to the health department. Some wondered what this kind of cappuccino might taste like. People would bring the extra contents of the pitcher in the back and pass it around like it was a science experiment or something.
Finally, as the manager, I had to ask the lady about the tupperware milk. We both had a giant laugh about the situation.
Cheers!