InsaneJournal

My god you’re an artist.
Who: Emma Frost and Raven Darkholme
What: Messing with a Barista. To be fair, the barista was a bitch
Where: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
When: Recent
Status: Complete
Rating: Pg-13



Emma was on a mission, and she walked into the local Coffee Bean and Tea leaf looking like it. It wasn’t the clodding, stomping way of walking that she imagined other people on missions walked with. Instead, her hips swayed to either side, her hair swung back and forth behind her shoulders, and she looked like she was gracefully stabbing the ground with her high heels.

She pulled her Chanel sunglasses off of her face as she stepped up to the counter, and regarded the barista standing behind it with the iciest blue eyes she could summon, “Good afternoon, Darlings, I would like to place an order.”

This was going to be good. Raven came in a moment later. While she walked with purpose, hers was more like a tiger stalking prey, all taut muscles and silent grace. She brushed a mess of blonde hair behind her shoulder and smiled with faux politeness at one of the other patrons.

The barista behind the counter was the same from the morning. Tired, and frazzled and she looked like she just didn’t give anymore fucks. She wasn’t the usual woman who knew Emma’s orders by heart.

It didn't matter how long a day the barista had had, or how many fucks she had left to give. Emma believed that quality customer service was a thing to be provided to anyone, at any time, no matter what.

She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and unfolded it, "Lets get started, shall we? I do hope you can keep up."

Then she started listing off a drink order that would make even the bravest of baristas scream internally. There were upside down macchiatos, things with extra pumps of syrup, specifically requested temperatures, at least one that asked for only 50% foam on the top, and some of their feature ice blended beverages in special ways. There were about twenty beverages on the list, and more than one person in line behind Raven before she was finished.

She turned and winked at the people would be waiting for a some amount of time now, then turned back to the barista. "And if you can make all of those in an accurate and timely manner while remembering to check that appalling attitude of yours at the door, I just might tip you handsomely."

The barista bit back a groan, and tried to keep up. Some of those orders sounded like something only Satan would dream up. She rang it up, glancing down at the order with horror in her eyes. "That'll be $125.78."

While Emma paid she started to make the drinks. About halfway through she started mixing them up. Iced where it should be hot, hot where it should be iced, only 45% foam on one drink, and she was using non-fat instead of regular, but that part was on purpose. Because she thought that Emma needed to lose weight.

After she was done paying, Emma made it a point to proceed to the other end of the counter and watch the barista make her order up. Her eyes remained peeled for any mistake, and she made mental notes as the orders began to be mixed up.

She'd fully intended to wait until afterwards to say anything, but when the barista reached for the non-fat milk instead of the regular, she tilted her head to the side and nudged Raven, "Raven, does that look like regular milk to you? It's the milk she's used this entire time."

"She thinks you're fat," Raven said, licking her lips. "I saw her do the same thing this morning as I was leaving."

Emma's eyebrows raised up into her hairline. She spent a good amount of time on her own body and maintaining her appearance. The implication that she was fat was not to be ignored, and she glanced at the barista, "You'll have to do every last one of these over I'm afraid. I only asked for a few of them in non-fat and you've got several of the other specifications wrong. Do you need my list to work off of? I should think you'd be able to keep things in order by writing things on the cups."

There was no proving that the barista thought she was fat, though, and Emma decided to leave that out of it. She could be enough of an obnoxious bitch without it.

The woman stammered and stared at all the cups she'd made. "I ..I was, I was writing them on the cups....!"

She was going to have a panic attack. And the line was getting longer and longer and people looked so impatient.

Bitch, she muttered under her breath as she got back to work. Who the hell orders this many complicated drinks at once?!

"Well, you might have written it on the cups, dear, but you've clearly been making most of the drinks with non-fat milk when we ordered most of those with regular. And that one is missing a pump of almond syrup, and this one here has more foam than requested." Emma countered.

Then her ears caught the word bitch, and she tried very hard not smile. Instead, she looked every bit as angry as a woman who was just called a bitch ought to look, "Excuse me? What did you just call me?"

"You could use the non-fat," The woman said, words dripping with sweet, sweet venom. She tossed her hair, then violently finished the last cup, slamming it down on the counter in front of Emma.


Raven’s jaw literally dropped.

"Young woman, I would like to speak to a manager. Right this instant." Emma's tone was as cool as an iceberg. If the barista was hoping to get an indignant rise out of Emma? Well, Emma wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

"She's not in," the barista said. Maybe a little too smugly. "She's at lunch, she'll be back in like, an hour. You're welcome to wait."

Okay, that was a misdirect that Raven would have attempted. She tilted her head, golden curls spilling down her shoulder.

"Then you will make mine and Raven's beverage correctly, so that we can drink them while we wait an hour to speak to a manager about how very well it is you do your job," Emma demanded, her tone still chilly. She pulled out her phone, and sent a text to Celes to let her know that they'd be back late. Most of the beverages actually had been for people at the school.

Hands shaking, the barista made their drinks. Still not perfect, but close enough. Raven took hers, giving the woman a sly little smirk, and then sashayed to a table with Emma. “My god you’re an artist.”

After making sure that the other drinks were properly discarded (so that the barista couldn't pass off the failed ones as new), she took a careful sip of her own coffee and headed to the table. Lucky for the barista, her coffee was deemed good enough. She took a seat across from Raven and watched as the harried girl tried to take care of the long line that had piled up as she'd been busy with Emma’s order.

"Oh darling, this is but a small demonstration of my powers of manipulation," Emma replied, smirking a bit. "Wait until I call the manager's practices into question and ridicule them in the politest manner possible for the idea that a lone barista could take care of this store during what is clearly a rush hour."

If Emma had her way, the barista wouldn't lose her job - even though the woman's comments towards her personally were out of line. No, she was hoping that the manager hired on enough people to give the woman some relief. And trained her properly. She figured a barista in her debt for saving her ass was better than the alternative.

"I'm taking notes," Raven said, glancing at the blonde woman from under her eyelids. "I'd rather see them both hang, but I'm sure there's a reason for the madness." Think of the free drinks! She leaned back as the line dwindled.

"They're clearly understaffed, and while understaffing is no excuse to call me a bitch and tell me I need to lose weight..." Emma shook her head again at that, and sighed, "Having even one other pair of hands here would improve her attitude greatly. So often overworked employees turn to things like this. Today that has cost this establishment greatly. Over a hundred dollars of merchandise, and she had to throw it all out."

Emma clucked her tongue and took another sip of her coffee. They'd get another hundred dollars or more when she was through, because she had no intention of paying for the re-made drinks, either, after waiting an hour. She expected a full refund, and she'd get one.

"She has an attitude. I don't see the need to just let her off so easily. But if you think she can improve...you've been at this a lot longer than I have." Raven would just let the woman twist in the wind, but she'd been on the receiving end of it too much to ever feel sympathy again.

"The thing is, dear, that there are times when you get more out of showing people that you have the power to end their miserable existence - and then not, actually, doing it. I could have her fired. If I put in some effort, I could have her manager fired. I've certainly made an enemy today no matter what. But that woman will be a grateful one, and when I'm finished with this manager, he'll be begging me not to withdraw my school's support."

She smirked at Raven, "It pays to think ahead."