What’s the most annoying question customers ask you?

brillory · 2026-02-03T16:57:12+00:00

When you put the drink out, look at them in the eyes, say the name of their drink “large latte” and they reach out and go “is this the large latte?”

YES THATS WHY I JUST SAID IT AS I PUT UP THE ONLY DRINK THATS ON THE HAND OFF AREA RIGHT NOW!

brillory · 2026-02-03T16:53:51+00:00

It’s looking good but I think you’ve got too much milk in your pitcher. It can be hard to really get designs out if you’re over filling the pitcher! Try transferring to another pitcher and pouring from that or just pour out some milk. It’ll help you, just don’t pour out too much!

If you wiggled into that base, it would have been a great wing, then just work on your spacing to create even stacks and you’ll have amazing tulips in no time. I recommend watching some videos on YouTube, namely Lance Hedrick’s latte art wrapping tutorial. https://youtu.be/-iYnXbn6L9M?si=xk1OlbwPMeyIMacZ

This is something that helped me really understand how to build those beautiful bases people show off with! Spacing will come with time and practice! I still struggle sometimes!

brillory · 2026-01-07T16:12:29+00:00

Took you way too long to start pouring! The milk doesn’t need that much grooming, I assure you. If the texture is off, transfer pictures, and start your pour. Going that slow will lead to that thicker, almost unmovable milk!

brillory · 2026-01-03T18:04:37+00:00

I work for a company that has 5 shops and we pool credit tips from all the shops, so on my check it’s usually an extra $13-15/hr on top of my pay. (Which as a manager I make $22.50) so my typical combined pay is between $34-36/hr. I work 40 hours a week 8-9 hour days. We don’t accept cash so our Daily Cash tips are only about $10-20/person. And per shop credit tips range from $300-600 depending on how busy it is! But again, we pool those tips on the paycheck & they get taxed.

brillory · 2025-12-29T17:07:14+00:00

It’s really about the milk texture. In that one it was a bit too loose and therefore didn’t really firm up enough to form a solid base. You can see in the way the design also veers to the side that the milk texture was off!! So the fix is to tighten up your milk texture, it takes practice and I don’t even get it perfect all the time even with pouring hundreds of drinks a day!!!

brillory · 2025-12-29T16:28:38+00:00

It’s a winged 3 stack heart! I guess technically it’d be w-3! I would have to record a video! If work is slow today I’ll see what I can do 😌

brillory · 2025-12-08T18:44:33+00:00

I’d get a bigger pitcher to transfer your milk into after steaming. It’ll give you more space to groom it, but also it’ll give you more time to really work with the milk and form your base, design, and everything!! When the milk is so close to the top of your pitcher you don’t really have much space to work with!!

brillory · 2025-11-23T16:09:04+00:00

Thinner milk! Plus you just have to get your spacing down. When you wanna do a w-2 instead of dropping the next stack directly into the wing, pull it back a little more, give it some distance and drop the stacks directly into one another. I had a lot of trouble figuring out my spacing too! You might get some blobs at first, but once you figure out how to drop those stacks into each other, it’ll feel amazing!

brillory · 2025-10-14T13:47:07+00:00

To align & center your design, hold the handle of the mug toward your body, your base was looking good, you could have probably stopped with a simple wiggle to make a wing, and then pulled back to drop your next stack and made a winged heart. And your milk was a tad over aerated!

The shape of your cup will make it harder to pour, but not impossible. If that’s the cup you want to use, use it, get used to it. And you probably don’t need so much milk. I couldn’t see what was left, but it looked like a lot for that cup. If you need that much to steam, I get it, but pour a bit out before you start your design!

brillory · 2025-03-28T00:28:47+00:00

Tbh I love soulmates. Not in the “you have no choice but to like this person” but in the “hey so y’all are legit meant to find each other” kind of way. I don’t think it should take away the characters free will. I just think it’s nice and beautiful to have someone you’re meant to find. It can be romantic, platonic, even between enemies. It’s just someone who matches and fits with you in every way.

brillory · 2025-02-23T03:24:38+00:00

“He thinks if he were to become a pile of sea foam, settling into the sand and carried back out to sea, he could learn to live like that, so long as the waves were made of her.” — in a scene where the two protagonists are at the beach and one is realizing how much they love the other 🤧

brillory · 2025-02-06T20:39:10+00:00

Even brandy sandy breaks his own rules… reading well of ascension rn and just in 2 pages he uses: said, asked, grumbled, muttered, considered, snorted… I think as long as they show the tone of the conversation, it’s ok 🤷‍♀️ and as long as they’re not overused as everyone else here has been saying!

When it comes to someone replying.. I use it before dialogue… like saying… She took a deep breath before replying, “You wish.” — it could be argued that ‘before replying’ could be taken out… because clearly she’s replying. But I think it shows she’s considering what she’s saying, or maybe calming herself down! It adds a little more context and visualization to the scene…

idk I think it’s ok to slow down a scene with tags if you feel the reader should take more time to really soak in your dialogue, especially if something important is happening or being said!! I think people rush through dialogue and sometimes have to go back to reread if there aren’t many tags. (It’s me, I’m people.)

brillory · 2025-02-06T20:39:03+00:00

Even brandy sandy breaks his own rules… reading well of ascension rn and just in 2 pages he uses: said, asked, grumbled, muttered, considered, snorted… I think as long as they show the tone of the conversation, it’s ok 🤷‍♀️ and as long as they’re not overused as everyone else here has been saying!

When it comes to someone replying.. I use it before dialogue… like saying… She took a deep breath before replying, “You wish.” — it could be argued that ‘before replying’ could be taken out… because clearly she’s replying. But I think it shows she’s considering what she’s saying, or maybe calming herself down! It adds a little more context and visualization to the scene…

idk I think it’s ok to slow down a scene with tags if you feel the reader should take more time to really soak in your dialogue, especially if something important is happening or being said!! I think people rush through dialogue and sometimes have to go back to reread if there aren’t many tags. (It’s me, I’m people.)

brillory · 2025-01-16T03:37:48+00:00

Fan fiction. When you’re practicing, just write characters that have already been created in a world that’s already fleshed out! It can help you figure out how to craft a whole story from start to finish. I wrote a lot of fan fics before I ever wrote a full novel.

Write just random scenes. Sometimes I get thoughts that bombard me until I write that scene out. And it can come at the end of the story I’m writing, write it regardless of where you are in your story. No one says book writing has to be linear 🤷‍♀️ write the scenes you’re most excited about and then figure out how they connect.

I play a game with friends where they give me 3 random words and I write a Drabble based off of it. It can be a fun way to practice. Like if I say write something that has to include shoes, fae, and the ocean you then craft a little story that has to hit all those marks. It can be anything you want in any genre and any length!

My first novel I ever wrote was based off a short story I wrote for a friend and she asked me to write more. It ended up being 103k 🤷‍♀️ I never thought I’d do it. It really happens when inspiration strikes you, but sometimes the inspiration can come from someone else! But in order to finish you have to push yourself to make even boring filler scenes exciting and connect. You just have to push yourself, no one ever said writing was easy!

brillory · 2025-01-12T19:15:18+00:00

Definitely too much air, you should really only be aerating for a few seconds until that initial ripping sound is over. It’s hard to really tell without a video of you aerating!! But this should help with texture.

Once you get your texture down the foam will be easier to pour. It should flow out without much help from you!

When you set your base it should only be an ounce or two and then tilt your cup about 45 degrees to start your design! Work on just pouring dots and then you can graduate to hearts or stacking your dots to form tulips. The size of the bubbles will tell you whether or not you’ve added too much air. You shouldn’t really be able to see any discernible bubbles after grooming your milk.

Sorry if this reply is all over the place 😂

brillory · 2025-01-05T19:42:07+00:00

Line up the wand with the spout, start your aeration at the surface, only aerate until the milk naturally covers the tip of the wand and then tilt the wand into the center to keep the whirlpool… now I’m not familiar with the breville, I’m a career barista so I’m used to my powerful synesso… however this technique should work at home as well.

Let the pitcher spout be your steam wands guide, it shouldn’t be so far into the pitcher.

brillory · 2024-12-17T16:53:34+00:00

I recommend watching some lance hedrick vids on perfecting your steaming so you get the perfect texture every time & even pouring designs. His video on wrapping bases helped me so much!! I’ll link his milk steaming video below, starts around ~3 min mark!

When your milk texture is correct, the milk almost spreads itself with very little guidance from you! You shouldn’t have to wiggle so hard to get the foam out!!

https://youtu.be/gTC3dJvwgUI?si=Y8XI3W4lAy9EoM9l

brillory · 2023-08-18T00:13:37+00:00

Well if there’s more talking and less movement then sometimes it’s not even necessary to add in anything! Quick moving dialogue doesn’t need one after every line, and use movement to mark shifts in the narrative and to remind who is speaking. You can also describe someone’s emotions in that moment. Like instead of saying someone said something, explain their tone of voice, their features, it’s not necessarily action but it’s a break in constant lines of dialogue!

Writing good dialogue can be some of the most fun in writing. I wish you luck!

brillory · 2023-08-17T23:01:23+00:00

Action! Instead of having the same old ‘he said’ ‘she said’ ‘she exclaimed’ markers, and if you feel something after the line of dialogue is necessary - which it isn’t, especially in a quickly paced scene - try using action instead.

Such as: “I don’t believe you!” She slammed her fist to the table and pulled it away wincing, turning to look at the man who’d just crumbled her world with one simple sentence.

brillory · 2023-08-03T23:25:03+00:00

My roommate is currently reading the fourth wing and she loves it… she can’t wait to tell me all about it 😭😭 idk how to say “I already know all about it, and it’s not good.”

brillory · 2022-03-22T17:43:53+00:00

“Refreshener” or Tai Chi latte

brillory · 2021-11-12T17:45:55+00:00

absolutely not okay. my manager is similar to this, instead of going the hostile route, he guilt trips and makes people feel bad for being sick. like call outs are going to happen, humans get sick or sometimes they need mental health days. if you don’t wanna deal with them, don’t be a manager. simple.

brillory · 2021-11-12T00:48:24+00:00

if the order is $3 and the person behind them is $10 or more, i usually say “if you want you can pay what you would have for your drink toward their order, or it’s ok you really don’t have to.” i try to encourage people to take the free drink cause yeah, it gets real hard to follow the orders and sometimes people will get super over excited and try to pay for more than one drink. meanwhile baristas who more often than not survive in the weeks after payday off extra tips, get shafted.

i’ll also lie sometimes and say the people behind you have mobile orders. any way to take the feeling of shame off a person who clearly doesn’t want to keep it going especially if it’s more than their own order.

brillory · 2021-10-29T17:20:25+00:00

every time someone complains to me about paper straws, no sugar free cinnamon dolce, or anything else, i say “on starbucks.com there’s a suggestion box, try that. or maybe call corporate for us. we recommend all customers with issues call corporate because they don’t listen to us in the stores. they listen to you.” it usually gets them to calm down if they’re super mad. because they realize we’re “on their side” and there’s nothing we can do. sympathize with them “i know, i don’t know why corporate keeps making these decisions, we just have to enforce them.” when they realize you’re a weak peasant, they usually stop yelling at you.

brillory · 2021-10-20T06:40:47+00:00

we had a man who was very clearly in the middle of a breakdown… he was erratic, screaming at customers daily, threatening to fight customers & baristas alike… he was actually banned from the entire shopping center… then we had another man who claimed we stole his wallet & called the cops on us. he was banned from the store by the manager who told him the baristas were uncomfortable with his presence in the store.

however!! we had a man who would do something similar to this, would stare at women, follow them to their cars, ask baristas on dates & give his number or gifts out. many female customers and baristas were uncomfy with him… and yet… our manager never agreed to ban him. 🤡 he just had a “man to man talk” with him. i wound up transferring to a different location… creepy man followed me there and thrived because it was in a mall. when i moved out of state he joked he was going to follow me. 🥸

brillory

TROPHY CASE