Fed-Up Coffee Shop Owner Charges Customers Less For Being Polite

There are plenty of knobheads out there in the world who get their kicks from being rude to the person scanning their shopping, serving their food or making their coffee.

Credit: WBDJ7

Now one American coffee shop owner has had enough of customers being such tools and has decided to make a point to them by using the oldest trick in the book - he's put up a sign.

Austin Simms, owner of the coffee shop Cups in Roanoke, Virginia, has put a sign in front of his shop implying customers will get up-charged for not saying 'Hello' and 'please'. Politeness isn't a huge price for a cheaper latté, is it?

"I decided because I need to solve all of the injustices of the world to start charging more for people who didn't take the time to say hello and connect and realise we're all people behind the counter," Simms told the local news station WDBJ.

The sign charges customers $5 (£3.70) for just saying 'small coffee'. People using the word 'please' will be charged $3 (£2.20), while those who go the whole hog and actually greet their barista will only pay $1.75 (£1.30). Looks like a bargain to me.

WDBJ7

Austin said he was only trying to make a point in a funny way, but the slightly sarky sign has now gone viral, temporarily making it onto the top of Reddit.

The sign seems to struck a chord with many people, who praised Simms for making people mind their manners.

"Good for him," one commenter wrote. "People need to start using their manners more nowadays. People have forgotten that if you use your manners, you will get what you give."

"I don't get people. Kindness is awesome, loving, genuinely caring...that's life to me. Without kindness, there is nothing. And as a bonus, it always always comes back to you," Nan Patti Gregory commented on the photo of the sign.

via GIPHY

Austin's decision to take a stand has now inspired other shop owners to do their bit for good manners, putting similar signs outside their own businesses.

He may not have meant for the sign to get so much attention, but it makes a pretty fierce argument for not being a dick to others, even if you'll probably never see them again.

It goes to show that respect and kindness can go a long way - and can even make your coffee a little bit cheaper.

Topics: Inspirational, Funny, Interesting, Coffee, Community

Chris Ogden

Chris Ogden is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from the University of East Anglia with degrees in English Literature and Creative Writing before completing his NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. Chris has previously written for the independent culture magazine The Skinny, among other publications.

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