Working in a restaurant, bar, or cafe can be draining due to long hours, mediocre pay, and often unappreciative customers. Austin Simms, who worked at a coffee shop, grew tired of rude customers and devised a unique solution. To encourage politeness, he introduced a pricing system: a small coffee costs $5, but saying “Small coffee, please” reduces it to $3, and adding a greeting lowers it to $1.75. Simms aimed to emphasize that baristas are humans with feelings. His creative approach quickly gained global attention, attracting journalists and photographers to the cafe. Simms, initially seeking friendlier customers, inadvertently sparked a widespread conversation on social manners.
