Barista rants about stupid customers at Starbucks: What imaginary conversations can teach us about real ones

Abstract

Approaches to the phenomenon of ‘talk’ have been polarized between very different, apparently irreconcilable or incommensurable, antinomic approaches to the phenomenon (and the kinds of data, ‘real’ or ‘imagined’, that can be used), characterizable as ‘technical’ versus ‘normative’, ‘generic’ versus ‘genred’ views of talk. By looking at how Starbucks baristas recount dialogs with ‘stupid’ customers as part of ‘rants’ or ‘vents’ about service work, we find that there is a common model of conversation widely shared by both members and analysts based on peer conversation, which serves as an implicit model for barista critique of service interactions and understanding barista rants about customers.