How hard is it to buy a cup of coffee?

This is partially linked to my blog entitled “Educated and Unemployed”.

Here is a scenario: Let’s say you were ordering a cup of coffee (regular; nothing special) at Starbucks. You would get in line, wait your turn, and then give your order. After taking down your order, the barista would tell you how much you owe. You would give the barista the money and then wait patiently for your order. In a few moments you would get your cup of coffee and be on your way. How long would that take on average? A couple minutes, right?

Now, I know that the States are different from Jordan, or the Middle East for that matter. I know that people operate differently in different locations, under different circumstances, etc. But wouldn’t you expect that something as simple as purchasing a cup of coffee would be relatively simple and take little to no time? Well unfortunately, that is not the case here in Amman.

Now to provide you with some background on how most stores are structured in terms of employees. (This is from my personal experiences and my discussions with local Jordanians, and may only represent a small percentage of what actually takes place). In most small businesses, particularly restaurants, cafes, and small stores that provide services, there are two levels of employees. The first level includes the manager or boss, who is typically a Jordanian. The second level, consisting of the majority of employees who tend to be non-Jordanian (mainly Egyptian), work in restaurants and cafes as waiters or assist the waiters, or provide the service in smaller stores. The manager will take the money and accept the order, then pass it along to those that serve under him.

I have around an hour break in-between my Fusha class (Modern Standard Arabic) and my Ammiyah class (Jordanian dialect). During that time I tend to sit in the cafeteria, do some homework, look over Arabic, etc. And the one thing I do consistently is purchase a cup of coffee that costs (0.15 JD or 25 cents!).

One day I went to purchase my coffee and it took so incredibly long that I almost gave up on my coffee that day. I was the only one in line and it still took what felt like an hour. While I waited for coffee, the person who accepts the money was not there. He was taking a break in the back or something. Who knows. The man who pours the coffee and/or tea noticed that I was waiting and continued to look at his phone. After several minutes of my waiting, the assistant came over to look for his boss. Why he waited so long, I have no idea, but that is how they operate I guess. Finally the boss came out, took my money and gave me a slip of paper saying that I purchased one coffee. I then proceeded to walk along the counter and gave the slip to the assistant who then poured me my coffee. 

I could think of so many more ways to make this whole process much more efficient. But if all of Amman and even Jordan (maybe even the Middle East) operate like this and everyone goes with the “flow” why would it need to be changed just because a foreigner wants his coffee sooner rather than later?