Ever since I accidentally discovered this in Leicester with Babel, I have had to keep going back to feed my habit. There is a very nice branch of Caffe Nero between the Bull Ring and the Pallasades in Birmingham. It’s never too busy to get a seat, and there’s the advantage that they have wifi too if you want to sit there for a while. The staff are always pleasant, and for the past month or so it’s become a habit of mine to drop in a couple of times a week for a coffee. Well, it depends how bad the week is, really. I’ve been working in the office for the vast majority of the summer, and the disadvantage of that is the lack of caffeine. I’m not stable enough to carry a tray of drinks through our security door system, and because the people I work with are so petty, I daren’t accept a drink off anyone unless I’m able to make a round myself every day. But sometimes I really do crave caffeine, particularly when I’m depressed and fed up, and so it’s quite nice to pop out at lunch time and get a quick fix. Admittedly this goes against my resolutions of saving money and losing weight, but hey…

On particularly weak days, I even go so far as to be tempted by one of their rather nice sandwiches. There’s a very nice spicy meatball panini, and a gorgeous ham and mozzarella one which is fractionally cheaper. Yesterday I was a bit upset because I was expecting to go home to bad news, so I decided to go treat myself to such a panini at lunch. Caffe Nero was a bit busy when I went in, but nevertheless I was served in reasonable time and returned to the office suitably refreshed

What my excuse was today I’m not sure, but at lunch time I gravitated towards Caffe Nero once again. I was initially just going to have a coffee, but then the sandwiches sort of called out to me, and before I knew it I was standing at the till with panini in hand Anyways, the guy heated it up for me and then when I was getting ready to pay he said, “The drink’s free today because I overcharged you yesterday”.

I was a bit perplexed and had to ask him to repeat, which he duly did. It seems I’d had a ham sandwich yesterday but he’d charged me for a meatball one, which was 20p more. I said I hadn’t noticed, but apparently he’d realised afterwards and so made a mental note to make it up next time I came in.

I was very pleasantly surprised to encounter such honesty As I said, I hadn’t noticed I’d been overcharged at all, and it genuinely was only a question of a few pence, so I was unlikely to have complained about it even if I had. I was kind of amazed that the guy would actually remember and admit that he owed me next time I came in, and of course, the only thing better than drinking a Frappe Latte is drinking a free Frappe Latte

As a result of this experience, and a similar experience of excellent service which Babel blogged about recently, I have come to the conclusion that Caffe Nero must give their staff personality tests before they employ them to make sure they are nice people They are certainly a cut above the other coffee shop staff in Birmingham – the people in Starbucks are downright unpleasant, and last time I went to Costas the staff seemed unwilling to communicate in anything other than Polish. Definitely my coffee shop of choice