[Traveller] Coffee and (lack of) politeness

[Traveller]

A man walks up to the counter of a coffee shop, smacks NOK 56 (about £5) in coins onto the counter, looks the barista in the eyes an says "one coffee, you nincompoop".

[doriana_]

Is the barista H/A/M? H/A/F?
Do the man and the barista know each other? Has the man been to this particular coffee shop before?
Is NOK 56 the exact price of the coffee? More? Less?
Relevant that this is set in Norway? If so, any traditions relevant?

[Traveller]

Is the barista H/A/M? H/A/F? HAF
Do the man and the barista know each other? No
Has the man been to this particular coffee shop before? Not relevantly
Is NOK 56 the exact price of the coffee? Yes with a big ish More? No with a big ish Less? No
Relevant that this is set in Norway? No
If so, any traditions relevant? No

[GalFisk]

Does he do this in order to: insult? Amuse? Win a bet? Test something? Or someone? The professionalism of the barista? Is he doing this as part of his profession? Would it work if he used another insult? Are other people relevant? Has he been asked to do this by someone? Does he express it sincerely? Jokingly? Ironically? Angrily? Does he get a coffee? Relevant? Does the barista make any relevant reply? Is the emotional response of the barista relevant? Is the coffee shop owner relevant? Is it a franchise? Relevant? Would it work if it was a cafe? Gas station? Other place that sells coffee and other stuff?

[Biograd1]

Is the word "one" emphasized (as in, just ONE coffee, NOT TWO you idiot!)? The word "coffee" (one COFFEE, NOT one CUP OF TEA!)? Neither in particular?

Is the price of the coffee normally less than NOK 56, but some unusual circumstance makes it cost more? Is some other item/service provided in addition to the coffee that is also covered by the NOK 56?

[Traveller]

Postby GalFisk » Sat Jan 22, 2022 8:23 am
Does he do this in order to: insult? Maybe, a bit Amuse? Probably Win a bet? No Test something? Yesish Or someone? Yesish The professionalism of the barista? Probably not Is he doing this as part of his profession? No Would it work if he used another insult? Yes Are other people relevant? No Has he been asked to do this by someone? No Does he express it sincerely? Yes Jokingly? NoIronically? Maybe a bit Angrily? Maybe a bit Does he get a coffee? Irrelevant Relevant? No Does the barista make any relevant reply? No, the story stops with his insult Is the emotional response of the barista relevant? No Is the coffee shop owner relevant? No Is it a franchise? Irrelevant
Would it work if it was a cafe? Gas station? Other place that sells coffee and other stuff? All of these would work too, maybe not quite as well

Is the word "one" emphasized (as in, just ONE coffee, NOT TWO you idiot!)? The word "coffee" (one COFFEE, NOT one CUP OF TEA!)? Neither in particular? The word "one" and the word "coffee" are emphasised about equally. "One" could have been substituted by "a", but "one" sort of carries more weight

Is the price of the coffee normally less than NOK 56, but some unusual circumstance makes it cost more? That is one way of putting it
Is some other item/service provided in addition to the coffee that is also covered by the NOK 56? Noish, DOYD

[doriana_]

Relevant what the man was doing before walking up the counter? If so, had he just entered the coffee shop? been in the coffee shop for a while? watched the barista make drinks?
Relevant what the barista was doing when the man came up to the counter?

Do the NOK 56 include a tip?
Relevant that the money is in coins?
Would the puzzle work if he tossed a NOK 50 bill and NOK 6 in coins on the counter? If he paid by card?

[GalFisk]

Relevant that it was in Norway? (Was it in Norway?) Would it work in Sweden (with SEK)? The UK? The US? Is he speaking English? Norwegian? Swedish? Danish? Some other language the barista is likely to understand? Would it work if the barista was HAM? HTF? HTM? Relevant that he smacks the coins onto the counter? Number of coins relevant? Are other currencies relevant? Would it work if the insult was implied but not spoken? If it was a threat instead of an insult?

[Traveller]

Relevant what the man was doing before walking up the counter? Yes
If so, had he just entered the coffee shop? Just about
been in the coffee shop for a while? A very short while
watched the barista make drinks? No
Relevant what the barista was doing when the man came up to the counter? No

Do the NOK 56 include a tip? Irrelevant
Relevant that the money is in coins? Yes
Would the puzzle work if he tossed a NOK 50 bill and NOK 6 in coins on the counter? Not nearly as well
If he paid by card? No

Relevant that it was in Norway? No (Was it in Norway? Yes)
Would it work in Sweden (with SEK)? The UK? The US? Is he speaking English? Norwegian? Swedish? Danish? Some other language the barista is likely to understand? All yes, but best if country, language and currency correspond to each other nationality-wise
Would it work if the barista was HAM? Yes HTF? HTM? Umm... if the "T" in HTM stands for "Teenager", then yope
Relevant that he smacks the coins onto the counter? Noish
Number of coins relevant? Yope
Are other currencies relevant? No
Would it work if the insult was implied but not spoken? No
If it was a threat instead of an insult? No

[GalFisk]

Does the man think the barista is a nincompoop? Does he want the barista to think that he thinks that? Has he relevantly heard something ? Read something? Is he protesting something? Expresing dissatisfaction with something? Does he know the barrista? Know who she is? Does she know him? Know who he is? Edit: is he reenacting something? Making a reference to something? Are the coins 2x20 + 1x10 + 1x5 + 1x1 NOK? Edit 2: are coins relevant? Bills? Change? Lack of available change? Other forms of payment relevant?

[Sundowner64]

Did the barista say that they don't accept bank notes? don't accept cards? that he does not have a change?
Did the man want to have the coffee to-go? did he want to have it filled into his own mug?
Covid restrictions relevant?

[Bardificer]

Does he think he will get a discount for saying this? Or is he testing whether he will be charged more? Has the barista, in fact, said or done something that he considers nincompoopish?
Before ordering, did he talk to anyone else in the shop? If so, a customer? an employee? Did he listen to other transactions taking place?

[trebor2]

Has he witnessed a relevant interaction between the barista and another customer?

Has he previously been given an incorrect order at this shop? Did he witness someone get something they didn't ask for?

Does "nincompoop" mean something other than fool or stupid person, in this context? Has the barista done something kind of stupid?

Is anything outside of the coffee shop relevant? Is the weather relevant? Is some physical feature of the shop relevant?

[Traveller]

Does the man think the barista is a nincompoop? No
Does he want the barista to think that he thinks that? No

Has he relevantly heard something ? No
Read something? Yes
Is he protesting something? No
Expresing dissatisfaction with something? Probably not
Does he know the barrista? Know who she is? Neither
Does she know him? Know who he is? Neither
is he reenacting something? No
Making a reference to something? Yes, or Yesish, if I understand your question correctly
Are the coins 2x20 + 1x10 + 1x5 + 1x1 NOK? That would work
are coins relevant? Not apart from what has already been discovered
Bills? No
Change? Yope/Yesish
Lack of available change? No
Other forms of payment relevant? No

Did the barista say that they don't accept bank notes? don't accept cards? that he does not have a change? All no
Did the man want to have the coffee to-go? did he want to have it filled into his own mug? Neither
Covid restrictions relevant? No

Does he think he will get a discount for saying this? NO
Or is he testing whether he will be charged more? Yope, or Yesish
Has the barista, in fact, said or done something that he considers nincompoopish? Difficult to say
Before ordering, did he talk to anyone else in the shop? If so, a customer? an employee? Did he listen to other transactions taking place? All no

Has he witnessed a relevant interaction between the barista and another customer? No

Has he previously been given an incorrect order at this shop? Did he witness someone get something they didn't ask for? Neither

Does "nincompoop" mean something other than fool or stupid person, in this context? No Has the barista done something kind of stupid? No

Is anything outside of the coffee shop relevant? Is the weather relevant? Neither
Is some physical feature of the shop relevant? Yes, for SVV of "physical feature of the shop"

[GalFisk]

Was the thing he read: an article? Something on social media? A sign? Something int he store? Something on the barista? Something in his own electronics? Did the thing he read say something about money? Coins? Change? Cost of coffee? Did he read seconds before ordering? Minutes? Hours? Days? Does the barista know about this text? Has the barista written this text? Does the text contain an insult? Or imply one? Is it relevant that he smacks the coins onto the counter? Or would it work if he put them there in a more relaxed manner? Or smacked them into the barista's hand? Does he startle her? Annoy her? Interrupt her? Relevant?

[Sundowner64]

Did a sign outside the coffee shop say that friendly customers have to pay less? that angry customers have to pay more?
Was there a discount offered to people who pay by card? and our customer did not have a card with him?
Is the location of the coffee shop relevant? its opening hours?

[doriana_]

Piggybacking on Sundowner's idea: Is it one of those signs that are like
"One coffee" - NOK 50
"One coffee, please" - NOK 40
"Good morning and one coffee, please" - NOK 30
and the customer wants to see whether they will charge more than NOK 50 for being extra rude?

[Traveller]

Piggybacking on Sundowner's idea: Is it one of those signs that are like
"One coffee" - NOK 50
"One coffee, please" - NOK 40
"Good morning and one coffee, please" - NOK 30
and the customer wants to see whether they will charge more than NOK 50 for being extra rude?

************************* SPOILER **************************

Almost exactly this.

A barista had put up a sign at the entrance of the coffee shop where she was working, saying:

One coffee: kr 46
One coffee please: kr 36
Good morning, one coffee please: kr 26

When I read about this in a Norwegian newspaper, I thought it was an original idea, but apparently it is quite well known. The continuation, however, is hopefully an original one, a figment of my sick, twisted imagination:

Our hero, having quite the pythonesque sense of humour, immediately extrapolated the coupling between politeness and price the wrong way, and reckoned that for an extra 10 kr, he was entitled to insult her - which he did just for the heck of it. The reason why it had to be coins, was for him to make it totally clear that he did not expect any change.

[doriana_]

Nice one!