Sprocket Cafe — Restaurant in Milwaukee

I would advise not to get a gift certificate here. This business clearly couldn't give one iota about me as a customer: One day, I arrived early for a dentist appointment at the office across the street, and decided to come over to this cafe and work remotely for a bit. However, I couldn't have coffee or food before or after my cleaning appointment, and I had to go back to the office afterwards. So, I explained my situation and came up with the idea to offer to buy a gift certificate instead. I did this on principle that their Internet is for customers. It seemed like the right thing to do. Unfortunately, I couldn't get connected to the Internet and didn't get any work done while I was there.

I meant to go back soon. I used to live closer and have established strong, long-term relationships with the businesses in the neighborhood, and have been coming back to some for 15 years or more. I was open to this business to becoming one of my mainstays, and showed them the same respect and courtesy I show all the others.

As time passed, I forgot about the gift certificate. I didn't notice that it had an expiration date. One day, I came back for an appointment that wasn't a cleaning. I couldn't eat before the appointment, but could after they finished looking at my teeth. By the end of the appointment, I was pretty hungry, and hoping that I could grab something to eat here.

I was honest and pointed out the expiration immediately and asked nicely if they would still honor it. They offered me nothing. They had received $10 and I got absolutely nothing for it. This time I had brought someone with me who was also hungry. Dismayed, we went to another place down the street for lunch instead.

The reason they're getting a 1 star review is that they're clearly not customer-oriented. How common is this problem with expired gift certificates that you're afraid to have any shred of flexibility, creativity, or compassion for someone who gave you $10 and received absolutely nothing in return? Any small sign of goodwill, such as a small, regular cup of coffee on the house. Or just donate some of it to a charity, please. Your cafe is not a charity--the industry standard, actually, is exchange, not just of goods and services for money, but the courtesy I extended to you.

These days, customers are constantly being nudged to pay higher than 20% tips for no service, being charged extra for using credit cards, and being nagged to round up to the next dollar. Meanwhile, wages are not keeping up with inflation. Customers getting tired of being taken advantage of, and my experience with this business was an especially egregious example. This is what I would expect from a struggling business, not a thriving one. Perhaps they would thrive if they wouldn't treat customers this way.

This was a big slap in the face from a small local business in a neighborhood that I love that clearly showed that stiffing me for $10 was worth losing me as a customer for life and getting a 1-star review. Seriously, was it worth it? I think you need to take a good look at your values. You never even said "thank you" for the money. A closet full of "sorry" is not enough. A small token of appreciation would have changed this outcome. I regret ever setting foot...

Cozy place. Need more Sunday morning staff. The sweet girl working by herself tried her best but I disagree with how the rush was handled. Perhaps she wasn't properly trained? Rather than take care of 1 or 2 paying customers from start to finish, she panicked anytime someone walked thru the door. Instead of completing a task she started, she took another order, and another, and another, in fear the customers in line would walk out w/o getting anything? It made the vibe very anxious- feeling and she apologized to everyone over and over more times than I could count. We ordered two lattes and waited a good 20 mins. before walking back to check if she had forgotten our order because we saw people who ordered after us leaving first. The employee was nearly in tears because she was so stressed out. She saw me and apologized to me as if she had just hit my dog with her car, which was pretty awkward. I really wanted to stop her to tell her to take a breath. She apologized profusely w/o allowing me space to even give her permission to slow down and take her time. She kept saying she promises she'll get to our lattes next and that she already had our espresso shots poured. She then walked away in a panic with our pulled shots for the lattes just sitting there getting cold as she again panicked and took more orders. It was sad to watch, really. A man came out from back, I think to ask if she needed help and she said, "It's fine, I got it". She clearly needed help but for whatever deeper reason, she didn't accept it. After taking more orders and getting even more backed up, she rushed to steam our milk to put the old espresso shots in, leaving our drink luke warm, at best. I think everyone felt really bad for the girl because she was so sweet, but everything would have flowed had she just relaxed into it and did one thing at a time from start to finish w/o trying so hard to over multi-task/over-please. Relax girl, you got this. The bakery was delicious and fresh. I have been here before and I will be back. I'm writing this not to complain, but to genuinely offer my outsider's perspective and guidance to hopefully help them...

This place has great coffee and great food but something that was extremely off putting and will prevent me from coming back is listening to the potential owner, having such frustration and clear annoyance to the young employee working. There was a rush of about 8 or so people that all came in around noon, myself included. Everyone ordered drinks and sandwiches and the employee did a great job or getting everything together as quickly as possible. No one complained and everyone was understanding. Then an older couple come from the back and the gentleman starts serving coffee and taking orders, while the woman starts on the waiting sandwich orders. She kept complaining about tickets not making sense and everything being so delayed. But the employee handled it well and explained. As the employee continued making coffee the woman began micro managing and told her she made a drink wrong and to wait but then the gentleman had her start making it a few minutes later and the older woman snapped saying, "too much water. I told you to WAIT" and it was incredibly awkward. She made my sandwich and someone else's to go instead of for here (neither of us complained at all) and then turned and blamed the employee for not writing tickets properly and then got so angry that someone added cheese to their sandwich. It felt like I was at a friend's house watching their parents yell at them as a child. As important as customer service is, so is treating employees with respect. Even in a situation like this where there was a larger queue than I'm sure anyone would like, the shop is small and open so everyone hears everything. I don't feel comfortable supporting a place that appears to treat employees poorly. I hope I just came at a bad time and this...