Panera Bread

Went there for a coffee meeting and had an oddly unsatisfactory customer experience overall. When I ordered, the first annoying thing was the fact that the point of sale system asked if I wanted to leave a tip . A tip for who? The cashier? This isn't a local coffee shop so the cashier isn't my barista and she's not making my food and she's not even bringing it out to me so what service am I tipping for? "Wow you really took my order great thanks here's an extra $1!" I'm assuming the money must be shared with everyone but that still defeats the entire purpose of a tip. How can I tip for good service if you ask me to give a tip before the service is even rendered? If a tip is usually based on service, then under this new model it would seem that the service might be based on the tip , correct? It's just a bad system and very annoying to the customer. Hey Panera: "Nobody likes this." Then after I ordered I was given one of those electronic flasher things that I assumed would go off when my order was ready, so I went and found a table and sat down (since you bus your own tables there this one wasn't particularly clean, but whatever). When my order was ready the flashy thing didn't do anything and they simply put my order up on the counter in the back and yelled my name. Which I'm fine with but why had they given me that little electronic block with the flashy lights then? And then they yelled my name a second time when my latte was ready so I had to go back up there a second time. I was even less happy to see that it came in a to go cup even though I had ordered it to stay. Sorry but I happen to like my latte in a big mug if I'm going to stay in, it's just a nicer customer experience. That brings us to the next problem, the actual food and coffee. The latte just wasn't very good. A bit bitter. But that was nothing compared to the fiasco of my food. I had asked for my ham, egg, and cheese sandwich to be on a croissant - yet they still stuck it in a Panini bread press! Have you ever heard anyone say "I would like a croissant and could you take it and smash It down to only a quarter inch thick and then toast some lines into both sides of it?" Of course not because it totally defeats the entire purpose of ordering a fluffy buttery croissant! As I said earlier just a rather unsatisfactory ( and maybe even slightly confusing) customer experience.