How far does one go to deliver an excellent customer service? The answers might vary but learning a new language is probably not one of them. Yet, that is exactly what one barista did to give her regular customer who is deaf the same Starbucks experience as everyone else. This heartwarming story has been making the rounds in the social media lately with thousands of shares which just show all of us need a dose of goodness in our lives.
The customer, Ibby Piracha, is a regular of the local Starbucks outlet at Leesburg, Virginia according to an article by Tod Perry for The Daily Good. He usually orders by writing a note to his order in it before passing it to the barista. This time, however, he did not need to. When his turn came, it was the barista who asked him what he wanted to drink in a language he could understand - in sign language.
This took Piracha by surprise as it does not happen every day that people get out of their way to communicate with the hearing-impaired. However, what is more impressive is that the lady barista learned sign language using tutorial videos on youtube.
Piracha was deeply touched by the effort of this particular barista to communicate with him in his own terms. Learning the American Sign Language (ASL) is like learning a new language altogether, more so because she did it on her own accord and not as a requirement of her job. This may seem to be a simple gesture to some but for Piracha, this simple act of trying to understand him, a hearing-impaired, reignited in him a feeling of connection with the rest of humanity.
Unrealized by the population with normal hearing, the world can be a tough place for those who are hearing-impaired given the fact that only a handful knows how to sign language. Because of this communication barrier, the hearing-impaired minority somehow end up feeling alienated from the rest.
Realizing that this act of kindness and understanding had to be shared with everyone, Piracha posted his experience via Facebook which has since gone viral. As for the amazing lady barista, she was just motivated to learn ASL because Piracha was a customer according to the WJLA article. What a kind-hearted lady indeed.
