Student Misunderstandings at Suju’s Spark Conversation on Store Policies

3–4 minutes

After being kicked out of Suju’s Coffee and Tea, AHS students Nikhil Kumar and Ishaan Jha reflect on missteps, miscommunication, and a need for clearer guidelines

Caleb Truneh

Located a few short blocks from school lies Suju’s Coffee and Tea, a beloved local coffee shop. As can be reasonably assumed due to its location, Suju’s is a common place where AHS students go to study, meet for clubs, or grab a snack on the way home.

However, usually in the few hours after school gets out, the coffee shop is hectic and chaotic due to the large number of students there. This can sometimes lead to miscommunication and frustration, like that felt by Ishaan Jha (11). He said, “I had gone to Suju’s in early February with my friends and mistakenly brought in a drink from another place because I was in a rush and did not think much of it. Upon entering, I separated from my friends to go to the conference room to present for a school club meeting.” But not long after I sat down in the conference room, an individual who I believe was a staff member asked me to leave while I was in the middle of my presentation in the conference room which we had previously booked. I explained to the worker that approached me that I made a mistake and I needed to stay to present. He understood but I soon learned my friends didn’t get the same response,” he said.

Jha had gone to Suju’s with Nikhil Kumar (11) who decided to study there while waiting for Jha to finish his meeting. “I had brought in a drink from a local boba shop without thinking much of it but once I entered I was immediately told to leave, and when I tried to go back in after finishing my drink, I was not given an explanation why and was just told to leave,” said Kumar. “I understand the worker may have just been frustrated, but I was honestly just confused and surprised that I wasn’t being told why I couldn’t come back in. I feel giving students a better understanding of Suju’s rules and expectations for customers would be beneficial for both student customers and Suju’s themselves.”

“In retrospect, I understand why the worker may have wanted us to leave but I wish I could have gotten a warning or some kind of notice that what I had done was wrong instead of immediately being asked to leave. Under the stress of being expected to present in in front of a lot of people at my meeting, it simply slipped my mind that I should not have brought an outside drink in,” said Jha.

Kumar shared a similar tone of retrospection in. “I understand that dealing with a majority of child customers most of the time may not be easy but I felt it was fairly unfair to make the generalization that all of us had malicious intent,” said Kumar. “I wish I got a chance to plead my case to the worker I spoke to but I still understand with full transparency that I made mistakes and the worker had full discretion to ask me to leave. I hope to continue to go to Suju’s in the future and learn from my mistakes. I hope that all students can get a more clear understanding of their expectations while at the store, he said.

The owner of Suju’s Mahesh Patel was not available to comment.