I was recently confronted with this issue when out and about getting coffee myself, and was wondering what the general consensus was on here about making coffee for customers at or just after closing time.

At my store, my bosses have told us if someone comes in up to 15 minutes after closing time, that we should make coffee for them. This is also at our discretion, if someone comes in even later and we're still making coffee and have customers around we can still make takeaway coffee for them. I agree with my bosses on this- as irritating as it can be at times when you just want to go home, it is good customer service to be flexible with opens and closes (we technically open at 7am but are there making coffee from 6:30am) as it's going that extra mile for the customer.

I've encountered attitude when entering a shop as they open, and asking for a coffee just after close. One prominent shop in my area downright refused to make me and my parents takeaway coffee (with quite a bit of "attitude" I might add) despite the fact that they were obviously open as all the staff were there. My olds were very disappointed as they were going on a cruise ship for 5 weeks and knew it'd be their last chance to get a decent New Zealand espresso.

And just yesterday at another shop, having already bought a dine-in coffee with my husband, when I asked if I could get a takeaway I was told that the machine was "turned off" (lies!) and felt kind of jipped as it was only 3 minutes past their closing time. Luckily in that circumstance, I tweeted about it and their boss follows me on Twitter, and he apologised and offered a free coffee next time through. That's good customer service! (And the power of Twitter haha). 

So, as baristas, what's everyone's opinion on this issue? Would you make a coffee for a customer if they walked in near open or close? Is it just us at my workplace that are ninjas at opening or closing a coffee machine?