I get it. Everyone’s cranky in mid- to late-January.

The holiday season is over, so the mask of giving thanks, peace and love that so few in this population actually possess naturally, is off. The pseudo-niceties and charitable smiles are exhausting for preternaturally cranky narcissists and eternal pessimists . The Starbucks cups are no longer red, and the second the seasonal drinks disappear and the cups go back to white, the bleakest days of winter begin. So bleak, in fact, that America has forgone hope in determining whether or not spring will come and has left the answer up to a groundhog. (Seriously?)

But just because the planet has been stripped of seasonal joy does not give anyone the right to be callous and cold, particularly those involved in customer service. I do not just say this because my birthday falls a few weeks after New Year’s and am often victim to Post-Seasonal-Joy Cruelty. “But it’s my birthday!” doesn’t always fly with those folks.

I am a longtime supporter of a certain coffee chain, and will not, under any circumstances, abandon my love and support for it. As a self-professed coffee addict, I will go as far to say that even some seriously rude employees will not deter my support for it. Because I’m not stupid — I know that at the next outpost of the chain there could be some seriously nice employees. And besides, the product’s awesome.

Let me elaborate. I have a very specific drink. Unlike most people who stop off at this chain for a caffeine fix, I actually get coffee, rather than espresso + [insert advertised syrup flavor here]. I get coffee plus some steamed soy milk and two scoops of vanilla bean powder (it tastes good, really). It’s not a caf√ÉØ√ø√Ω au lait, which implies half milk, half coffee. If I asked for that, I would get half milk, half coffee; I want about 85 to 90 percent coffee. I like the milk steamed and foamy because that makes it hot and special, and I like it soy because my digestive system didn’t really give me a choice. So what if I’m specific? I’m paying for it. Or the kind parents who deposit money in my bank account are.

Many who have made my drink have commented on how it’s unusual, but sounds really good. One outpost just knows what to make when I walk in — I’m a regular. However, over the break, I met with a store that disliked my specifications. I was met with rudeness, incorrectly made drinks and snarky comments.

“One, two, three scoops of vanilla bean powder? It’s all the same, isn’t it?”

No, it’s not. That’s like saying, “One, two, three shots of tequila? It’s all the same, isn’t it?” Well, I mean, aside from the third that has you passed out on the floor without pants.

But I try to be nice. I suppose that specificity from a customer can come off as irritable and rude, but I must say that, when all but one store has left me walking out with a smile on my face, I know that it’s time to abandon my support for that one. Their business from Mallory R. Schlossberg is gone.

In this economy, it’s just not okay to be snarky to a customer, especially when they are buying an unnecessary product. I can make coffee in my own coffeemaker and put my own damn soy milk in it.

As a frequenter of this chain, I can accept that one store’s failings. But what if someone walked into this chain for the first time and was met with this sort of attitude? I am willing to bet that one possible customer would never return again. Every customer should be a valued customer, especially when dealing with a luxury product. I don’t care if the post-holiday blues makes an employee desperate to go home for a Jack and Coke; I want mostly coffee, not milk, in my drink.

How would he feel if, that night he showed up at a bar, I was the bartender, and I gave him all Coke, with just a little bit of Jack, after he kindly asked me to make him a drink strong enough to get him inebriated, after dealing with the most annoying customer ever at his coffee shop that day? Think about it.