Basic Trope: An overly complicated menu order.
- Straight: Alice goes to a coffee shop and orders a non fat, diet, sugar free, decaf cappuccino with whip cream, a shot of vanilla, caramel syrup and hazelnut shavings. The barista has trouble taking the order.
- Exaggerated: Alice is picky about the order in which the ingredients are added to the coffee and the ingredients must have been made at a certain time.
- Alice's order is so long and complicated that the coffee shop closes before she can finish it.
- Downplayed:
- Alice orders a complicated drink, but one that is already written down on the menu.
- Alice's order is long and complicated, but she always asks for the same thing, so the baristas are used to it.
- Justified:
- Alice is pretty picky when it comes to food and drink, so she won't consume something unless it strictly pleases her taste buds.
- Alice has a lot of health problems that she has to work around while ordering food or drink.
- Alice is trying to use her wish from a Jackass Genie to get a cup of coffee, and needs to specify temperature, size, cup, etc. in addition to flavor, or else the genie will give give her a gallon of superheated coffee in a 3 oz. plastic cup.
- Alice's sons have very different tastes, so she can't make use of the family size offerings the take-out restaurant has.
- Inverted: Alice wants a coffee simple from an upscale shop, but the barista keeps asking her questions about what kind of beans, milk, creamer, and various other specifications that Alice does not care about, who gets very impatient due to desperately needing something to wake her up.
- Subverted:
- Alice scraps her custom beverage once the barista says she can't take the order and just orders a plain espresso.
- Alice's friends wonder why she is taking so long, and guess that she made a complicated order. Turns out she decided to skip the coffee and get a Coke or Mountain Dew at the local grocery store.
- Double Subverted: Then she goes into deep detail about how she wants that espresso once more.
- Parodied: Alice must drink a cup of coffee to save her life, but then wonders if the coffee meets her taste. She collapses because she spent too much time listing her preferences.
- Zig Zagged: Alice orders a drink off the menu, but goes into detail about how she wants it, but it's not really a custom order since it's already written down, but then she scraps the drink for another custom order.
- Averted: Alice just orders a plain cappuccino as is.
- Enforced: "We need to show the audience how shallow Alice is, so a complicated menu order should do."
- Lampshaded: "Give one more detail, and I think the barista might collapse."
- Invoked: The coffee shop only serves custom drinks with no menu, so you can be as picky as you want.
- Exploited: Alice is distracted by her long order that she doesn't notice someone sneaking up on her (for whatever reason it may be).
- Defied:
- "Sorry, but we don't serve custom drinks here."
- "I heard 'Blah, Blah, Blah, coffee'."
- Alice purchases an expensive coffee machine, as well as various sweeteners, syrups, and other ingredients so she can make such complicated drinks for herself in the comfort of her own home.
- The coffee shop puts all the various creamers, sugars, and other additives in a self serve station so the customers can make the orders themselves.
- Discussed: The characters talk about how far one can go customizing their drink before annoying a barista.
- Conversed: "Come on Alice, just order a plain drink off the menu. Nothing can meet your taste 100%."
- Implied:
- When it's Alice's turn to order, she hands the barista a piece of paper to read. Though she orders first she picks up her order last, but not before she leaves an extra tip before hurrying off to rejoin her friends.
- The menu now includes the Alice Special (or "the usual?" when Alice arrives), at $27, where all others have base prices between $10 and $15.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice is so picky, that she can't enjoy a single cup of coffee since it can't meet her standards.
- The barista gets annoyed by how picky she is and declines to take her order.
- Reconstructed:
- After lots of tries, Alice eventually finds a drink that suits her needs, and orders it so much that the baristas are used to making it.
- The coffee shop decides to train its employees in taking and making custom orders to avoid incidents.
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