My 10 year anniversary at Starbucks is coming up, AMA about Starbucks.

Ever hook up with a hot coworker?

umax555 posted...

Most ridiculous customer youve had to deal with?

Crazy Russian expat who couldn't deal with COVID restrictions and called me a "fucking lib****."
Also had a lady throw her coffee and food at me because she wanted cream in her coffee and I asked her to put her cup down on the handoff instead of over our ice bin.
Used to have a regular that would always have her drink remade if one of the brown-skinned baristas made her drink, but less often if someone white made her drink. It was obvious, but also kinda subtle. She was always nice to everyone, just really particular about the exact amount of foam on her drink. It just always was an issue and someone with darker skin made her drink.
Had a real annoying customer who would buy stuff for points, then immediately return it. At the time, as a shift, I didn't have the authority to do anything about it. Had to wait for my DM to tell my SM to get it to stop.
Had one guy that would come to Florida once or twice a year and go to different stores and order "an iced espresso with milk to the top." If you argued and told him, "that's a latte," he would call corporate who'd tell the SM to charge him however he wants. You'd say, "Ok, we'll charge you for espresso this time, but next time it's a latte." He'd come by for a few weeks, you'd finally lock in the policy between all the baristas, then he'd fly up to NY and come again next year. I'd remember his name if I saw him.

I had a lot of homeless customers, too, but they'd just get into typical homeless shenanigans. Honestly, love most of them and wish them the best, even though they were a pain in the butt to my manager. My new store also has a few homeless regulars and everybody loves them.

Yawn_Master2 posted...

Ever hook up with a hot coworker?

I've been with my SO since 2007, but we're down to fool around. I've had two coworkers who were definitely interested. One got together with her ex before anything could happen. The other was hot, but I decided was probably too young. Did have some coworkers that dated my younger brother, but that was like broken people being broken together.
A lot of my coworkers are 16-18 and I am NOT interested. I've had some call me "Dad," like the store-Dad.
It's work. I mostly just want to go in, do my job, and go home.

as a former 6 year sbux barista/shift supe, I commend your service. i bounced right when mobile ordering was becoming more popular.

love hearing other crazy customer stories, so what are some others?

also, the undertow got me through a lot of morning shifts. i would never try to order one now tho lol

The sweet cream cold brew is the only thing I get and I love it. It may not be the best coffee out there but I always know what Im going to get and its actually cheaper than many other places

Actually got a road trip today and will be getting one

I was gonna make my own topic about Starbucks but I'll just ride this one.

Holy crap, I get that people need their morning coffee but GAHT DAYUM the drive-thru lines are unbelievable. Like don't you people have jobs you have to be at? Surely that trumps sitting number 14 in line to get a coffee...

Do you ever feel like you are treated unfairly because of your job or because you didnt graduate from four year college? Like do you think you are treated differently because of this?

umax555 posted...

Most ridiculous customer youve had to deal with?

I've had a guy try to argue that i could make him a Frappuccino with no ice cause it's possible to select that on the app. I told him it's an accident cause it's blended ice. You'd just be getting flavored milk if you didn't want ice. It was a long conversation to have cause someone was trying to be cheap by not adding ice.
Otherwise, daily things like people picking up the wrong drinks happens all the time. They'll place an order and tell us we're wrong when it was placed seconds ago cause they're looking at the previous order.
Or they'll pick up a hot drink and tell us we're wrong cause it's supposed to be cold. So, again, picking up the wrong drink. Better yet, they'll pick up a drink and ask if it's theirs when it's not even the right temperature.
Rarely, but people will place mobile orders and try to pick them up right away. We're fast and get most mobile drink orders out in less than 2 minutes, but someone will come up after placing the order like right in front of us.
A lot of customers make me think they're really out of touch of reality and think workers are robots or something.

GranolaPanic posted...

In your opinion, what are the best and worst things on the entire Starbucks menu?

Worst: Easily the pineapple refresher. With coconut milk, it's good, but without it's WAY too strong. It's so strong it stains the pitcher, stains your cup, probably stains your stomach. It never should have made it to the menu.
The apple oat milk drinks are pretty bad, too. I like them, but would not recommend. I always tell customers, "It tastes like an apple candle."

Best: A lot of the pastries are sadly underrated. Cinnamon coffee cake warmed up, banana bread, pumpkin bread. RIP the almond croissant, best food item on the menu and nobody bought it. Impossible sandwich with sriracha is great. Pumpkin cream cheese muffin is way underrated.
A lot of our best food items have sadly been discontinued or still out of production due to supply chain issues and menu thinning.

Best drink? I dunno, I drink everything, it depends on my mood. Can't go wrong with salted caramel cream cold brew, it's got just the right amount of everything. Brown sugar shaken espresso is great, too, you can add vanilla sweet cream cold foam if your want extra savory sweetness.

Spin4Fun359663 posted...

Do you ever feel like you are treated unfairly because of your job or because you didnt graduate from four year college? Like do you think you are treated differently because of this?

I can't remember any incidents. My parents and I really expected me to graduate.

Yeah, that pineapple refresher does worry us. We designate pitchers just for them. Tastes like kool-aid to me

Having a Starbucks cup is more a fashion statement and flex on how much money you have

How many ppl did the stupid Bueller name gag?

I once worked with a former ass't mgr from SB, said his own manager was borderline certifiable... would call him at 3am to cancel/switch his shift so the ass't would have to scurry to make the 4am opening or whatever time it was.

ChocoboMogALT posted...

I'll tell you all the secrets I know.

Why do you scam people with drinks?

VeggetaX posted...

Having a Starbucks cup is more a fashion statement and flex on how much money you have

The cups are reasonably priced, IMO. If they're in sale, they can be cheaper than the same thing at Walmart. I have seen some of our tumblers, minus the branding, at Five-below. But some of them do have leaking problems. The plastic cups for $2 (formerly $1) are a good deal if you bring them in every day. You save $0.10, plus get 25 bonus stars.

2001mark posted...

How many ppl did the stupid Bueller name gag?

I once worked with a former ass't mgr from SB, said his own manager was borderline certifiable... would call him at 3am to cancel/switch his shift so the ass't would have to scurry to make the 4am opening or whatever time it was.

Maybe 1 Bueller? Got many more Batmans, Trumps, Unions, Merry Christmases, etc. Most people are surprisingly unoriginal with their names, very few remotely funny ones.

SayHeyyShohei posted...

Why do you scam people with drinks?

I don't. People choose to pay Starbucks prices. I never force or coerce them to. We have free waters and free refills on basic teas and coffee. Milk is expensive, always has been, and a lot of the price on drinks comes from labor. More labor intensive drinks generally cost more. The major outliers being hot tea drinks or no foam lattes, which are too cheap for their labor-cost, and iced chai, which are too expensive (but delicious). Honestly, I wish we could charge more for modifications that aren't on the menu because of how much of a pain they are.
We keep raising the prices, and people keep coming. If anything the price is a status symbol and it's real annoying. I'd much rather just serve $2 brewed coffees all day to some chill coffeehouse people than the clientele we have.

ChocoboMogALT posted...

I don't. People choose to pay Starbucks prices. I never force or coerce them to. We have free waters and free refills on basic teas and coffee. Milk is expensive, always has been, and a lot of the price on drinks comes from labor. More labor intensive drinks generally cost more. The major outliers being hot tea drinks or no foam lattes, which are too cheap for their labor-cost, and iced chai, which are too expensive (but delicious). Honestly, I wish we could charge more for modifications that aren't on the menu because of how much of a pain they are.
We keep raising the prices, and people keep coming. If anything the price is a status symbol and it's real annoying. I'd much rather just serve $2 brewed coffees all day to some chill coffeehouse people than the clientele we have.

Starbucks lies about the size of their cups along with telling their workers to use as much ice as possible to save money.

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Nice.

SayHeyyShohei posted...

Starbucks lies about the size of their cups along with telling their workers to use as much ice as possible to save money.

That cup thing is absolute nonsense. You're literally getting tricked by video editing if you believe that. Most cups are designed to fill more than we advertise, so a 16 oz cup fits more than 16 ounces. Plus, we are trained to fill up to a quarter inch below the rim, but in practice almost always fill all the way up.

The ice in drinks is measured and considered a part of the drink. You can see the lines on the cups for how much drink you get. You can also generally request light or no ice except on drinks that need ice to exist (shaken espresso and frappucinos).
In fact, we recently updated our pricing on refreshers to charge extra for no water, for some stupid reason, but there's still no extra charge for light or no ice. And we still get customers who ask for "no ice drink, plus a cup of ice on the side."
Starbucks has been open a long time, you should know how much ice to expect in drinks. And even if you mess up and forget to ask for light ice, just ask at the end and we'll (secretly begrudgingly) remake it. It happens all the time.

https://youtu.be/q4ut-4QWuGM?si=IBUe45w8S4zE8ZFf

As for some real Starbucks tea, my manager more or less made me come in to work sick last week. Literally no one in the district could cover for me. We were much better about this the last two years, but it's been getting much worse recently. And, surprise of surprises, now my how store is sick, too.
I did wear a mask everyday, washed my hands religiously, strayed away from touching food/drinks almost entirely. But, I'm pretty sure another coworker got us all sick in the first place. Typical food service BS.

SayHeyyShohei posted...

https://youtu.be/q4ut-4QWuGM?si=IBUe45w8S4zE8ZFf

You're telling me the quarter pounder is less than a quarter of a pound once it's cooked?!
Go in to a cafe store while it's slow and have them measure the coffee to the line before it gets any ice. Or get the different cup sizes and do it yourself.
We literally have a volumetric shaker with measurements.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fgsiwq2kx04t31.jpg

You're telling me the quarter pounder is less than a quarter of a pound once it's cooked?!

Didn't you just say they give more than advertised?

How far are we moving these goal posts?

We literally have a volumetric shaker with measurements.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fgsiwq2kx04t31.jpg

Volumetric shaker manufactured by Starbucks*

Aaand blocked (I think).

Anyway, the easiest way to make a tall drink with light ice is to measure out a grande. So you're literally getting a grande amount of drink for tall price, minus ice.

Anybody who thinks the drink sizes are fake are stupid. I've heard it a couple times. Had someone ask if all the sizes are the same... Get outta here with your conspiracies and go somewhere else

Oh, as for customers, there's something particularly special about people who make an order and immediately expect to get their drink, especially if there's a long line. Like, you see there's 10 people waiting. If we are perfect gods and make 2 drinks a minute, that's 5 minutes for your drink. Just chill, the more you distract us the longer everybody's drinks take.
Frappucinos and refreshers aren't terrible, IMO. But annoying when you get frap, refresher, frap, refresher (with cold foam) - instead of frap, frap, refresher, refresher. Refreshers in general really mess with the flow more than they should. No inclusions on refreshers saves a lot of time and barely affects the flavor. The consistency/texture on the inclusions is kinda gross, too, though I do like some strawberries in water or green tea.

I kinda mentioned it before, but hot teas are some of the worst drinks to make. Just takes too long fidgeting with the tea bag. The honey citrus mint tea (aka medicine ball) is especially annoying because it takes like 3 different stations to make. Even worse when someone comes in visibly sick and expects minty sugar to cure their flu - just STAY HOME.

Easiest/fastest drinks are iced chai and black unsweet iced coffee. Even faster than water since you don't need to wait on the water filter. Iced chai is just pump concentrate, add milk, add ice, lid and done. Iced coffee is just pour iced coffee, add ice, lid and done.

happy anniversary