Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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An actual conversation that happened at work yesterday with a customer. (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by noel888
Me: Hi! Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get started for you today?
C(customer): Frappuccino
Me: ok sure! What kind of Frappuccino would you like?
C: I want a Frappuccino.
Me: I see, is there a certain flavor you’d want in it? Or do you just want a coffee Frappuccino?
C: *she looks at my intensely* I want a tall Frappuccino.
Me: *trying so hard to keep smiling while the line is growing behind her* ok so you want a tall coffee Frappuccino?
C: no I want a tall green tea Frappuccino!
Me: oh ok! So one tall green tea Frappuccino right?
C: no I wanted it Venti!
Me: .........ok perfect is that all for you today?
C: *continues to stare at me intensely* ....and no whip.
Me: awesome....*internally screaming*
C(customer): Frappuccino
Me: ok sure! What kind of Frappuccino would you like?
C: I want a Frappuccino.
Me: I see, is there a certain flavor you’d want in it? Or do you just want a coffee Frappuccino?
C: *she looks at my intensely* I want a tall Frappuccino.
Me: *trying so hard to keep smiling while the line is growing behind her* ok so you want a tall coffee Frappuccino?
C: no I want a tall green tea Frappuccino!
Me: oh ok! So one tall green tea Frappuccino right?
C: no I wanted it Venti!
Me: .........ok perfect is that all for you today?
C: *continues to stare at me intensely* ....and no whip.
Me: awesome....*internally screaming*
spill-that-tea-sis 78 points 4y ago
It hurts me
HoochiMan 71 points 4y ago
i’m training at a license store and our pos system is the biggest joke i’ve ever seen, it seriously hurts business to use lol and it’s so hard to train on. so as i’m moving slowly bc i’m learning, this lady goes from a tall hot cm all the way to a venti iced dirty chai. every time id read the order back to her she’d change something. first the size, then no drizzle, then hot to cold etc. i don’t understand dude. all the while giving me an attitude like i didn’t hear her correctly?????
icelessTrash 15 points 4y ago
During our morning rush last week, this nutty old lady walked up to the handoff and interrupted the bar barista to ask if we take phone orders (we don't, we are licensed). She told her no, so she got in line. When she got to the register, she asked for a "small decaf mocha". I showed her the short and tall hot cups and asked which one. She said "with extra chocolate, and whipped cream." I said "okay, which size? They both have 1 shot of espresso, so the smaller one will be taste more a little stronger"
She said the tall, I rang her up, talking with her pleasantly, she kept ignoring me and reconfirming her order: yes decaf, yes extra chocolate, while the pin pad desperately beeped at her to remove her card. Finally she walked away. When she came back for her drink I hear the dreaded "This isn't what I ordered! I wanted a FRAPPPPUCCCCCINNNNO!!!!" Then she launched into trying to blame me, as if it mattered: " I THOUGHT WHEN SHE SHOWED ME THE CUPS IT WAS JUST FOR THE SIZE" ( I'm not going to argue, but she def saw me write on the cup and put it in line). Bar barista was a little confused, just talking through it like "oh well this is a tall decaf mocha--" and lady screams to interrupt " I don't even know what a mocha is HOW WOULD I ORDER ONE" haha I've pretty much been laughing about it since, and this awesome regular who saw it all unfold was laughing his butt off. He keeps trying to return his Americano and demand that he has no clue how he'd ordered it because he has no idea what it is 😂
Oh and as we finished up her precious frapp, she asked if the whipped cream was fresh. I wish people who know nothing would keep their mouths shut a little more...
She said the tall, I rang her up, talking with her pleasantly, she kept ignoring me and reconfirming her order: yes decaf, yes extra chocolate, while the pin pad desperately beeped at her to remove her card. Finally she walked away. When she came back for her drink I hear the dreaded "This isn't what I ordered! I wanted a FRAPPPPUCCCCCINNNNO!!!!" Then she launched into trying to blame me, as if it mattered: " I THOUGHT WHEN SHE SHOWED ME THE CUPS IT WAS JUST FOR THE SIZE" ( I'm not going to argue, but she def saw me write on the cup and put it in line). Bar barista was a little confused, just talking through it like "oh well this is a tall decaf mocha--" and lady screams to interrupt " I don't even know what a mocha is HOW WOULD I ORDER ONE" haha I've pretty much been laughing about it since, and this awesome regular who saw it all unfold was laughing his butt off. He keeps trying to return his Americano and demand that he has no clue how he'd ordered it because he has no idea what it is 😂
Oh and as we finished up her precious frapp, she asked if the whipped cream was fresh. I wish people who know nothing would keep their mouths shut a little more...
Supadupastein 10 points 4y ago
Psycho bitch. I swear if someone does that to me again I may just tell them to go fuck themselves and walk off the job
Cvais 68 points 4y ago
A conversation I had on Thursday on POS:
Me: hi! How are you today?
Guy: good! How are you?
Me: I’m great! What can I get started for you?
Guy: grande nitro cold brew.
Me: I’m sorry, unfortunately we’re out of that right now.
Guy: with 2 pumps of caramel and 2 pumps of vanilla.
Me (with a smile and a slight laugh): I really wish I could, but we actually are out of the nitro, but I can do a regular cold brew.
Guy (voice raised): I want a nitro with 2 pumps of caramel and 2 pumps of vanilla.
Me: sir, I’m really sorry, but we are out of nitro. Can I give you a regular cold brew instead?
Guy: ugh fine, just put it with 2 pumps of caramel and 2 of vanilla *scans phone and walks away before I can even type it in*
Me: hi! How are you today?
Guy: good! How are you?
Me: I’m great! What can I get started for you?
Guy: grande nitro cold brew.
Me: I’m sorry, unfortunately we’re out of that right now.
Guy: with 2 pumps of caramel and 2 pumps of vanilla.
Me (with a smile and a slight laugh): I really wish I could, but we actually are out of the nitro, but I can do a regular cold brew.
Guy (voice raised): I want a nitro with 2 pumps of caramel and 2 pumps of vanilla.
Me: sir, I’m really sorry, but we are out of nitro. Can I give you a regular cold brew instead?
Guy: ugh fine, just put it with 2 pumps of caramel and 2 of vanilla *scans phone and walks away before I can even type it in*
sadsadbarista 30 points 4y ago
Honestly reading this pissed me off. What happened next? 😂
Cvais 16 points 4y ago
Haha, nothing exciting. The other guy who was with him looked shocked and was overly nice to me and asked for a recommendation. I went over and made their orders immediately to get them out of there ASAP 😂 (barista on bar was backed up with drive thru orders and they were the only 2 waiting for café orders)
TessaFink 7 points 4y ago
How do you have cold brew but not nitro? Ours is connected to the same system.
Cvais 8 points 4y ago
Something was actually messed up with the nitro tanks idk exactly what. The service guys came about an hour later and fixed the issue. We could still pour from the regular CB side but the nitro side wasn’t coming out right.
Yenasoul 4 points 4y ago
Im internally screaming at this because of how relatable it is
shewassofabous 51 points 4y ago
As a daily customer- mobile order has saved me from screaming at other customers like this. I give y’all so much credit. Bc I ALWAYS see some weirdo shit happening in my store.
ChelseaHellion 35 points 4y ago
I feel for you so hard! I had a customer argue with me saying he wanted a “drink”. Just that. He had a thick accent so I wasn’t sure at first if he was telling me what drink, but no. This went on of me asking what drink and explaining what kind of drinks we had to ask if he meant that. No, still just a “drink”. Finally he said, “like a soda”...🤦🏼♀️ like he thought we had one of those self-serve soda machines. First of all, do you see one somewhere?! Second, why do people have SUCH A HARD TIME understanding that we ARE NOT McDONALDS!!!
ladyelenawf 16 points 4y ago
Because *frappe*...
^^/s
^^/s
ChelseaHellion 10 points 4y ago
Exactly! And our breakfast sandwiches they can’t seem to get right
ladyelenawf 6 points 4y ago
To be fair, the emails I get are confusing as hell. Then I get to the menu and it keeps getting reordered. So if I want food, I usually mobile order it just to keep y'all's DT times down and avoid misunderstanding on my part. The DT is not the time or place to try to get crash course on y'all's menu.
ChelseaHellion 5 points 4y ago
True. But I don’t think we mind explaining things. At least I don’t. But we’re just talking about how people don’t know the basic names of things. I don’t care if someone says small, medium, or large. It does bother me if someone doesn’t at least explain what they’re ordering. And yes, it is a big annoyance when someone says “frappe” bc that’s McDonalds’ knockoff or when someone tries to order a soda. But in the case off the op, the customer assumed a whole drink category was one drink or that the partner should’ve known what she was thinking. Can’t get mad at us bout that
Sammorz 8 points 4y ago
Just give him an empty cup and then watch him look for it lol
ChelseaHellion 5 points 4y ago
🤣I should have
noel888 [OP] 3 points 4y ago
Ugh I feel for you too! I honestly would have just given him an empty cup too.😂
smalltownbarista 24 points 4y ago
me: what can I get for you?
customer: a breve
me: a breve latte?
C: a vanilla breve
me: okay a vanilla latte w breve, what size?
C: no a BREVE
me: okay what size though
customer: a breve
me: a breve latte?
C: a vanilla breve
me: okay a vanilla latte w breve, what size?
C: no a BREVE
me: okay what size though
Wasabi-ragga 2 points 4y ago
😂😂😂 I'm dead. People think we we are mind readers. I know alot of people in Nyc are tired so I give them that .
[deleted] 14 points 4y ago
i had someone ask for a pumpkin spiced latte today, straight up wanted to scream
silversungoddess 13 points 4y ago
I was asked for a flipping UNICORN FRAP! Wtf!? How is this even a question. It’s been what? 4 years!?!?
Maera420 6 points 4y ago
>It’s been what? 4 years!?!?
Seriously?? Already??? Damn, time flies.......
Seriously?? Already??? Damn, time flies.......
TTC-20 2 points 4y ago
It’s been only been two years. It was in 2017
IzzyRezArt 5 points 4y ago
"Hi do you sell flavored syrups?"
"Yes we do! What would you like?"
"Smoked butterscotch."
"Noooooo sorryyyyyy, we dont have that oooone, it got discontinued!" (Smiling villainously while looking cheery, internally laughing like skeletor as she leaves)
"Yes we do! What would you like?"
"Smoked butterscotch."
"Noooooo sorryyyyyy, we dont have that oooone, it got discontinued!" (Smiling villainously while looking cheery, internally laughing like skeletor as she leaves)
sammiantha 14 points 4y ago
the “awesome” at the end triggered me
Maera420 12 points 4y ago
Happens to me every day. I hate it. People need their hands held to order their own drinks/food.
Me: Hi, what can I get for ya today?
C: I want a coffee, and a vanilla-
Me: What size was your coffee?
C: What?
Me: What size?
C: Oh, large. And can I get a vanilla-
Me: And was there anything in your coffee?
C: What?
Me: Was there anything in your coffee? ... Cream, sugar, milk..?
C: Oh, two cream.
Me: So a large two cream coffee. And that was a vanilla what?
C: No, large double double.
What. Why. I hate this.
Me: Hi, what can I get for ya today?
C: I want a coffee, and a vanilla-
Me: What size was your coffee?
C: What?
Me: What size?
C: Oh, large. And can I get a vanilla-
Me: And was there anything in your coffee?
C: What?
Me: Was there anything in your coffee? ... Cream, sugar, milk..?
C: Oh, two cream.
Me: So a large two cream coffee. And that was a vanilla what?
C: No, large double double.
What. Why. I hate this.
cfuqua 2 points 4y ago
can't you listen to the whole order and ask for clarification afterwards instead of interrupting? it's kinda rude
Maera420 3 points 4y ago
It is, I agree. But if I don't get the clarification for the drink at the beginning of the order, then the coworker who is making all the drinks gets bogged down and runs too far behind, because they can't start the drink until they know what's in it.
If I'm the one taking the orders and making the drinks, I don't do that. But my location is really busy, and we get snipped at if we don't get through the line of customers fast enough. So if I have one customer who doesn't clarify their drink until the end of the order, but my next four customers do clarify their drinks, now everyone's waiting an extra few minutes because the drink maker is only on the second order, and I'm the one getting snipped at by both sups and customers because we aren't going fast enough for them.
Interrupting them is rude, yes. But I'd rather be a little rude than get berated for being too slow. Also, while most of my customers haven't, some people get really pissy when you let them get through their whole order, and then clarify something from the beginning of it. No idea why, but I don't do well with confrontation, and the approach of interrupting to clarify an order has worked best for me, with the least amount of pushback.
Not to mention, it often happens to be the same customers who ask how I'm doing, or ask me a question, and then bulldoze over me with their, "Get me this, that, and the other thing." So it feels like some sweet petty revenge interrupting those people back.
If I'm the one taking the orders and making the drinks, I don't do that. But my location is really busy, and we get snipped at if we don't get through the line of customers fast enough. So if I have one customer who doesn't clarify their drink until the end of the order, but my next four customers do clarify their drinks, now everyone's waiting an extra few minutes because the drink maker is only on the second order, and I'm the one getting snipped at by both sups and customers because we aren't going fast enough for them.
Interrupting them is rude, yes. But I'd rather be a little rude than get berated for being too slow. Also, while most of my customers haven't, some people get really pissy when you let them get through their whole order, and then clarify something from the beginning of it. No idea why, but I don't do well with confrontation, and the approach of interrupting to clarify an order has worked best for me, with the least amount of pushback.
Not to mention, it often happens to be the same customers who ask how I'm doing, or ask me a question, and then bulldoze over me with their, "Get me this, that, and the other thing." So it feels like some sweet petty revenge interrupting those people back.
snidejenner 1 points 4y ago
The customer clearly didnt finish ordering what was in the coffee before moving on to his next thing tho
cfuqua 1 points 4y ago
So keep it in your short term memory and don't interrupt
TheManWhoThinksAhead 10 points 4y ago
Something like this happened to me today but it honestly happens everyday
Me: hey how’s it going
Customer: can I get a green iced tea unsweetened with lemonade
Me: * voiding the green tea into a green tea lemonade to not confuse bar partners*
Anything else?
Customer: no
Me: May I have your name?
Customer: no that’s it
Me: *louder and slower* “may I have your name?”
Customer: oh “name”
Me: *payment process* thank you “bar partner” will have your drink (pls leave)
Me: hey how’s it going
Customer: can I get a green iced tea unsweetened with lemonade
Me: * voiding the green tea into a green tea lemonade to not confuse bar partners*
Anything else?
Customer: no
Me: May I have your name?
Customer: no that’s it
Me: *louder and slower* “may I have your name?”
Customer: oh “name”
Me: *payment process* thank you “bar partner” will have your drink (pls leave)
wontonbitch 8 points 4y ago
I feel like this just happened to me at the drive window. Smh.
LogantheInvincible 8 points 4y ago
This is so wrong... some people must be doing it deliberately :(
obeehunter 6 points 4y ago
I have a regular who comes in at 8am and orders a 'green tea RRAPPUCINO' on the week days. I die several times.
noeyoureatowel 11 points 4y ago
We get a lot of people asking for “trenties” which kills me.
TessaFink 5 points 4y ago
There’s a creepy man who comes in during the evening who wants decaf but he can barely speak and every time we make a pour over for him he asks if we are closing and then he stares very creepily at you waiting for his coffee.
noel888 [OP] 6 points 4y ago
Omg I hate creepy old men sooo muuuch! I have a handful of them who are regulars and always try to flirt with me in the worst way. One time I was going to clean the bathrooms and I had to wait for the person to get out(we only have one shared restroom in our store.) and he comes and stands literally 2 inches behind me. Then slowly whispers dumb blonde jokes into my ear. He scared the crap out of me and all I could do have nervously laugh and the stupid jokes then run into the bathroom.
TessaFink 2 points 4y ago
Ugh! That’s gross. I’m so sorry.
IzzyRezArt 4 points 4y ago
ProBroTips: be an indomitable, invincible, unbreakable mountain of a wall. I admit for most it's easier said than done, but 10 years of customer service has taught me to spot the difference between actual customers, and fuck heads who just want to mess shit up. You end up noticing the difference between the two. Play it simple. Be obvious. Repeat what they literally say. Dont give in. But still play it by the Starbucks rules. If you do: shift cant get you in trouble because they just see a customer being an asshole and chose to leave of their own accord. Or they acquiesce and give in, and they feel like shit.
noel888 [OP] 2 points 4y ago
Ahaha love this. Definitely going to be remembering this for next time! Because of course there’s going to be a next time sadly.
IzzyRezArt 1 points 4y ago
Glad it's going to help you <3 I'm psycho enough to actually love having the bux as a day job lol
IzzyRezArt 3 points 4y ago
I would have just kept asking questions. I can instantly spot and feel out a bullshitter like that customer. Either I outsmart them and they feel stupid, or they get frustrated and leave and save us the trouble of their own accord. Cant get in trouble because I was just talking to them on how they wanted their drink to ensure it was perfect ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
themrreeguy 3 points 4y ago
You shoulda seen the lady slap another lady over "her" (not hers lol) caramel frappuccino
noel888 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Omg I wish something like that could happen at my store😂 it would honestly make my day.
Israaaaman -5 points 4y ago
Starbucks is a joke of a job...
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