Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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She called me to complain about me (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by somebasicho
I was a barista/shift supervisor for five years. During that time, slot of interesting things happened. This is one of my favorite stories.
I was working drive thru window. A couple came through around 4 PM. The woman was in the passenger seat and the guy driving ordered for her. She got a small soy chai. I repeated back their order. I repeated it again when they reached the window. I gave them their total. They paid. When I handed the drink out the window the girl said it was the wrong size and she ordered a grande.
Now, after working for this place for five years I can tell you that MANY people try to take advantage of the generous customer service policy. One tactic is to wait till you get your order and then complain it's the wrong size, even though that's the size you just ordered and heard me repeat back to you.
So I tell them that they paid for a tall. A grande is a different price. I will happily refund the tall and charge them for a grande/ make them a grande if they would like.
The woman in the passenger seat says it's fine, but the man driving looks NERVOUS AF, and is trying to get her to accept the grande drink. After a moment of watching them go back and forth about what they want, they drive off.
I think nothing more of it until the phone rings maybe 20 min later. It's the same woman. Only now she is claiming that she didn't get the grande she paid for and her drink was not made with soy. She says she is now stuck in traffic with a chai that she can't even drink. I apologized for the mistake and told her where the closest starbucks would be to her based on what she told me. I told her that any Starbucks in the city would happily replace her drink, no questions asked.
It quickly became apparent that she had called to complain about the person she interacted with (me). She said that the girl who took her order was "weird." I knew she was talking about meso I asked her to explain. She said that when she told the "weird girl" that her order was wrong, she (me) just kept staring at her. She said I didn't offer to fix the drink for her and was very rude.
I didn't want to embarrass her. So, the first couple of times she told me about how weird I am, I just let it go, but by the fourth time she called me a "weird girl" I was done. I simply told her that I was the person who took her order. I'm sorry she thinks I'm weird. I pointed out that I did, in fact, offer to fix her order and that she declined and drove away. The woman hung up on me. I never saw her before then and I never saw her again.
I was working drive thru window. A couple came through around 4 PM. The woman was in the passenger seat and the guy driving ordered for her. She got a small soy chai. I repeated back their order. I repeated it again when they reached the window. I gave them their total. They paid. When I handed the drink out the window the girl said it was the wrong size and she ordered a grande.
Now, after working for this place for five years I can tell you that MANY people try to take advantage of the generous customer service policy. One tactic is to wait till you get your order and then complain it's the wrong size, even though that's the size you just ordered and heard me repeat back to you.
So I tell them that they paid for a tall. A grande is a different price. I will happily refund the tall and charge them for a grande/ make them a grande if they would like.
The woman in the passenger seat says it's fine, but the man driving looks NERVOUS AF, and is trying to get her to accept the grande drink. After a moment of watching them go back and forth about what they want, they drive off.
I think nothing more of it until the phone rings maybe 20 min later. It's the same woman. Only now she is claiming that she didn't get the grande she paid for and her drink was not made with soy. She says she is now stuck in traffic with a chai that she can't even drink. I apologized for the mistake and told her where the closest starbucks would be to her based on what she told me. I told her that any Starbucks in the city would happily replace her drink, no questions asked.
It quickly became apparent that she had called to complain about the person she interacted with (me). She said that the girl who took her order was "weird." I knew she was talking about meso I asked her to explain. She said that when she told the "weird girl" that her order was wrong, she (me) just kept staring at her. She said I didn't offer to fix the drink for her and was very rude.
I didn't want to embarrass her. So, the first couple of times she told me about how weird I am, I just let it go, but by the fourth time she called me a "weird girl" I was done. I simply told her that I was the person who took her order. I'm sorry she thinks I'm weird. I pointed out that I did, in fact, offer to fix her order and that she declined and drove away. The woman hung up on me. I never saw her before then and I never saw her again.
widefeetwelcome 44 points 3y ago
Kind of similar situation I had years ago-I worked in a store for about seven years before I was hired at the customer contact center, where I was eventually promoted to senior representative (ie who calls were transferred to when a caller got pissed at the first rep and asked to speak with a manager). There was a woman who would call the same time every evening when I was the only manager type person available (we had actual managers but they didn’t generally take calls unless something had gotten way out of hand and they were all off earlier), scream about being charged for soy and then go on a racist rant about Hispanic partners. She would escalate to me every night because we stopped sending coupons once it was clear she was a nut (she used different names but we could see the number she was calling from). I explained the soy policy dozens of times and would shut her down when she started to get racist, letting her know I would not continue speaking with her unless she could be respectful of our partners. This went on for awhile and I thought she’d given up when we didn’t hear from her for a week or so. But one evening she called back in, asked to speak with a manager immediately and was transferred to me. She must not have recognized my voice or something but she went on a huge rant about ‘the Hispanic manager’ she’d talked to previously (I am not Hispanic btw-she just didn’t like me so apparently decided I am?). I let her go for awhile because it was pretty entertaining before I let her know that was me she was talking about. She hung up and started sending letters instead-which I made sure were sent to my desk and answered personally by me. It was pretty great.
somebasicho [OP] 26 points 3y ago
Omg. One of our customers accused the only black/gay partner of pouring hot coffee on her on purpose. Then she went on about how she didn't mind "those people" but this was just "too much"... and something about how she donates to aids charities.
widefeetwelcome 14 points 3y ago
Yeah, people like that were pretty common callers. It was wild the amount of homophobic, racist or misogynistic comments I’d have to listen to. I don’t know what they expected-an apology that like...gay people exist? It was really shocking when I first started. I’ve got a bunch of stories like that.
somebasicho [OP] 6 points 3y ago
I can only imagine. Lucky for me this lady said she would not come back if we didn't fire that employee. We did not fire them. She never came back.
Supadupastein 3 points 3y ago
Honestly, in regards to your original story, I wonder if they all are trying to scam, or just genuinely idiots and forget what they ordered , or are confused by the sizes, even if they go all the time. Some people are just dumb, plain and simple
cfuqua 2 points 3y ago
don't give her so much respect as to call her a "lady"
"woman" works fine
"woman" works fine
Kaywin 6 points 3y ago
> She hung up and started sending letters instead-which I made sure were sent to my desk and answered personally by me.
Man, that is some kind of revenge!
Man, that is some kind of revenge!
yyz_barista 21 points 3y ago
I remember one of my favourite phone calls happened when they drove off without their spinach feta wrap (I went to warming to take it out of the oven).
I was genuinely a bit shocked and sad they drove off, I always make sure I say thank you, have a great day to close the interaction.
They called about 5 minutes later on the highway and whoever answered the phone passed them back to me. I don't think she quite expected to talk to me but I was definitely the best person to make it right.
Customer: "I didn't get my spinach feta wrap and I'm on the highway."
Me: "I'm sorry about that, it's here in my hand..."
Customer: "..."
Me: "If you're not too far, you can come back and I'd be happy to give it to you. Otherwise you can call back later with your Starbucks card number and I'll process a refund for you (she was driving so I didn't want her to be distracted)."
Customer: "Here's my Starbucks card number. 6104..."
Me: "Okay, I've refunded your order. Sorry for the inconvenience."
I was genuinely a bit shocked and sad they drove off, I always make sure I say thank you, have a great day to close the interaction.
They called about 5 minutes later on the highway and whoever answered the phone passed them back to me. I don't think she quite expected to talk to me but I was definitely the best person to make it right.
Customer: "I didn't get my spinach feta wrap and I'm on the highway."
Me: "I'm sorry about that, it's here in my hand..."
Customer: "..."
Me: "If you're not too far, you can come back and I'd be happy to give it to you. Otherwise you can call back later with your Starbucks card number and I'll process a refund for you (she was driving so I didn't want her to be distracted)."
Customer: "Here's my Starbucks card number. 6104..."
Me: "Okay, I've refunded your order. Sorry for the inconvenience."
cfuqua 1 points 3y ago
a woman gave me $20.xx for a $5.xx order (i had her drink ready when she pulled up) and she drove away while i was making change... i didn't say "thanks have a nice day" now did i?? well thanks for the awesome $15 tip i guess
with warming i always say "we're still waiting on that sandwich to come out of the oven" or "i'll be right back with your cake pops" before i walk away because people are dumb and will think "is that employee walking out of sight so she can \[insert anything other than fill their order\]", and even then some people are so distracted that they just smile-nod-thanks before processing what i've even said, like they think the world exists in a constant state of perfectly choreographed interactions
with warming i always say "we're still waiting on that sandwich to come out of the oven" or "i'll be right back with your cake pops" before i walk away because people are dumb and will think "is that employee walking out of sight so she can \[insert anything other than fill their order\]", and even then some people are so distracted that they just smile-nod-thanks before processing what i've even said, like they think the world exists in a constant state of perfectly choreographed interactions
P_2_P 4 points 3y ago
I work by a convention center, so we have these people we’ll see a couple days in a row. Anyway, so today this woman came in and for the past couple days she had been ordering drinks with almond milk. So today she orders a tall caramel macchiato, I ask the barista who’s writing the cup if it’s almond milk, she asks the barista who’s ringing the woman up if it’s Almond, they said she didn’t say so I proceed to make the drink. I call it out to her and she goes is this with almond? I say no, and she throws her hands up in the air like praying to god for my soul because I made the drink wrong. She then storms off back to her seat and starts to pout. I ask if she would like me to remake her Drink. And she scowls at me.
By now I’ve had it with her adult tantrum. Personally I prioritize remakes based on the attitude of that person. Anyway, so I call out he remake and let her know if she wanted almond milk she could always order it at the register, she snaps I did because I can’t drink regular milk. I said I can understand that, but no you didn’t, because I heard you. Either way I hope you have a nice day.
My coworker said I should have sent her back to the register to refund and ring her up for the proper drink.
By now I’ve had it with her adult tantrum. Personally I prioritize remakes based on the attitude of that person. Anyway, so I call out he remake and let her know if she wanted almond milk she could always order it at the register, she snaps I did because I can’t drink regular milk. I said I can understand that, but no you didn’t, because I heard you. Either way I hope you have a nice day.
My coworker said I should have sent her back to the register to refund and ring her up for the proper drink.
greener-bean 3 points 3y ago
Nondairy charge + your being rude charge = gtfo
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