I'm in the same boat. We're the busiest store in our district. Just yesterday a shift had a woman come through our drive thru saying that our bar person lied and her drink was nasty (she's a problem customer). She put her drink up on our drive thru hand off counter and our shift told her that we couldn't take it and blah blah. She was saying that the order was wrong and that a man took the order and she wanted to his name so she could report him. Our staff is mostly women with just a few men and our shift happened to be a man. The only other man was the person on bar and he took her order. My shift said that he didn't take it and she was like " you're the only man here" and he leaned back and pointed at our other barist and said "he's the one who took your order" and she said "that's not a guy, she has boobs" and he said "ma'am that's really inappropriate" to which she responded "you're racist" and drove off. Like. Why. Why? I had a breakdown in the back last happy hour and told my manager I'm going to be putting in my two weeks bc I'm tired of being paid 9.79 an hour for putting myself through mental and physical distress.

I had a lady basically throw her pumpkin loaf at me the other day because she said I charged her too much. I was showing her that what she was pointing at on the receipt was actually the cost of the drink, the loaf was the cheaper item. She wanted an entire refund, called me stupid, and just tossed her loaf over the plexi Glass wall we have set up instead of handing it to me.

I also work at a target Starbucks so we’re small and don’t carry everything. All the stand alone Starbucks shut down around here so we’re the only one open. So many people throw fits because we don’t carry bagels. Like everything we carry is in the case, lady, just look.

Maybe it won't matter to anyone here, but I - as a customer - try to just wish y'all a good day even if I had to wait, the order was wrong, which is rare, or maybe the barista was having a bad day. Probably because of customers or being insufficiently staffed. 99% of the time you are doing the best you can with what you've got.
Hope you all hang in there.
And have a good day despite all the turkeys around you!

I feel the same, I had no energy today because customers were just pissing me off. Can you be a decent fucking human being??? Is it that fucking hard? Throwing fits over a piece of cardboard, crying over sleeves, dropping drinks because they're mad, screaming at my coworkers - when does it fucking end? Just be nice! That's literally all I'm fucking asking.

Guys!!! Stand up for yourself!! If a customer is harassing you verbally you are 100% allowed to to respectfully tell them to stop and to refuse serving them. Stop condoning customers treating us like subhumans. I am a supervisor and if I ever heard a customer being terrible to one of my baristas i would be there instantly at my partners side.

Stay strong guys!

Had some guy tell me to suck his d*** today because I informed him he couldn’t go towards the back area. Some people are wild. Happy Monday my dudes.

aw i’m sorry that your customers are being so frustrating :( i hope it all pays off in the end! and thank you for being an essential worker during these times :)

I had a woman throw her breakfast sandwich at me because it was apparently wrong and as a shift supervisor during a busy morning I couldn’t just leave and bring a replacement out to her car because she was running late for work. She came in yelling and cussing me out calling me racist for just trying to ask what had happened and what was wrong with the order. First time I’ve cried on shift.

I am a 911 operator/dispatcher for my local PD. I have a hard job. My favorite barista and I were chatting about work while I was waiting for my coffee and I told him I could never hack it as a barista. People dont realize how difficult your job actually is and how on your toes you have to be. I commend you and I'm so sorry for sucky customers.

I had to close alone (which is usual) whatever, but my precloser left at 330 and we close at 830. So five hours alone, not just me other on different days. And then customers want to complain that their drinks are taking too long or they're waiting in line to long. So now we're 41 in customer connection.

Idk if that's all my fault when left alone, or my boss who keep scheduling us alone.

You are not alone, and so sorry you are dealing with ass holes like that as well. Last shift before our store closed, we had a woman who was too impatient to wait 5 minutes after ordering her drink and threw her food at us. I’m really fucking over people and really just don’t think I can go back to it. My sanity is thinning by the shift because of these people😔

I hear you. Bringing the positive vibe is a struggle. Be well, take care.

totally understand. i try my best to remember that i can only do my best and be the better person, and that i’m still off the clock at the same time regardless. it’s hard for me to not take yelling personally- but then i realize no sane person would get so mad over something so small, so it’s most definitely something else that’s got them upset.

sending love ❤️❤️ you make so many customers happy!

I AM SO WITH YOU ON THIS! I go to grocery stores and other places that remained open, and everyone is fucking compliant. They stand and wait on the lines, for the most part they don’t complain. So I assumed the same would go once we opened our store back up. NOPE. Why the FUCK DO PEOPLE THINK SBUX IS DIFFERENT? I swear it’s like customers fucking come in the store and their IQ cuts nearly in HALF. Pulling masks down to order as though their mouth doesn’t work with a mask on? Pushing signs that say restroom closed LITERALLY OVER to use our bathroom, pushing through our stacked away chairs and tables to sit down even though it’s fucking clearly labeled, being disgusting by leaving wrappers, straws, used sugar packets, spilled drinks all over the hand-off plane. Out of no where in all of this uber took off, idk about other locations but we consistently get 7-15 item delivery orders from open to right before the mobile ordering stops. Which with all the extra packaging of it and already limited space on the floor that I now have to find an easily accessible place to store these orders— IS FUCKING ASININE. ALL WHILE CUSTOMERS ARE STARING AND LURKING AND DEMANDING THINGS FROM YOU QUESTIONING WHY THEIR 6 FRAPPUCCINOS AND 12 NO ICE REFRESHERS AREN’T DONE YET. As if they don’t see that there are 3 PEOPLE, RUNNING AROUND drowning in the fucking business. Starbucks does NOT CARE about its customers or it’s partners. They wouldn’t have cut labor at a time that cleanliness is a CRUCIAL getting people in and out IS CRUCIAL. How am I supposed to go sanitize the lobby when I don’t even have enough people to have a functioning store? How am I supposed to ensure that customers are being served promptly when the mobile printer is 15 minutes behind on tickets? They don’t fucking care about us, and clearly not the safety of the customers either. Not to mention my lobby and bathroom just opened up this week and now no one wants to wear their masks once they sit they don’t understand that you have to still be respectful and clean to those around you! I don’t want to go tell ignorant, immature adults to fucking put a mask on. That’s not in my damn job description. I’m tired of the fucking abuse we take and starbucks need to be fucking called out. They’re so fake! They pretend to be a classy Italian cafe that is really a fast food restaurant, but it won’t accept that it’s a fast food restaurant so we are stuck having to serve people as fast as a McDonald’s would, but without nearly HALF the resources they do. I worked at McDonald’s and it was 100 times busier and harder than any starbucks I’ve ever worked at, and with the staff and tools they give you, you’d never fucking know. Starbucks need to stand the fuck up.

Your Manager has to take Control of these Situations. It's their job to Deal with Rude customers.

Oooooooof my heart goes out to you and your team friend!!! Making me really happy that I left right as the shutdown started happening back in March.