at my store my manager suggested we tell a joke. I didn't know part time comedian was on my job description 😭

For the people not sure if this is a joke, these are questions commonly asked by police when you're pulled over LOL

When I worked at a store that was pretty high in tourist traffic, my crew's favourite and easiest question to ask was - in the morning - "Doing anything exciting today?" / "Any big plans for today?" - or at night - "Did you do anything fun today?" It was open-ended enough that the customer could respond however they wanted. Sometimes the customer just replied "not really" and laughed it off, and sometimes it would start a whole conversation!

The amount of folks not getting the joke here, is too damn high.

"Do ya know why i charged for cold foam today, son?"

Okay,I left my store a week back but here is what i do
Hey there,your total is blah blah blah

How are you today?

Isn't it too cold/hot

I heard its snowing Tomorrrow (they'll say yay or no, then just back and forth)


So do you have plans for the day?

Then just pray for the drink to come

We have a "question of the day" type of thing at my store to connect with customers and keep a tally of answers lol my favorite ones were "what's your favorite Disney soundtrack", and "if you were a starbucks drink...what would you be"?

If this isn’t what I feel like when I try “connecting” with people who clearly don’t feel like giving too much personal info.

Is it just me or are “connection” scores not as meaningful as we make them seem? I mean. I know they’re important. Sure. People like nice people, but sometimes just being nice is enough. Lots of people see Starbucks as just another fast food chain, maybe a bit pricier. People who like Starbucks’ coffee flavored drinks are going to get Starbucks wherever the Siren is visible. People do have favorite stores, which is where regulars come from, but at places like my store, we rarely have regulars anyway. A nice smile and a non-offending question should be enough, right?

Well, you’d think so. That’s how people work. Lately however, my Store Manager and Shift Supervisors have gone as far as to tell me I’ve been doing a bad job connecting. Apparently I just stand at the window. Well, yeah. I stand at the window and give people their orders. That’s my job. I try to stir up conversation with customers, though, and try to make it fun.

What they fail to see, however, are the people that are on their phones, on a call with family and friends, having a conversation (sometimes personal) with people in their cars, etc. Sometimes people roll up their windows and don’t open them back up until the food’s ready. Some customers just don’t want to talk. Period.

Just the thought of being on the other side and having under-compensated fast food workers forcing me to answer their questions makes me cringe. Imagine this:

DTR: “Here is your credit card. Your food should be out in a few minutes.”

Customer: “OK. Thank you.”

Customer rolls up window after paying and decides to call someone while waiting.

DTR sees this and doesn’t think anything of it. Goes back inside to get next order as ready as possible, maybe restock straws and sleeves. Ultimately DTR gets harassed for not speaking with the customer.

DTR: *Through car window.* “Where are you headed? You going home? I hear it’s going to be *reeeeal* cold out tonight.”

Customer: *confused and mildly annoyed while on phone call* “Uh... yeah. I know.”

***

Talking too much is apparently reprehensible as well. When food is taking 6-10 minutes to get ready, I’ll go ahead and chat a bit. Conversation usually gets really good, and I check back periodically to see if the order is ready. When the food gets to the window, I’ll be in mid-conversation, so I finish what I’m saying as I hand over the food. After that, I get pulled over to the side and get asked why I’m being slow. Jeez. I can’t satisfy anyone and customers at the window look confused when they hear me getting “disciplined.”

We used to ask names during peak to boost connection and it just made it worse bc I guess everyone just wanted to get to work and wanted us to leave them alone 🥴

I'll need to see your license and apron, please.

My store always has a fairly low customer connection score even though we try a bunch of different things to get it up. It doesn’t help we’re one of the busiest stores in Texas and we have the worst location ever and customers just aren’t understanding. I’m curious, what are y’all’s store’s scores like?

Umm idk if half of these questions are there as a joke or not... but... I like to ask what movies/tv shows they’ve been watching throughout this pandemic. I ask them to talk about it and rate it out of 10. I act interested. Makes time pass, they do most of the talking, and they feel heard.

"Can I see some ID?"

*trans panic noises*

be careful being nice! i got a customer who called and complained i was too friendly at the window!

Are you high right now? Do you ever get nervous?

I, personally, would actually end up quitting if I had to ask these questions. Too uncomfortable for me. I will stick with my “Hi how are you today?” and let the customer decide to take the convo farther than that, and if my SM doesn’t like it then oh well. Maybe it’ll get me off DTR for once

I know this is a joke but it’s based in reality with these stupid customer connection things🙄 They want us to connect yet want 45 seconds at the window. I was even removed from bar because it was decided that I put too much effort into the drinks and we lose seconds

Open: “Hii, welcome to Starbucks in (city). My name’s (name). What’s your name?”
End: “Your total is (total). Thanks for making our day a little brighter.”

Our score has been in the low 50’s

Did you know
"Before was was was,was was is" hahahaha

I tried to connect with one customer and she looked at me real smug and said “so like they really make y’all talk to everyone huh” I just nodded and walked away 😪

I don't think we ever had anyone drunk show up when I was a Barista partner back in 2008. Though I do remember a couple was having sex in the bathroom, a man and woman don't go in together for 15 minutes, so we threatened the police and out the door they went lol!

I hail 16 years from the performing arts industry. And I've been out of work over the last year due to covid. So I landed a job at Starbucks. Man I respect you all so much more Not that I didn't ever before... I mostly get put on drive-thru because I have a smooth voice and I'm able to confidently bring in humor in addressing a customer as if they're an audience member.

I laughed out loud. Good questions

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An easy joke I like to do when on drive is when I’m about to hand out their drink, I always ask “would you like a stopper in your drink”. If they respond something along the lines of “no I will be drinking it right away” I will always say “good idea the stopper just slows you down!” Lame I know but get a laugh 95% of the time

I have a bunch of police officers who are regulars at my store so I’m definitely gonna hit them with one of these today lol

Especially the “Are you carrying any weapons or sharp objects?”

Is this some sort of American thing to get so personal? I don't care and neither should you lol. Intrusive and unnecessary questions tbh.

The partner ID thing is getting annoying they fixed the partner number on the receipt like 3 months ago

List is hilarious! I’m a “never met a stranger” type, but if a customer isn’t having it I respect that. I won’t ask personal questions and to me “do you have a new year’s resolution?” (suggested by shift) is too personal, I wouldn’t want to be asked that and it suggests that askee is less than perfect. But I have no problem complimenting a bracelet, tattoo, scrunchy that matches their drink . . . we get a lot of dogs and that’s easy!

Also on my last day, someone asked me how I was I asked them they wanted to know for real or small talk.
She wanted to say small talk but said real lol I was on the verge of crying.

God bless my REGULARS

I normally work AM, so I’ll ask people things like “hey! How’s your morning going so far?” “Do you have anything fun today?” And if they have kids I like to ask the kids how old they are and maybe ask them a favorite toy or something, and if I’m working on drive window and someone has a dog I’ll ask them about their dogs.

I’ve also recently been telling parents that they’re doing a really good job being a parent because of the pandemic, and to keep doing what they’re doing cause they’re doing great. (It’s hard to phrase the exact thing I say bc I say something a little different for each person but you get the jist)

lmfao I hate when people ask where I’m from; I know they don’t care about the answer and it’s not interesting to talk abojt

The back seat one is creepy af.

Am I the only person that hates it? It has to be my social anxiety but I specifically go through the drive thru so that I don't have to interact with anyone so I just get more uncomfortable when someone is trying to have a conversation with me while I'm sitting in my car. I'm a previous partner so I get it, you have to do it but its kinda uncomfortable

And your favorite elementary school teacher’s name?
(Not messing with *you, just customer connection scores)

Green bean question from no longer a green bean. What the heck is a customer connection score, like how is that even measured? I should've asked a manager by now but it's too late O_o

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Is this going over my head? Because I'm just confused more than anything, like, is it meant to be funny? Or am I just not getting the humour?

You don’t get paid enough sweet heart and they’re not gonna pay you more

Lol are you secretly a cop?

I personally wouldnt like the backseat question lol I'd be like "um why u asking ms nosey" lmaooo but coming from an extremely private person 😂😂😂

Who tf says “have you been drinking tonight”💀 no offense to you, but that just strikes me as a really obscure odd question