Corporate would never go this route unfortunately. They’re very much of the mindset that the baristas are the dirt under customers shoes and that’s why they’re constantly losing people.

Unfortunately thats a big thing the SB's culty lifestyle is meant to enforce. If we seem happy, and we try to recruit others into this great new gig, then SB gets good press. You hear a LOT about how its supposedly "one of the best fastfood/retail" places to work, partly because a lot of us have been brainwashed. Very effective PR, on top of their outstanding branding team. We forget how much better most jobs are, and get suckered in for the long term- fully believing this is the best job we can get (and hey, if you work just a little bit harder you could get promoted to SM! Pay raise of a few bucks, less time on your feet, and why would you leave then?)

i’m tired of making the moment right i just wanna go apeshit

Lol youve def never seen me on bar

I think it's because Starbucks supplements my full-time job so I'm not as worried, but I don't put up with anyone's bs. I'll be friendly but if I have a customer talk to either me or any of my partners a certain way, I don't stand for that ish. We're people, too

Starbucks has shown time and time again that they will always side with the customer on almost every instance so this is what happens. Everyone in corporate is completely blind to the actual ongoings of what the stores are like and continue to act like the turnover rate isn't completely untenable right now and that most stores cannot function and are routinely closing early or not opening at all. It's a very bad company and after being there for over fifteen years, I have three shifts total left and it feels amazing.

I was severely harassed by a customer a couple days ago. She got all up in my personal space with her phone snapping photos of me and verbally harassing me. All because her Frappuccino with no whip had 1/4 inch of room. I offered to remake it but she wasn’t having it. She made me cry and I connected with my store manager about it and she said “well you can’t blame her because she must have been having a bad day. AND you didn’t make the moment right with great customer connections because you offered to remake it instead of remaking it without asking her.” I was speechless. I’m so tired of working for a company that blames us for being abused and harassed and rewards the customers with free drinks when they do it.

Hi, Shift Supervisor (SSV) here!

We have a thing called the LATTE method, the LATT is all customer dick sucking, the E is “Explain why there was a problem” but in reality it should just be LATT because if I go to an angry customer and explain “oh your drink was 10 drinks behind others in the queue”, or “it appears there’s 8 modifications to your drink, it takes time for our baristas to read it all and make sure they are understanding what you want so that you are satisfied with your drink” I will promptly get a call or text from my manager scolding me for following the E should they find out.

As a partner of 3 years going on 4. I don’t take anyone’s shit anymore. I come do my job (SSV) and do my best to lead by example. Whether it’s baristas, other SSV, even leadership, as well as customers. I’m going to reciprocate the energy you give me, I’ve been a walking mat my whole life and a person can only take so much of their kindness being taken advantage of without it taking a toll on their mental health. But there’s an art to it, you gotta extend the kindness and love but when you sense people are trying to take an advantage of it you have to set boundaries and be stern and direct.

For example in the middle of peak, I had my play deployed and baristas in their assigned positions and if you follow the play everything usually runs smooth, but I had both my pos partners grabbing brewed coffee for customers and this customer with a list was acting pretty entitled we couldn’t take her order right away and I could tell she was very frustrated and was making a gesture with her hands posturing us to hurry, understandably so, she could’ve been running late for something, however that’s why there’s mobile orders and a million other Starbucks, so I calmly and sternly looked at her and smiled through my mask and said, “we’ll be right with you”.

unfortunately it’s within policy to literally be too nice. Our policy enables people to be shitty and get rewarded for it. However I’ve become militantly obedient in the sense that I very strictly follow the rules when dealing with asshole customers so I can give them as little as possible.

Because we'd get fired if we defended ourselves

Because "these assholes" get apologies, refunds, and recovery cards from store managers if baristas try to stand up for themselves. Depending on what was said (and who overheard it lol) we can even get written up for loss of composure. Taking customer abuse is part of our job description.

Gonna start saying “no soup for you!” to assholes from now on lmao

i refused service to someone today for being disrespectful lol. told him if we're gonna treat you with respect, then you have to treat us with respect- if you can't do that, we won't serve you. luckily i have an amazing SM who i know will back me up should he call to complain (i gave him her business card after he refused to leave the window and told him to talk to her if he has an issue because im not gonna argue with him). i dont know why but people have been crazy since launch and im not gonna let anyone walk all over my baristas
eta: i think a lot of partners forget 3rd place goes both ways!!!

I love my baristas but I wouldn’t say they’re overly nice. We sometimes have entire transactions with no words other than, “straws today?”.

It seems like the customer service side of Starbucks me has went way downhill since the pandemic started.

I just assumed everyone is tired and worn down like I am.

You're right, we are too nice. Partners can't do much about it. It is literally in our training to smother customers with attention and pleasant greetings.

If you want to help as a customer, say something. If there's a customer yelling at a poor barista, feel free to address it because we sure as hell can't.

That goes for everything from impatient customers berating the staff to the middle-aged man assaulting the female baristas with "funny and harmless" jokes.

No. And I'll tell you why.

When you are being yelled at, talked down to, or otherwise treated rudely the BEST response you can ever have (not just on the job, really everywhere) is to be as scrupulously polite as you can be. Be a very polite brick wall if you need to. Or a polite message taker. Or a polite whatever it is you need to be in the moment. Strict on point politeness. You can't be held accountable for rudeness in doing what you need to be doing, and bonus points for all the people you will be driving nuts without them having a single thing they can accuse you of.

Also a lot of you guys need to let go the idea of having any responsibility towards SB's bottom line. I mean, I will stop someone from stealing, if I see them and a stern "what do you think you're doing" will stop them. I will not put myself in the way of someone that wants what the store has, though. If someone argues about a drink past what I want to deal with, they get the manager or the number to call back later, or the number to corporate. They aren't paying me enough to put myself out for them one iota more than the baseline. I am not security. I do not get a bonus for sales (managers often do.) They pay me to make drinks and make nice, and that is it. You will not feel so stressed, I promise you, once you realize that screaming customer has just become not your problem anymore. That is your manager's problem now. Let it be.

Lolol talk to us off corporate's clock and you'll see the truth.

100%, yes. it would never happen, but i think it would greatly benefit us as people AND as an establishment to take a harsher approach with the asshole clientele.

instead, they’re going to sink this ship all the way under by letting people treat us like shit until none of us are willing to take it anymore. it already seems to be reaching that breaking point.

Fiat corporate coffee. It’s no wonder they expect baristas to continually debase themselves.

This only started because they want to get a free drink. Some people would literally just start shit for a recovery card

Yeah I mean there have definitely been customers who suck and make it a horrible experience for everyone else. If we had a point where we could draw a line in the sand and not serve one person above all the others it would lead to an overall better customer service experience.

One of my stores had some asshole customer who got a green tea frapp. She would always ask for it to be remade several times before finally deciding that one of the remakes was good enough. She could never ever tell us though what made it better and nobody could get it right on the first try. Sometimes she’d come in through drive thru and hold up the line. I don’t think we should have ever remade her drink. It’s never right anyways. I think she hated it every time and just decided to stop whining at some point.

If I had it my way I would’ve beat the shit out of like 10 people a day

Honestly as a past employee of Starbucks and Tarbucks, there's a point where you just snap. Idk maybe my temper is what drove me away from the job. Towards the end of my being there I just felt so much anger and very burnt out with being there, I wanted so bad to just fucking yell at someone who gave me a hard time but deep down I knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

The rude customers will always be that way regardless of how I react. I go with my gut and dish out the same attitude I get now

Honestly when I witness my coworkers being a bit sharp with a rude customer it makes me so uncomfortable because you never know how much it will escalate. At the end of the day it is a customer service job and although I feel like shit I smile and say “of course I will remake this with one less ice cube” I signed up knowing it was a customer servicing but hoping to be out soon lol I want my sanity back!

Oh trust me, if you were what some of my coworkers and I said behind the bar, you would laugh your head off.

But again, the golden rule still applies.

I was not mentally able to work in that space. Immature due to having a terrible attitude towards rude customers. To be happy working there I think u have to be super mentally stable

DM told me I had to assume the best after a customer walked out with an $60+ dollar order and called Starbucks and told them they spent 24$… on 7 drinks and 4 pastries

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