So i’m finally quitting starbucks after three years off looking for a better job, (AT LONG LAST) and i thought i would share one of my favorite stories about the only time i’ve had to yell at a customer.
To set the scene, my home store is a cafe store in the downtown area of my city (i’m now on my third store since the pandemic) our whole crew had consisted of my manager, 4 shifts and 10 baristas. not a whole lot, right? well, we used to have this thing we used to call Crappy Hour, bc it was a “bogo” starbucks did on frappes once upon a time. i’m sure some older/former partners have been through that hell too… either way it was my first ever Crappy Hour with another newer partner. to give a brief idea how quickly it got busy; me and this partner were making one frap together, then she turned around and said “uh i think we need to work a little faster” in the time it took for us to make that ONE frap, we had 15 mobile fraps come in……

fast forwards a little bit of time and our lobby is a SEA of people, probably exceeding max capacity for the store AND the line was out the door. everyone is working as fast at they can, we have three people on frap bars (one for prep, one for blending and one for lidding and handing out) and two on hot bar when suddenly we hear
“hello? um, hi? hello? you? you right there? heyyyyy?” she was doing this to every partner who got within arms reach of her. My shift was getting annoyed and same with all my other partners who were stuck in their positions. It only took two more minutes of this for me to whip around and say “yes ma’am what is so important?”
she says, “hi, it’s been 10 minutes since i placed my order and i still don’t have my drinks” the fact that this is what she tried to stop anybody she could for, infuriated me and i could see that my other partners were also annoyed/angered by this.
i just look her in the eyes and go “do you not see the crowd of people around you?? we have frap drinks lined down the bar and just you stopping me right now has probably put your drink behind for another 5 minutes bc i had to stop what i was doing to help you. you and everyone else here are all still waiting for their drinks, you aren’t special!”
she gawks at me and decides she’s gonna keep going and says “i’m gonna be late for work is there a way you could skip the line for me.”
“no, it’s not my fault you have poor time management skills, you saw a crowd of people and still decided to place an order,”
“then i need a refund!” she was raising her voice now so i simply raised mine back 🥰
“you are MORE than welcome to get in the back of the line, i would LOVE to get you that refund!!” (can you taste the sarcasm) she looked absolutely appalled at me.
“but i need to be at work in 5 minutes!!!”
“then you better START WALKING, i’ll be more than happy to give you a refund later if you come back, but no one here is going to do anything for you”
and with that she was red in the face and then left.

thats all but it’s my favorite story bc it’s the only time i’ve been able to do that!

TL;DR: A karen got upset that she didnt get her drinks fast enough midst one of the busiest days at our store that year, and i got to be the one to yell at her :)