When I worked at Starbies, I used to almost annoyingly confirm the size of the order when they ordered it. Sometimes I would recognize a repeat offender and show them the sizes just to make sure we were clear on their order.
Half of me doesn't really care. That company makes more than enough money... but if it's affecting my partners' workload and timing, I'm not playing that game.

Sometimes when that happens and I feel like they’re trying to get a second drink I will remake it for them but save the original for the next car! That way I don’t feel like I’m wasting and we get a good customer connection with the next car 😊

i try to assume the best in customers but some really are scammers!! we have a lady that puts on a whole show looking around her car and everything and then states she forgot her wallet (always during peak, and a really complicated drink). we used to understand and give the right now recovery but after recognizing her a couple times we keep her drink and say she can get it when she finds her wallet, sorry not sorry ❤️true colors show too because she gets really pissed off when she doesn’t get it for free lol

"...not down ur gullet" 😭😭 lmao

I dont work at a drive thru so idk what its like but what if they get to the window and u repeat the order back to them before they pay such as "hello, so u got a tall (name of a drink)?" And then take payment after they verify it lol that way they cant wait til after payment or when getting the drink to bullshit u. Cuz then they would have no excuse as its verified at the speaker box and at the window before taking payment 😁

Happens at my store way too often. One time i remember ringing up a girl. She orderer a "grande strawberry acai refresher" and i repeated it back to her and she agreed and paid. Then at the hand off, she said "this was supposed to be a venti. And with lemonade" lololol i would have made her get a refund and pay for the actual shit she wants but a ton of people at my store are ok with having that shit happen so often. And also idk how often this happens at other stores but we constantly more than anything else keep getting people coming in our store and finding out that they placed the order to another starbucks. Do they do that with other places? I doubt it cuz they probably kno that other businesses have more than 1 location. Idk ive become too cynical about that because if u knew how often it happened at my store, u would be weary too. But with shortages and supply chain issues right now, it gets hard to make peoples shit for them free of charge from our store

it is the oldest trick in the book. happens all the time at my location. customers know exactly what they are doing and how to get away with it. they do think they are slick and we are morons. it is sad really. if you cannot afford the bigger size, you probably cannot afford the size you purchased, so do not come to starbucks. we are not offering buy one get one free everyday!

Charge them the difference!!! I do it every time, especially when I always clarify the size like 4 times!!!

What usually works at our store is we’ll say since we charged you for a tall I’ll have to now charge you the difference a lot of the times they’ll just be like never mind and leave and sometimes they do pay that extra charge. Plus paying the difference keying it in isn’t too hard if you do it right just go to refund mode punch in what it was get out of refund mode and punch in what they want then it asks you to pay the difference. Oh and to help those drive times we park them ask them to pull forward and park and someone will go hand it out to them usually customer support

If they said tall n lie and said they want grande.. it makes no sense because I just went out my way to change the default grande button to press the tall button. Like people think they slick. As for the iced or hot… I always ask twice during summer, customers can’t be serious.

Here’s the one that irritates me lately:
Custy comes in saying they mobile ordered and tells us the drink hoping we’ll make it (because TikTok said so). Nope. Let me see your order unless I have it on my end. Order it to the store down the road (common since the names are SUPER similar)? Sure, I’ll make it since you did pay, but no receipt = no drink 🙃

When I take orders I verify the size and order. I also have a 'collection of cups" nearby (cafe) ordering to show customers the size they are ordering. I truly feel that the names of the sizes are confusing to a lot of people. So a visual reference helps I know on DTO its not possible to "show size differences" so I would describe it as 8 oz, 10-12 (iced) oz 16 oz 20-26 (iced) oz and 30 oz. With DTO our store has a screen so the customer can verify that I've put in the order correctly and it takes a second to ask them to verify I have it correct.

And yeah people take advantage but when they do I say we only charged you for a (size). If its before payment like you, I tell them oh sorry about that let me fix that in the system new total is x and we'll go agead and fix that for you - It will be a minute though. They have to wait.

If the customer has already paid and then pulls the oh, I wanted a venti (when they ordered a tall) you could either remake the drink for free tell them that "we took care of it this time as a favor but just so you know next time I will have to charge you for the correct size" as a way to let the customer know you are onto them if they are doing this often.

OR

Be a chaos demon barista and redo the entire transaction call a SM to void the last one. And make them pay the correct amount and then make them wait. When handing out the drink(s) food etc. Mention something about their wait being avoidable if they hadnt changed their mind at the window.

On the flip side - managment won't like this but I really couldn't care less about handing out a free drink or upgrading a drink. The difference doesn't come out of my paycheck and yeah managment may not be happy about the wait times at window but customer behavior is not something I have control over. My pay gets deposited based on hours worked and tips. Happy customers give good tips. Also some drinks total up to $8/$9 and change by the time all is said and done AND in my opinion a little extra goes a long way to keep those customers coming in.

I personally feel like Starbucks really gives baristas a lot of decision authority over making the moment right and wants those customers coming back which is why they have so many perks for rewards members.

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