“I’ll have a grande chai tea latte with 2 squirts of espresso” EW I think I would end up laughing if a customer ordered like that

I have customers calling it a pump of espresso😭

"To our customers with allergies:  We openly handle several allergens throughout our stores, including dairy, soy, tree nuts (e.g., almond, coconut, etc.), eggs, wheat and others.   
 
While we take precautions to keep ingredients separate, we cannot guarantee that any of our beverages or foods are allergen free as we use shared equipment to store, prepare and serve them. Examples of shared equipment include the espresso machine steam wand, blender and pastry case.  Please consult your doctor if you have questions about food allergies, so that you can make the decision that is right for you."

Do you grab a sterilized shaker everytime someone asks for black iced tea with milk instead of water? Unless they specify an allergen, it's not our job to assume they have one. It's one of the reasons Starbucks moved away from labeled steam pitchers. Customers can tell the batista very politely they have an allergy and we can attempt to accommodate them to the best of our ability with the tools we have available.

the goal is to give them what they’re asking for at the correct price while also representing the correct amount of labor that went into producing the drink. more than likely they have learned to ask for their drink this way from a helpful barista. if extra milk were considered an expense, the standard would be to charge for extra milk in every drink. you specify extra milk so your barista knows how to fill the cup and so labor is properly accounted for and there is no up charge for it.

the espresso is expensive. charging this customer for a venti when they want a single shot is an overcharge. they just want extra milk, which is not an up charge on any beverage.

regardless, my advice is just to pick your battles. it’s not worth your valuable energy to be upset with this. sometimes starbucks standards are fuckin silly and we just gotta let it go and deal or be mad about it. i personally don’t wanna be mad about it lol

eta i’m a shift w 6 years of experience so i’m not ass pullin just to be contrarian ¯\_(ツ)_/¯