Today was realll fun as you can tell by the header. I am an opener and when I come in, the note on my daily said to prep mocha as they didn’t get around to it. I go back to the storage and find no mocha anywhere. Another partner was putting away the order so I looked at the paper detailing what was placed and there was no order for mocha. I tell my shift and go ahead and mark it out.

My store is the busiest in our district and mocha is one of our most popular drinks even outside of the holiday season. Some people are very nice about the lack of supply while others are absolutely awful. I have this woman come up to the box and order some food as well as a hot chocolate. (I put a sign outside detailing that we were out of mocha today and couldn’t make the list of mocha products on the sign; hot chocolate, peppermint mocha, cafe mocha, etc.)

I kindly say, “Unfortunately we are out of the mocha that we use to make that today. I could do a white hot chocolate for you or get you another drink? So sorry about that.”

I see her roll her eyes over the camera and in the most condescending voice goes, “Actually, Mocha has coffee in it. I said I wanted a hot chocolate. Not something with coffee.”

At this point, I’ve dealt with so many grown adults yelling and whining about mocha, so I’ve had it but I tried to remain professional.

“So our hot chocolate is made with mocha and steamed milk—“

Cuts me off, “NO! I want no coffee in that.”

“Yes ma’am I understand. Mocha actually refers to the chocolate sauce we make the hot chocolate with. It has nothing to do with the espresso shots. For reference, our cafe mocha is a drink consisting of mocha sauce, steamed milk, and then the espresso shots. I understand that you only want a hot chocolate, but we are out of the mocha that goes into that, or in other words, we do not have the chocolate base for it. Is there something else I could get you?”

“You have none at all? Even if I don’t want coffee."

"Sadly no. If you are really set on that drink, I did check for another customer on my mobile app and the Starbucks *insert directions* does have mocha. From here, it would be about a 3
minute drive given traffic."

"Im just upset I waited in the line! You could've said something!"

*me knowing there is a sign on the menu AND the box* “I’m so sorry about that. I had asked my coworker to head out and put out a sign which I thought they did— entirely my mad if they didn’t have a chance to! Is there something else I can get you?”

“I waited in the line and you have none?”

“I know! It’s super sad but the holiday season makes us run through that mocha so fast! In the future, if you’re in line for a long time, you can go onto the mobile app, select our location, and see the menu there. It is an updated version that will let you know if there is anything out of stock. It’s a bit of an inconvenience, I know, but it will offer you a real time update of what our menu looks like that day and will insure you’re not waiting in line getting excited for something if we happen to be out of it! Like I said, the other Starbucks does have that hot chocolate if you want to head there, I can provide you with instructions, or I can get you something else if you’re interested?”

*this has been going on for 5 minutes and everyone wearing a headset is either laughing or on the verge of tears because we are sooo busy and the line is so bad*

“Fine. I need a large green iced tea unsweetened then.” *pulls off before I can even say anything.”

I open tomorrow and I am praying they called the other store after I left and got mocha powder 😭😭😭