A few years ago, a Starbucks employee attempted to publicly humiliate me by having a monumental crash out after my drink was made incorrectly.

I ordered from the employee, who I believe was a manager or supervisor, asking for a “grande iced coffee made black.” Well, when I tasted the drink after leaving, I realized classic syrup had been added. I went back and quietly flagged another employee down to request that my drink be remade. Apparently this was unacceptable, because the supervisor walked over and shouted something along the lines of “excuse me?! What did you say was wrong with your drink?”

I politely reiterated that I had asked for my iced coffee to be made black, and I kid you not this woman shouts “Black coffee means no milk. You didn’t specify that you wanted no milk and no classic.” at a volume so loud that turned the heads of everyone sitting in the on-campus cafe.

She refused to allow my drink to be remade. Said it was my fault that the drink wasn’t what I wanted.

I feel like I was in the right because I’ve never once heard of someone ordering a coffee black and expecting that means there will be sugar/syrup in it, but I’ve also never worked for Starbucks, so maybe the definition of black coffee is different there.

I never went back to the on-campus Starbucks at my university after that. Her reaction was so disproportionate and she made a scene to try to make me look stupid. I usually bite my tongue when my orders are made wrong, and my bravery was not rewarded in the slightest that day.

Edit: For the record, this isn’t a complaint. It’s just a funny story that came to mind today because of something distantly related. Just a random anecdote about an absurd interaction.

Seriously Starbucks? I didn’t realize you discontinued the egg protein box so I went ahead and gave the apple and cheese box a try for $6.95 (first red flag). I opened the box to this sorry looking spread. The olive oil sea salt crackers were wannabe club crackers or something packaged in a generic wrapper. The cheeses were just scattered in the box, pretty much Kraft block cheese slices. The apples looked sad but I’ll say it did have a bit of crisp crunch. And that was it.. for $6.95?! I don’t know what I was expecting but lunchable quality is what I got. I miss the hard boiled egg boxes… it’s too bad they replaced it. This will be a hard pass for now on.

tell me whyyyyy

My love
My sugar cookie
Every year they change you bit by bit
And every year I can tell the difference
This year was a heavy hitter
This is my 5th holiday season with you
And this year there was a very noticeable change
You lost a lot of your sweetness
You lost what made you a sugar cookie syrup
You taste like butter now
I miss you
You are gone but never forgotten.

R.I.P Sugar cookie syrup

I was just in Odawara Station and got an iced chai and was amazed to discover it was actually super good! Any chance this stuff is returning to the states?

to the girl who screamed at the top of her lungs “HEDGEHOG CAKE POP” to the point that the drive-through microphone was glitching out like one of those stupid gamer videos: your mom sounded so rightfully disappointed in you. That shit was fucking obnoxious and I actually had to take my headset off for 10 minutes because of how loud it was and how hard it hurt my ear.

We have several customers that absolutely insist you only add their specified number of base pumps they get because "they're trying to cut back on sugar." (So for example they order a grande frap but only want one pump of base.) As we have no real way of ringing this up on the POS (besides an Ask Me which doesn't really count here) and there is no way to request this in the app as a customization, I've told customers "no." But then the customers get heated and insist you make it that way for them cause some other barista let them do it in the past. It's kind of just a headache for everyone involved and also, how much sugar can you really be cutting by getting one less pump of base 😒

What do you do at your store?

I had ordered through the drive-thru and I was waiting in line to pay with my app. It seemed like this location was having their rush hour because the drive thru was long but the cafe inside was also busy. I didn’t mind the line, I was on my phone, just scrolling. I ended up at the window and she had said to give her a sec to take my payment. No problem at all. It did take her a few mins, but once again, not an issue, it’s obviously busy. I had my window down and I was sooo into my phone that when she came back, she had scared me to the point that i jumped and dropped my phone out the window 😭💀 I was like OMG I AM SORRY HAHAHAHA.

She literally felt sooo bad for me that she just gave me my drink for free, apologized, and hoped she didn’t ruin my day😭 I tried to refuse because it definitely wasn’t her fault at all, I actually thought it was hilarious. But she was adamant. I even tried to use that same amount that I was supposed to be charged to tip her and she was like “no don’t even worry about it!”

I felt so bad LMAO. I tried to come back the next day around the same time so I can properly tip her but she wasn’t there 🥲

I’ve been a barista for almost a full year and I have a confession to make….idk how to use the bean grinder. Let me explain

We are a high volume store. No.1 in the region, third busiest in the region. We are booked and busy. When I come in, 9/10 I am on bar and nothing else (which is fine I don’t mind) a couple of peaks ago I get out on CS instead, no problem for me. I take orders at the register and someone orders coffee and then has two bags of beans he needs grinded. My hurts sinks. I’ve never used the grinder. I was never even trained on it either. So I go to myself “well how hard can it be?” So I go over to grind the beans. I couldn’t figure out how to get the bag to attach to the hole for when the grinder kicks on. I ask my supervisor, who is flexing, for help. She helps me, but then gives me a horrendous attitude saying “so you wanna become a trainer but a bean grinder you can’t figure out? Move over I’ll just do it” mind you I’ve never been put in a situation where I’ve had to use it. So tell me baristas….explain how to use the grinder as if I were 5 years old. Show me pictures even. Cuz I’m embarrassed

Minnesota for reference.

The “no squirts” post got me thinking..

Someone asked me for no strawberry particles in their refresher.

Or do you have a computer screen that shows the sticker info as well? This is an issue 90% of the time at my location. I can barely make it out and that’s with knowing what I ordered, so I assume the baristas struggle with this. Never an issue with the cold brew sticker at my location, just this type. And yes, my orders are frequently inconsistent. Honestly wondering how you manage?

Every time I get a special latte and then sub for almond/oat milk they remove the whipped cream! Should I add extra whip so they know I want it? I never remove it, so I guess they assume I am dairy free when sometimes I just don’t want regular milk. So annoying lol.

Does anyone else ever dread the next day bc of a shift?
Like I work tomorrow morning and I’m so anxious/dreading tomorrow that I don’t even want to think about going to bed later tonight since sleeping makes tomorrow come quicker.
But then usually once I’m there, I’m joking with my coworkers and some customers make me smile/laugh, and I get to see all the cute animals in drive thru… plus all the free drinks. It’s even better bc I’m part time and I get short shifts - and don’t forget the money ofc!

But I also get irritated and overwhelmed and exhausted in the time span of those short shifts. I sometimes almost cry at least once a week during my shift from the stress.
And the rest of my day is me just absolutely dragging from being so tired (I usually open, so 3am wake ups and then full days of class until night time).

Me being so tired and stressed makes me unable to live my life. I pass up on seeing loved ones because I need to rest up or go to sleep hella early for a shift the next morning. I spend my time doomscrolling bc I have no energy for things like my hobbies.

It’s even like when I’m off I’m thinking about how to preserve my energy and mental peace for my next shift. Everything I do is for my next shift. Meal prep, resting instead of enjoying life, washing my work clothes and aprons, budgeting from my pay day, etc.

It’s just miserable from all of what I mentioned and I think that’s what I dread. Then I’m a happy camper most of my shift so idk…

Am I being dramatic

I applied for a barista position and had my first interview two weeks ago. Then I passed that interview and had a second one two days later with the district manager and she told me the store manager, who had interviewed me the first time, should be calling me within the next week as I passed that 2nd interview. A week went by and no one reached out to me and so I’ve been calling the store to find out if the manager is there so I can talk with him, but the employees always tell me he isn’t there….did I actually not get the job and they are basically saying that through their actions of not reaching out to me?

I bought this Starbucks mug at an airport and it’s my go to coffee mug! Anyone else have this mug? :)

every "trending" drink sticker i've been getting says 1 blonde espresso 🤔 i thought people were modifying it at first but at this point im pretty sure i wouldn't be getting this many people shorting themselves on their shots?? is this happening at anybody else's store? i wouldn't be surprised because the way they code the app is genuinely ASS

Hello!

I am ad army and there is only one Starbucks near me. It is usually the same crew.

Recently I came home for leave and went to my local Starbucks (my suburb literally has like eight lol) and I noticed something.

The barista who took my order was older. Way older. So was the whole crew.

This struck me as odd because in the past the barista and crew were always younger (high school and college kids, people in their 20s).

Have you noticed a surge of older applicants?

Is this a recession indicator?

This is for the Starbucks dataheads.

Since 2006 I've been tracking North American corporate Starbucks openings, and I quickly noticed a spike at the end of September, typically for around two weeks, which I later learned coincided with the end of the Starbucks fiscal year (final Sunday in September).

These are the number of corporate stores that opened in the U.S. and Canada each year since 2006, and notice the significant drop-off since Brian Niccol took over, with few end-of-September openings this year.

If you're wondering about 2009-2011, those were the years after the Great Purge (nearly 1000 closures).

2026: 9

2025: 41

2024: 85

2023: 35

2022: 31

2021: 38

2020: 47

2019: 58

2018: 34

2017: 25

2016: 24

2015: 48

2014: 54

2013: 56

2012: 51

2011: 5

2010: 4

2009: 2

2008: 10

2007: 14

2006: 52

So I had a coworker recently fired because his grandma was using his partner numbers on the app to get discounted drinks. They figured this out because she was one of our regulars and I suppose there were suspicious charges with his numbers. After this some of my coworkers were obviously concerned and asked our manager for clarification of a couple things. One of these questions gave a response that was very confusing though:

My coworker asked if they ordered something on the app with their partner numbers, for themselves, but their spouse came to pick it up or was simply just the one to get out of the car and get it would that be allowed? And our manager said no.

This one just doesn‘t make any sense to me, why would I be fired for using my own discount on myself? I frequently order on the app but don’t have a car and don’t drive, so my dad picks up my coffee for me most of the time if I decide to order something. This to say I don’t always trust my managers responses to certain things so I was just wondering about what others have heard/experienced?

I cringe every time. Don’t ever say that word in public.

Second week and they’re about to train me on it and I’m scared

I just started as a barista at a local Starbucks this week. During interviews and onboarding they told me that we get free drinks while on shift and 7 free food items per week, both of which can be obtained anywhere between 30 minutes before your shift to 30 minutes after your shift.

But today I grabbed a couple food items just before I clocked out (my 6th and 7th food items for the week) and went to leave with them, and was told that in the future I'm not allowed to leave the premises with any of the free food or drink items, that they must be consumed before I leave.

Is this actually Starbucks policy? If so, fucking WHY?! I just worked a busy ass shift where I literally didn't even have time to make and consume any food. I was starving by the time my shift ended and I just wanna go home and eat, but apparently I have to sit at the store and finish my meal before I leave? Why? What sense does that make?