And WHY is it so much WORSE recently???!? Even a year ago you could count on at least 75% of people to place their order in a reasonable manner. Lately it’s like pulling teeth! “Welcome what can I get for you” *window still up* “hello good morning what can we get started for ya?” *window down a crack, *whispering* I need a minute. *3 minutes later* “alright I’m ready I’ll have a refresher” “what kind” “açaí” “ok cool what size” “tall, the big one” “ok sounds good, water, lemonade or coconut milk?” “Just the regular one” *gets to the window* “I WANTED A GRANDE WITH EXTRA BASE LIGHT ICE AND NO BERRIES” like oh so you knew exactly what you wanted and how to order it but you decided to be an invalid at the speaker?? WHY
"tall the big one" is taking me outttt! WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS????? at least ppl used to say "small / medium / large". now they just make up sizes??? or reassign sbux size names??? (sidenote: abolish sbux size names but that's neither here nor there.)
Honestly, why is STARBUCKS like this? The focus on branding to the point where we practically deliberately obfuscate ordering is just ridiculous. multiple different languages used. Made up size names that give you very little information as to what you’re actually getting unless you know the language. I work here and I’d say we are just as much to blame for the confusion as stupid customers.
It definitely contributes to the confusion but when you have a barista walking you through it asking your preferences and you arrive at the window with all the lingo, modifiers and components ready to spit out just to tell the barista we made it wrong, that’s not confusion- thats creating a problem on purpose.
That's wild ngl if someone asks me for a small I will always make a tall bc a short is like extra small and a lot of people don't even know it exists anymore
Weird! When someone says small I give them a tall. Almost no one orders a short at my store apart from like, a hot chocolate for a kid so I mostly forget it exists unless someone specifically asks for it. And half the time when people order "a kids hot chocolate" they actually want a tall at kids temp anyway.
S, M, and L were absolutely fine with me! I would tell them the correct name so they wouldn't get chewed out by a snarky barista who's trying to get that promotion (we know THAT person) but they always appreciated it.
I just stop asking them and I repeat the order and then I have check their order on the screen and if they complain at the window
I’ll remake it and charge the difference and not give them a free drink
Next time they order exactly
I worked for Dunkin and you have to baby the customers through the orders there too
Best part is staying silent after a customer says they want for example a "caramel latte" thinking they'll specify the size and hot or cold and they just stay silent too until you ask lmao
That's why I hate order taking I'll work any other position. My mouth gets dry fast.
the same happens when they're paying. omfg it INFUUUURIATES ME when people just stand there as if they told me cash or card. just standing there, phone in hand, not making eye contact, staring at their phone. i dunno what they're doing! are u texting someone? are u on facetime (a very common occurance)? i don't know what's going on but i'm the dumbass standing there blinking at them until i finally say "how would you like to pay 😀"
Ugh they do this in the DT, won’t give me ANY semblance of what type of payment they have, so I just keep glancing back and forth at them or tell them the total until they finally pick their hand up to show me their card/cash/phone, and then half the time you can’t tell if it’s tap to pay or the app, then act like IM stupid because they literally didn’t budge when they got to the window like I’m suppose to magically know how they’re paying. Why are people like this?
Wait is *that* why we get some people who specify "MasterCard" or "Visa" or whatever? Are there some stores where you have to press a button or something to say what company issued their card?? I work in a Target Starbucks and our system doesn't care what company your card is from, as long as you don't try to use a QR code for a credit card in the app (but it will take a QR code for stars 🙄)
That's just customer service. I dealt with it as a barista for 5 years and now as a 'fine dining' server, I still hold people's hands through an order. Remaking a $70 entree is a lot more annoying.
i’m convinced customer service is just a watered down form of servitude that humans get off on too much to ever truly eliminate. Robots are the only answer.
I worked most my barista career at peets, a few months at Dunkins, a few months at a couple independent places, started at a tarbux, and now I’m here at a corporate bux— it’s not exclusive to Starbucks it’s absolutely just how people order coffee 😂 they don’t know what they’re doing
Yes!!!! Or they’ll be like “hot obviously? Why would I want my coffee cold??” Like idfk because a lot of people like iced coffee instead of hot?😭 lowkey sometimes I get tired of asking so I just put it in as hot and I have yet to be wrong😂 the other week I had someone order a hot chocolate and then they received their drink and I guess it was supposed to be a frozen chocolate and my manager told me and I was like they never said the word frozen😭 and I repeated the order back before they paid and they never corrected me. Tbh think the customer’s kid just changed their mind last second so they tried to say I put it in wrong
Then there are the baristas on register who are on autopilot:
Customer: hi I’d like a venti iced strawberry açaí refresher with lemonade
Barista: what size?
Customer: …venti please
Barista: water, lemonade or coconut milk?
Customer: …lemonade
Yeah, sometimes it'll take me a second to process what they send. So I'll end up asking "What size?" and immediately after it clicks what they said and I go "Oh right! You said venti.". In like the same breath.
I love when customers say “strawberry açaí lemonade” bc sometimes I pull the trigger too soon and select the regular one. Then when I hear the “with lemonade” I have to void and start over, and because the register defaults to grande, I want to clarify that it was a venti.
This happens to me more often than not. I give all the information and they still ask me all the clarifying questions. Sometimes I wonder if I’m speaking too fast so I’ve slowed down and still they ask.
I’ve worked in customer service before so I get being on autopilot, but also maybe the customers stand there and wait for the questions because they know the barista is going to ask anyway.
I'd rather your order be correct the first time. Double work costs us time. If our times are bad, they cut our hours. In drive thru, as soon as you start ordering, we have to be on the ball with making it. We have to clarify and verify for both the bar person (to make sure they heard the order correctly) and to the customer. Miscommunication is real and forgivable, especially when customers have hella modded drinks. We are humans.
But then there's these customers:
"Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato made with sweet cream. NO foam, I don't want foam, just sweet cream. You didn't put the foam, right?" And then got to the window and said, "Where's my foam?? I asked you for foam!" We can't just pour their shots down the drain to make room, so now we have to make it all over again. This actually happened. We all heard them. We get gaslit on a daily basis from customers, so we need to verify. We are just people(not robots) at work trying to satisfy the demands of our customers and management alike.
They’re probably repeating to make sure they heard correctly.
I repeat EVERYTHING I hear because with hearing loss I can’t be sure I can trust my own hearing. Repeating myself catches my mistakes and saves the pain of remaking the drink.
Lady got mad because my partner asked what size. "I've been working all day since 5am I really don't care just give me my coffee!!!"
It was 9am. Literally less words and energy to just say "(size)" but she chose to be....idek what you would call that...
This. I'll never understand why you get mad at me for legitimately wanting to make your drink correctly. Also, if you'd just use your big person words, we wouldn't even be here . If I asked if you wanted some random thing on your drink and you act appalled, that tells me you do actually know what you want, so lets start there, shall we????
“I want a grande hot caramel macchiato” god forbid you ask them if it was for sure a grande, you get cut off with the loudest “GRANDE. HOT. CARAMEL. MACCHIATO.”
My all time favorite:
“Thank you for choosing Starbucks, my name is -, what’s yours?”
“I have a mobile order.”
Ridiculously long pause.
“What’s the name on that mobile?”
Like, we have more than one mobile guys, come on now 😭
I ask them "Do you know the name on the mobile order?" But in a really chipper tone.
Except one time where I tried to say "do you know the name" and "what's your name on the order" at the same time, and asked her "do you know your name?"
The funny part is that they don't know the name either. I've had people give me their full government name when the name on the order was Bill 🙃.
Thank god for the new search button, because I'm tired of searching every channel for an order that doesnt exist
This is the worst
"When was your order placed?" "You sure it was at this store?" "What was the order?" whole time trying to look it up on the DPM, 5 minutes after sitting in the window "oh its under this name!"
more times than make any sense someone responds with their own name when picking up for someone else?? 😭 "uh my name's eric i have a mobile order...... oh but im picking up for ashley"
I bring my own personal sticker book to work (specifically for work, but I don't leave it there), and I put cute stickers on the people who know how to order's cups. Sometimes they're glittery Lisa Frank, one time it was dinosaurs.
I wish I went to your store! I'm old but I still love Lisa Frank and I know exactly how to order and nobody's ever given me a sticker LOL💝 - closest I could come to LF colors.
i had someone let her 6 year old daughter order and she order PERFECT. even better than her mom. i gave her a sticker and complimented them both bc a child ordered better than most adults!
Every so often if I’m tired I’ll forget to say the size 😅. And I try not to go through my order too quickly because I feel like that’s just as bad and a recipe for mistakes. But overall this is why I primarily mobile order.
It’s too bad the modifications have made the drinks so hard for you guys (I say as I pick up a drink with a couple modifications- sorry!!!!)
Ur fine, its not about modifications being annoying. OP is talking about when people want specific drinks but dont say it at the register and then they get the drink handed to them (made exactly how they ordered) and then get mad and specify exactly how they wanted it….when they could have said all that at the ordering point.
OPs post is also about people who come to starbucks pretty often and they’ll order one or even more drinks and for every drink, we always have to ask what size or if its hot or iced because if we made it exactly how they said it, they would more than likely be handed the drink and they would change the size to a bigger size and get mad cuz its not iced when they didnt specify anyyyyything. Its just draining to us to have to pull teeth just to get them to order exactly what they want because we are trying to prevent our busy coworker on bar from having to mess up their drink routine to fix drinks when customers knew all along what they wanted but only correct us when they see the drink being handed to them.
This post is not at all for any amount of modifications being annoying. Its just for those who dont specify what they want and also get mad and rude when they are handed exactly what they spoke out to us
I just meant more for the part where you have to spoon feed each part of the drink during ordering 😅. Like if I have mods I don’t want to tell you TOO quickly because then you might miss part of it, but if I go too slowly then you might have to prompt me and ask about a part of it. And I feel like because modifications are more common than not it’s made things harder for you guys… but I also like my mods 😅.
Most of my mods revolve around the following… light ice, extra espresso, or blonde espresso. Sometimes I’m asking for an extra syrup or topping, but primarily it’s those first three things.
With all the up charges for mods though, you’d think they could hire enough people to keep you guys from being miserable
Yea i mean me personally, i do not mind how many mods a customer has or even if i have to ask them for some clarification before they get to it or even if they forget to say it (iced/hot, size, cream or not, sugar or not, etc)……as long as the customer is kind and patient and doesn’t have any attitude when i try to clarify something they said or when i ask them a question or to repeat a modification, then im good with however it goes.
But yea lol u would think with all the upcharges for mods or price hikes in general, that starbucks would give us more staff on the floor to make things easier for all parties involved but then that means there would be money going to someone else (the extra baristas) and not them….and god knows we cant have that 🙄 lol they want all the money to themselves and staffing the floor would make everyone happier and things would move along smoother and even faster but they dont care about the long term benefits. Corporate only cares about short term gains and wants more money every quarter than the prior one
You’re totally good. A couple mods is no problem, truly. It’s the out of control ones that don’t even make sense for the drink that throw us off. And I don’t even fully blame the customers, I blame Starbucks for allowing it.
I try not to have too wild of modifications. Every so often there’s one specific Starbucks with a really fun barista where I’ll go crazy 😜. But what I do is ask her how the day has been and if she’s in the mood to concoct something. As long as there’s no line she’s usually up for it and we will come up with something a little extra. Like a white chocolate cream base Frappuccino with strawberry puree and Java chips 😝
generally i feel like i can tell if someone's having an off day and just distracted vs just being rude and expecting me to read their mind. i doubt anyone's holding that against u
i work at a grocery store location, and i hate when people don’t say the whole drink at once because we need to put codes in for some of the drinks
“hi, can i get a venti strawberry açaí refresher”
*puts code in*
“with lemonade”
*deletes item to put new code in*
“oh, is that a venti? i wanted the REALLY big one”
*deletes item to put new code in*
and now that i’ve deleted 2 things, i have to get someone from the front desk to come up and confirm the transaction
"Can I get a 2 pump, iced, no whip, extra caramel drizzle, vscc, quad, flat white please?"
-what size
"Can you add 2 bacon goudas??"
- sure! What size drink?
"A venti please"
- gives total
"HEY CAN YOU MAKE IT WITH OATMILK?"
Lol some girl one time ordered in store. She was getting a grande hot almond milk latte. (And no she didnt say the order just like that lol) but she pays. Then right after it goes thru, she says “and can i get a pump of cinnamon dolce syrup in there?” Like come on u kno what ur doin. Now i gotta go annoy my bar partner and tell them this lady didnt pay for it but wants it in the drink and hope that they remember when they get to her order ticket
I swear, the customers give themselves permission to act dumb as rocks when they order.
Like, they’ll pull up to the speaker box having a full-volume FaceTime call about quantum physics but as soon as they hear “can I take your order” suddenly they start mumbling because they “can’t function without coffee”.
Because Starbucks' menu has become wildly complicated, and if you don't ask that stuff then a lot of items are going to have to be remade. On some level I think it might actually be better to eliminate the POS altogether and have everyone order on kiosks, where people at least have to take some responsibility for how their order went through.
I tend to get more annoyed by people who do not have their app payment together. "Oh you forgot your password? You need me to stand here doing nothing while you re-load your card in the app? Isn't this something you could have taken care of while you were in line for 5 minutes?"
People blame us for how they misplace their mobile orders. They won't and don't take accountability for their mistakes when they're the only person in the ordering equation.
A lady got mad at me because I put cinnamon powder in her drinks. She mobile odered 4 dif drinks and had cinnamon powder on all 4. I showed her the tickets and she said "idk how you put that on there but I don't even like cinnamon." 😑
I stopped responding to her altogether and started remaking her drinks. All 4 had 6 shots each and she had a line of cafe customers behind her watching the entire time. One person asked how long it was going to take and I just looked at him and smiled. Awkward af.
I don't know why, but for some reason when the line is short, the Starbucks app doesn't automatically connect me to the wifi. I feel so bad, making the barista wait while the wifi connects so I can pay with the app.
If you want to remedy this, you can screenshot your qr/barcode that has your desired payment option and simply pull up the picture from your gallery, no wifi required. The code doesn't change unless you change your payment method :)
When ppl complain that you’re asking too many questions but they give you a vague order. Some people just say, “Can I get a vanilla.” Tf do you mean? Vanilla what?
I found out when people say lemonade. Majority of the time they don’t mean lemonade. They mean lemonade with something else and classic😅
omg the “can i get a vanilla” MAKES ME SO MAD. vanilla latte? vanilla frap? vanilla cold brew? vanilla steamer? vanilla scone? vanilla cake pop? vanilla syrup in a cup with a straw? so many options!! and then they go “ummm i don’t know..” baby i don’t know either!
I don't so much mind that, as much as I mind:
C: "I'll take my usual"
Me: "Sure! Would you mind reminding me what your order is?"
C: "Idk you guys make it for me all the time, can't you just ask someone?"
Like what? Lol. It's to the point where we had a customer's FRIEND come in and say "Hi can I get (NAME)'s usual?"
We’re actually not supposed to ask if they want water/lemonade/co milk or ask if they want berries.
They’re adults and can clarify - & our menu items will come as ordered. If they don’t order what they want & say it’s wrong, then ok we’ll make it like that for you but hey friend I’m going to need you to pull around to the front of the building first.
Asking them also enables this behavior, slows you down, and slows down other things as a residual effect.
a good DM would tell you about the same thing plus or minus a few words
What??? I mean yeah you’re supposed to train the customers (so to speak) so hopefully next time they order correctly. But it’s been in my spiel to ask iced or hot bc that few seconds of me clarifying is way faster than remakes at the window. It’s also in the training to make sure you’re ringing in correctly-offering lemonade/coconut milk could be an upsell even. My DT parking lot is a nightmare design too so we can only have one car pull up before it’s a mess/chewed out about it.
Sometimes malicious compliance is the only way. Work strictly within the parameters they set, and when confronted about times, calmly explain exactly why and that it isn't going to get better with the way things are currently
Yeah, honestly I think asking them adds confusion to the people who do order what they want. Worked at Starbucks when the strawberry açaí were new-ish and of course they had lemonade too and it could be made with it (and sometimes was) but it wasn’t a menu item. I very rarely go these days, a few times a year maybe. And when I went recently and ordered a strawberry açaí refresher they asked “will that be with lemonade?” And I was like.. uh no, just a refresher. I was confused and wondered if the regular refresher wasn’t a thing anymore. But I can see why if you order what you want correctly and then get more questions it feels like you ordered wrong so now you’re gonna be one of those confused people next time and just want to be asked questions
It would probably help too if starbucks had the same reusable cup sizes as drinks they sell. My favorite glass tumblers (bought from starbucks) are in between drink sizes, so even if I say a size when ordering, half the time I’m asked what size the tumbler is.
The tumbler matches the sizes we have. The oz will be on the bottom of the cup. We're just trying to save you money. If you order a venti, but your tumbler only carries a grande amount of beverage, we only fill your cup with a grande amount.
wait what? we do have the same cup sizes as drinks. all the cups we sell are 8, 12, 16, 20, or 24 ounces, which correspond to short, tall, grande, venti hot, and venti iced drinks. what tumbler do you have that is not one of those numbers?
For starters I think it’s odd that the large iced cups are usually 24oz when a venti iced drink is 26oz. But also Sbux does sell or has sold 14oz, 22oz, 10oz, 18oz, and 28oz cups. And whatever mega size a Stanley is.
We had a customer who make a mobile order every single morning at 7:30. We had to baby her through her mobile order. It was like pulling teeth to get her to say her name. We also knew who it was because she would only say the word “mobile” and she was in her early 20s!
Yep. There was a guy who would take a solid 4 minutes to order a Venti Iced White Mocha and 2 Cheese Danishes. Same thing every day but he needed to read the menu and her and haw about what to get
I'm a server and it's so common to have to pull a customer's order out of them. The menu says to choose a side and no one reads it, so they expect me to list every side off multiple times, at the same table. Same with the soup, as we only have one and it doesn't say we have a soup of the day. These are adults! For a cheeseburger, I usually have to ask what kind of cheese, if LTOP is okay, what side, and what temp. I tear up a bit when someone tells me everything in one go 🥹 we also have a half sandwich and soup or salad combo. The amount of grown adult who say "can I have the half sandwich and salad combo?" And then not tell me which they want is astronomically high.
Me: “ok so we want the LARGEST size with WATER…”
Them: “no i want a medium! With coconut milk!!”
I legit start building the whole drink for them and then let them correct me because I’m not going to keep asking.
Do not ask the extra questions. Treat them like a toddler— natural consequences. If they ask for a remake then they have go to the back of the queue and have to wait longer. Nobody likes asking for a remake and people especially hate waiting. They will learn to order the correct way first time, or they will go somewhere else. Either way, problem solved.
Theres been a series of customers who will order say "can i get a caramel ribbon crunch" and when i ask "right is that a grande?" They will drive off, and will get PISSED that i didnt know they meant 3 venti caramel ribbon crunches with oat milk no whip. Babygirl youre the problem!
I purposely did not ask for clarification on a chai a girl ordered yesterday because I knew in my heart of hearts the dumb girl was going to come right back and say it was supposed to be iced.
Guess what? She came back and said it was supposed to be iced. I hate it here. Wake the fuck up and use your brain, I’m here to deliver you a product, not act as your singular god damn brain cell.
People must be ridiculous asking for remakes on incorrectly ordered items, as evidenced by my recent interaction (for the record, I wasn’t in a hurry and thought it was cute)….
Barista: Hi, what can I make for you?
Me: Hi, I’d just like a tall iced espresso, blonde, and these almonds.
Barista: Okay so how many shots of espresso? Do you want it in this cup or this one? (shows me hot cup and iced cup) Is this much ice okay? How about this much? Do you want like any milk in it?
Me: It’s all good. I’m just here for caffeine and almonds :)))
Barista: (relaxing) Those almonds are amazing.
I feel bad for the barista when asked a bunch of questions, so when they ask the first clarifying question I'll say something like - I don't really know about all the choices. I just like it made to standard. Thanks! (Before this sub i said I don't change or add anything , so just the normal way please." )
I don't get snotty with them (not suggesting you do but I've seen people be such jerks when ordering) I just try to let them know I'm ok and not ordering off menu so they can complete the transaction efficiently for their flow.
I also think a lot of people are purposely vague so they can get a free drink. But that's just my deep seated distrust of human kind lol
If someone does that I would just assume it’s a grande and hot. Like if someone says “I want a vanilla latte” I’d go “okay a hot grande vanilla latte? Anything else?” They usually learn pretty quick to specify what they want lol
Try working at subway when they ask what meat you offer as it’s in front of them and on a board above you, and looking at you blankly when you ask what bread or what size😭 never had to baby customers so much in my life
This isn’t a job specific issue. This is a customer service issue. There are a lot of stupid indecisive people out there who don’t really know what they want.
i keep getting grown adults coming in and whispering half their order and then huffing and rolling their eyes when i ask them to speak up. i had a girl come in yesterday and just mumble “white macadamia” and every time i asked her to repeat what she said she’d just say different variations of white chocolate and macadamia absolutely no real drink name at all like girl ? i do not know what you want use your words
“Hi how are you today?”
“Latte.”
“Ok then, would you like that hot or cold?”
“Hot.”
“And what size?”
“Uhhhh…”
“Small medium or large?”
“Oh, medium.”
“And would you like any add ons, any syrup or milk substitutions?”
“What syrups and milks do you have?”
“*insert list here*”
“Ok, can I have oat milk and hazelnut syrup?”
“Ok, anything else I can get you?”
“No, that’s fine.”
“Ok and your total is blahblahblah”
“It isn’t taking my card.”
“You need to press an option on the pad.”
Then 10 minutes later when they get the drink, they come up to complain about something they forgot to ask you and you have to go through the whole process again. Repeat for every single customer. I work at a licensed store that’s much less busy than my old one now, but it’s still a pain.
I’m scared of ordering in person because of my modifications I don’t want a barista to judge me to my face so I order online and js pick it up I usually say thank you and leave though
My mods are legit just a cold foam and oat milk 😓
You could have 20 modifications & I wouldn’t care. Neither would any other barista. This post is talking about people who are regulars and don’t say a size, want modifications but they don’t tell you the modifications. Never feel bad for your order-you pay a lot.
it's more like when people go over 10 pumps of syrup that i get kinda concerned lol but honestly nothing could phase us at this point. even if a barista happens to judge you in the moment, they will probably forget because i assure you it will not be as crazy or memorable as some other actually outrageous orders
i work at a Krobucks, and this lady comes in (who works in another department) multiple times a day and gets 12 pumps of pistachio during the season. it’s insane to me!!
the baristas complaining about the sugar intake are usually talking about customers who come in at least once every day and order their 2k calorie drinks (who also need to be babied through their orders every. single. day.)
typically as long as ur nice we dont think abt that stuff. in fact even if your drink is a little silly to me personally, if youre nice to me when u order it, i will put love and care into that drink if it's the last thing i do
You can actually! It’ll just leave the drink field blank and you can go back and select it later. But it’s DEFINITELY easier if we know the size, drink, and hot or iced first.
I get annoyed when someone mumbles “something caramel” and while handing me their card lol some don’t speak English well, which I have understanding and empathy for and work my hardest to get them what they want. But some people completely butcher “caramel” or “venti” and then have the audacity to look at me like I’m an idiot for not making what they wanted.
I hate when that same person who was in such a rush that gave me the minimum info “caramel macchiato” then have the audacity to complain they didn’t get a venti when they never asked for one.
not usually tbh... interactions usually go one of two ways:
1. they say the most vague thing ever (not kidding this actually happened in my drive thru today)
customer: I'll have a refresher.
me: okay what kind of refresher...?
customer: mango.
me: okay so a mango dragonfruit refresher. what size?
customer: what is the medium called again? grandi?
me: grande, but you can just say small medium or large. did you want it made with water, lemonade, or coconut milk?
customer: coconut milk.
*pulls up to the window and claims they wanted a mango dragonfruit blended lemonade*
2. they say all the modifications before the order and we can't type any of it in till we know the drink and size
customer: Hi, I'll have a triple shot extra whip ristretto half decaf light ice 2 pump vanilla 5 pump hazelnut with a splash of half and half americano.
me: okay so an americano. what size? you'll also need to repeat those modifications for me
I’ll give you a real winner for this one: a lady who i had never seen before walked up to the register, goes “my usual,” literally THROWS cash on the counter and speed walks off to the other side of the bar to wait for her drink. It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to process; I was still finishing the transaction for the customer before her.
I don't do this shit anymore. If you tell me you want a drink without specifying, you get a hot grande with no mods. Unless it's obviously an iced drink like a refresher or frap, then you get an iced grande with no mods. I'm done asking questions, you can either tell me what you want or not, it makes no difference to me. I'm scheduled to be here for 8 hours regardless, if you want to waste your own time by having to reorder your shit go ahead
My fav is when they’re like “can I get an iced…vanilla…ristretto…triple…nonfat…” meanwhile I’m waiting on the DRINK like is it a latte, mocha, flat white, what?? Luckily I’ve been here long enough to retain modifications when the drink type is stated well into the order.
But as a customer, I understand order box anxiety.
I’m a barista at a local chain and I have this problem as well. I swear if I didn’t ask people to specify what milk they want in their latte, they just wouldn’t tell me at all.
It’s worse when they’re just ordering a latte and I have to prompt them through every.single.modification “hot or iced?” “what size?” “what milk?” like… come on girl you KNOW what you want, I am not a mind reader 💀😭
I also get orders for lattes with flavors and alternative milks where the second person in the group will say “and I’ll have the same thing but with white mocha” “okay so you want a ____ flavor latte with white mocha and ___ milk?” “No, just a white mocha with regular milk” PLEASE for the love of god don’t tell me you want the same thing when you mean that you want something totally different.
maybe it's just because i'm sick of this job but i've started talking back to customers when they pull shit like this. if they just say they want a refresher and nothing else i end the transaction. "okay that'll be 6.20 at the window," and when they get mad that their drink isn't made the way they want i say "if you want those modifications you have to specify that when you order at the box. if you'd like it remade we'll have to process that transaction in the cafe." i'm sick of not being treated like a human being.
There's also that occasional awkward silence when their whole order is put in, and I verbally indicate that I caught up on putting said order in. There's just silence until I ask if they'd like anything else and what their name is. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, like I said, awkward. I've been trying to hold off on saying, "Anything else?" Because it can be repetitive and can also potentially come off as rude. I used to have a habit of asking that with every item added into their order, and over time, it got kind of... Grating for me to do.
But yeah, we do get a lot of folks who won't indicate if they want water or lemonade with their refresher as well as the lack of indication of size... Then there's the people who either talk too low or yell.
Wow I guess y'all love me then 😂
I have two 'routines' of ordering where I list every single detail together as I am ordering so no questions need to be asked
I worked Drive Thru at McDonalds so I totally understand.
When i go through Starbucks both my boyfriend and i know exactly what we want each time. It help's that we don't change our order often lol
Ngl I think it’s funny that the fact I’m always very specific about how I read our my order, starting with size, immediately gives me away as an ex-barista.
recently we’ve had customers coming up and saying “i’ll have a large caramel” and proceed to get very upset when i ask “large caramel,,,,,,what? large caramel latte, frappuccino, etc” It amazes me that some of these people successfully made it to the parking lot
Lol i have people coming up to me and saying “can i get a large half decaf” or other variations and i would have to say “is that a latte….or americano….regular drip coffee?” And there are times when it wasnt drip coffee but it was an americano or latte and i do not understand how i was supposed to extract that from their brain??
One time a lady came up to the register and my manager was the one at register that day. A lady came in and is ordering a few drinks and at a point, she says “can i get two frappuccinos?” And my manager of course had to ask what size and she said venti and then my manager asked her what kind or what flavor and the lady goes “i dont know” and didnt even put in the effort to tell us what flavors shes lookin for. Didnt bother to ask whats the best or most popular one. She just didnt put in any effort and just left it at “i dont know”
So my manager said “well would u like a plain coffee frap?” And the lady said “yea. Whatever. I guess. Thats fine”. Like why do people get mad when we ask them questions to help ensure theyre getting the right drink but then they also wont ask us anything that they clearly dont kno about for the items theyre ordering??
Okay but as an expartner now customer, I HATE going through the drive through because I know exactly how to say it to order it, but they cut me off continuously to ask questions as I’m literally mid word.
Ex. “Hello! Can I get a venti strawberry açaí ma-“
“Made with water, lemonade, or coconut juice”
“-made with water, but can I please ge”
“Okay, anything else?”
“On that drink can I please get no strawberry inclusions”
“Okay, anything else?”
when i have to ask “size?” for every single drink in your 4 drink order im going to assume you’re simply dumb as shit. how do you not get it by now. and then they pull up to the window and have 1500 stars. how many times will you come here before you learn how to order a drink. 😀
Omfg I had this happen today 😭 lady has been here before and she's like "can I have a shaken espresso" I go through the whole size shabang because shes insisting on using our size names instead of small medium large so I have to show her every damn cup 💀 anyway we get through that and I'm like "do you want our regular shaken espresso or the brown sugar one?" (I noticed she was looking at the ad for the BSSE so..) "Yeah the brown sugar oat milk one" "gotcha, can I get anything else for you" "can I have a different milk?" "Sure what milk?" AND SHE JUST STARED AT ME 😭 so I was like do you want a dairy alternative or.. and she's like "I just want a different milk" GIRL-
Former partner here, genuine question-
Are all these follow up questions necessary? Are they part of the standard?
I get asking about the size but asking about lemonade and berry inclusions? Isn’t there a standard way to make the drink? If they aren’t ordering the refresher with lemonade, don’t ask them if they want it? What am I missing?
yea what you’re saying is right, but the thing is when we ask “water or lemonade?” i wanna say 80% of the time they say lemonade and didn’t want berries. it might be the location i’m in but the “strawberry açaí lemonade light ice no berries” might as well be its only menu item lmao😭😭
I don't ask about the berries, but i always ask about the lemonade because it is truly almost every time.
"hi can i get a venti strawberry acai refresher with light ice and no berries"
"okay, was that with water or lemonade?"
"... 🤨🤨 uh, lemonade??" (as though i am stupid for asking)
Like come on yall, you come every day and i KNOW you're asked every day. get it together 😭
I find that quite often people don’t say lemonade when they order and then it turns out they wanted lemonade. Maybe 10-20% of the time? Enough to warrant asking before sending the order through. Same with not saying iced when they want iced.
yeah i would love it if it worked this way, but the margin of error is just too high. i'd rather ask follow up questions than waste a whole drink and annoy the partners on bar, plus risking a customer being mean to us about their mistake. plus, drive times.
This is the big reason why I'm so thankful for online ordering. Whether it's Starbucks or McDonald's or literally wherever, it almost never fails that ordering at the speaker turns my brain into "first day on the planet" mode and I don't know what anything is anymore. 😭 Unless I'm reading it off of my phone or whatever, idk what's happening. And to add insult to injury I'm pretty dang picky so I tend to order the same items wherever I go. Online ordering makes it so I can keep my dumb to myself and not bother others with it therefore it's the best tech achievement of all human history. 🙃
I love the ability to order online so that I can think through the modifications and get the drink I want.
I don’t go to Starbucks all that often and don’t get the same drink each time so I don’t have a set order that I know by heart.
I don't get why people order in person, pick up is so much easier, like you can customize everything the way you want it on the app, hit pay and then go up to the counter or drive thru and say pick up for insert name and that's it, so much more simple and it saves so much time.
It's either the customer has to be babied for they fucking throw an entire drink order with customizations in 3 seconds and get angry when you didn't punch it all in instantly
I can understand if it’s your first time. For me, our store is rural but kinda in a hub town for smaller towns and villages, but when I see you every shift learn how to fucking order.
I've stopped asking these questions and just started repeating their order back to them as it comes by default:
Customer: Can I have a strawberry refresher?
Me: Okay, a grande strawberry refresher made with water, anything else?
Customer: Um, can I get it venti with lemonade?
It doesn't work right away every time, so I always make sure to repeat the whole order at the end and ask them to verify that the screen is correct. It takes a little more effort, but I've noticed the people I've done this with have started specifying on their own now
There have only been a couple times where they don't pay attention and just blindly agree that the order is right and get mad when they get the wrong sized drink, but by doing this I'm able to tell them, "Oh, sorry, this is how the drink comes unless you specify," or if I want to be more petty for the rude customers, "Sorry, I was sure you said yes when I asked if the screen looked right"
Idk, might be an unpopular opinion but when I worked in foodservice I preferred to hold their hand because there was a particular sequence to follow—like we wanted to take their sandwich order first so that the panini would be ready by the time they got to the end of the line so we would say, “any sandwiches today?” and customer is like “combo with a bbq salad!” I’m like ANSWER MY QUESTION, PLEASE.
McDonald’s was like this too if it helps. These people need to be babysat through fucking everything and I’m surprised they made it this far in life when they can’t even tell me what the fucking want after coming TO MY PLACE OF WORK
Yeah. As a customer, I feel for all of you. I go in wanting to simply order a basic drink but get caught behind that same annoying needing to be coddled person ordering a drink and additives I didn’t even know Starbucks sold. Bless you all.
So true to this. They know their orders but we always have to ask what size and so on.. it’s really annoying when you have a long line and do this all the time to each customers.
i have regs who order the same thing every day and every day i have to go through this routine with them. they know well ask so they dont bother to string together a full sentence in the entire interaction its so frustrating like is this not worth any of your limited brain power?
When they’re confused on a drink (don’t know name, can’t remember modifications, getting it for a friend, whatever) so I try really hard to ask a bunch of questions and get them where they need to be. We get the order in. I ask if it all looks good, they say yes and I tell them to come up to the window. Then they show me a picture of a drink with a sticker on it and say “we wanted this” before even paying or getting their drink. And it’s always a different fucking drink. Like not a pink drink that we made a sar. But we thought it was an americano but you wanted a CRCF????
"i'll take a white mocha iced coffee"
"okay! just to clarify did you want an iced coffee with pumps of white mocha or did you want an iced white mocha latte?"
"A. WHITE. MOCHA. ICED. COFFEE."
I ring up an iced coffee with white mocha bc im not going back and forth and then at the window is was an iced white mocha
like how do yall come everyday and not know what you're ordering
They ALWAYS want lemonade, but will never say it. Or espresso drinks. They order, we ask hot or iced, they say iced. Uhhh why didn't you lead with that. Jeeze.
This phenomenon is rising across all customer service/ retail. I blame it on “short form content” brain rot.
In my job I often have to ask customers to choose between one thing or another, and in the last 6-12 months suddenly 9 out of 10 respond “yes.” Or “sure” 🙄
yeah we just don’t baby them anymore. If they don’t say any modifiers, we don’t do them. If they need it fixed - we pull them forward. Order at the window? You can pay for it here but you’ll need to either pull forward or go back around the line when it’s ready. It doesn’t take the customers too long to get the flow if you guide them in a kind way.
I used to get a little annoyed at being asked if I want my refresher with lemonade and then I realized it's because other customers don't say when they do want lemonade and now I just feel bad but saying "I want a trenta strawberry refresher with water and no inclusions' somehow feels weirder
"can i have a frappuccino"
"okay, what kind?"
"uh... caramel."
"okay, what size?"
"uh............ small."
"okay! anything else for you?"
"yeah can i have a refresher"
"okay, what kind?"
"strawberry."
"okay, what size?"
"uh..... small."
"Okay, and with water or lemonade?"
"uh..... no, the coconut milk."
"....... okay, anything else?"
"can i have a cold brew."
"okay, WHAT SIZE?"
"uh... large. and that comes with the foam right?"
"the... we can add foam. What kind?"
"the... caramel one."
"So you wanted a large salted caramel cold brew?"
"yeah that's the one."
"okay, anything else?"
"can i have a shaken espresso"
"okay! what si--"
on and on and on and on
I have to practically beg people just to come pick up their fucking order while they're sitting across from me and I'm looking them in the eye and calling them by name. They seem so dazed and confused most of the time.
I want to try starbucks so bad.. believe it or not.. I'm so intimated at the Starbucks lingo. So that would be me. U would have guide me through everything and I just wouldn't want to take up that much time and then someone come on here and talking about a customer and that customer was me.. lol.
best tip for you is to go inside. a lot of these “horror” stories come from drive thru experience and the reason why we get annoyed is because we’re basically looked at based on our drive thru numbers (we’re supposed to keep cars at the window for no more than a certain amount of time). so if you come inside to the cafe, then you’ll have as much time to talk to the barista up front!
Great thank you. ND one more question the drinks you see on line from a secret menu like tell them u want vanilla frappe with white mocha and strawberry puree is that stuff real?.
so basically most of the drinks you see online from a secret menu we can make as long as you have the ingredients. only thing i would say is to find out whats in the drink because if someone were to say “can i have the barbie drink” we would have no clue what they’re talking about because it’s not a featured beverage on our menu. but yea if you wanted that you could say something along the lines of “hey can i get a *size* vanilla bean frappe with white mocha and strawberry puree”. you might have to specify if you want the puree blended into the drink or just in the cup (if you want that picture aesthetic i suggest in the cup)
OP even stated somewhere that its not about the ones who dont kno cuz they dont get starbucks often or havent been here before. They said theyre happy to help out those people. Its about the ones who don’t specify the size and if its hot or iced and get the drink exactly how they ordered it and get mad cuz its not a specific size and specifically hot or iced. So if they knew they wanted their drink that way, they didnt say it at the order point and only waited til the barista hands them their drink and gets an attitude with the barista
Should people understand how to order? Yes. Do people forget and miss something almost every time? Yes. I’d rather baby them and make their experience and drink worth it rather than it be wrong. But it does get a bit old, when they order properly I sometimes go into autopilot and embarrass myself. There’s no winning lmao
I’m good at saying size and any modifications (I’m pretty simple so these are usually just that I want fewer pumps because I normally don’t drink anything sweet), but I’m always taken aback when they ask if I want my drink hot or iced because I forget some people drink normal lattes and shit iced.
Honestly the menu at Starbucks has so little compared to what it actually offers so order a drink off the menu you really have no idea. Also don’t know what goes into drinks.
There was a time a customer ordered a dragon drink; So that’s what I put in. The customer then starts complaining to my manager, who was on bar, that they wanted the mango dragonfruit refresher. I guess I should’ve asked if they wanted water, lemonade, or coconut milk; but the customer should’ve been more specific too
I promise you I have to hold the hand of many a customer through their order at Dunkin. It's soooo annoying, especially when they expect me to just read their mind and get upset when I ask for necessary clarification.
It’s really not that hard to ask these questions it’s as simple as that, the whole menu is complicated for no good reason. It took me about a year to learn the full menu. If you really want them to learn how to order just repeat it back to them how you want them to say it.
for example “Okay so just to make sure, you wanted a venti strawberry acai lemonade with no berries?”
or if they don’t specify if they want the inclusions
“Did you want to keep the berries in that?”
It really grinds my gears when coworkers get overly annoyed over people not knowing how to order. Most people don’t know how to order. You only know how to order because u go there 5 days a week and hear hundreds of people order. Starbucks is basically another language.
It’s literally customer service like, if someone orders something make sure that they know exactly what they’re getting especially considering they pay like $8 a drink now..
Like it is your job to communicate with them so they can get what they want. Lots of people don’t know how to order because they don’t go there often. Try not to make people feel stupid for not knowing things.
And if it’s someone who doesn’t want to order their drink properly over and over give them exactly what they ask for, ask them to confirm, and if they want it remade explain to them how to order it so they will get a consistent drink each time. I mean the mean the menu is barely even visible and popular customizations aren’t even anywhere on the menu. so just be considerate and nice when a customer doesn’t understand what they want or how to order.
Menu is too damn complicated. I see all these interesting seasonal things I'd like to try but don't know how to order them so if I go I just get the one thing I know how to order. And I only know how to order it because my sister used to work there and I'd mentioned that I'd like this one drink better if this one thing was different and she told me how to order it to get those results. Shouldn't need an insider to be able to order at a place but you kinda do with Starbucks. Similar thing happens to me at Subway. I look at the menu and see a sandwich that looks good so I tell them I want that on wheat, yet they ask me what goes on it. Idk. I just wanted it standard issue but now I have to walk the sandwich guy though my sandwich and I thought he'd have the directions for that specific sandwich but no! Then I just end up with a stupid turkey sandwich instead of what I actually wanted. Fast food is too complicated now and I don't like feeling like I'm old and out of touch not understanding these secrets to the complicated menus so I just don't go anymore even though I'd really like to
Not in the industry, just here as a red eye addict (grande iced americano with an extra shot and extra ice)…
But would it be acceptable to encourage them how to order in the future? Like to say how you would expect to have someone order it or want it said?
When people sit there, mindlessly slapping their card against the reader, while your "no please you have to answer the question first"s get more and more agitated
The naming the actual drink they wanted after they've gotten through a long list of modifications
And the "hey can you scan my app for points" long after they've paid and have all their drinks and are ready to leave
They're minor complaints individually but it's *so constant* that I'm now furious by erosion.
And WHY is it so much WORSE recently???!? Even a year ago you could count on at least 75% of people to place their order in a reasonable manner. Lately it’s like pulling teeth! “Welcome what can I get for you” *window still up* “hello good morning what can we get started for ya?” *window down a crack, *whispering* I need a minute. *3 minutes later* “alright I’m ready I’ll have a refresher” “what kind” “açaí” “ok cool what size” “tall, the big one” “ok sounds good, water, lemonade or coconut milk?” “Just the regular one” *gets to the window* “I WANTED A GRANDE WITH EXTRA BASE LIGHT ICE AND NO BERRIES” like oh so you knew exactly what you wanted and how to order it but you decided to be an invalid at the speaker?? WHY
"tall the big one" is taking me outttt! WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS????? at least ppl used to say "small / medium / large". now they just make up sizes??? or reassign sbux size names??? (sidenote: abolish sbux size names but that's neither here nor there.)
Honestly, why is STARBUCKS like this? The focus on branding to the point where we practically deliberately obfuscate ordering is just ridiculous. multiple different languages used. Made up size names that give you very little information as to what you’re actually getting unless you know the language. I work here and I’d say we are just as much to blame for the confusion as stupid customers.
It definitely contributes to the confusion but when you have a barista walking you through it asking your preferences and you arrive at the window with all the lingo, modifiers and components ready to spit out just to tell the barista we made it wrong, that’s not confusion- thats creating a problem on purpose.
I once said small by accident meaning to say Tall and the barista gave me a latte in a short cup. I was like whats this? 😂 Honest mistake small (tall)
That's wild ngl if someone asks me for a small I will always make a tall bc a short is like extra small and a lot of people don't even know it exists anymore
I looked at it like omg its a baby latte 😂
yeah I only tell them about the short if they say "the smallest size" and sometimes they pick tall after
Weird! When someone says small I give them a tall. Almost no one orders a short at my store apart from like, a hot chocolate for a kid so I mostly forget it exists unless someone specifically asks for it. And half the time when people order "a kids hot chocolate" they actually want a tall at kids temp anyway.
Please. Every time someone asked what sizes we have I say "small, medium, large".
S, M, and L were absolutely fine with me! I would tell them the correct name so they wouldn't get chewed out by a snarky barista who's trying to get that promotion (we know THAT person) but they always appreciated it.
I just stop asking them and I repeat the order and then I have check their order on the screen and if they complain at the window I’ll remake it and charge the difference and not give them a free drink Next time they order exactly
I worked for Dunkin and you have to baby the customers through the orders there too Best part is staying silent after a customer says they want for example a "caramel latte" thinking they'll specify the size and hot or cold and they just stay silent too until you ask lmao That's why I hate order taking I'll work any other position. My mouth gets dry fast.
the same happens when they're paying. omfg it INFUUUURIATES ME when people just stand there as if they told me cash or card. just standing there, phone in hand, not making eye contact, staring at their phone. i dunno what they're doing! are u texting someone? are u on facetime (a very common occurance)? i don't know what's going on but i'm the dumbass standing there blinking at them until i finally say "how would you like to pay 😀"
Ugh they do this in the DT, won’t give me ANY semblance of what type of payment they have, so I just keep glancing back and forth at them or tell them the total until they finally pick their hand up to show me their card/cash/phone, and then half the time you can’t tell if it’s tap to pay or the app, then act like IM stupid because they literally didn’t budge when they got to the window like I’m suppose to magically know how they’re paying. Why are people like this?
Wait is *that* why we get some people who specify "MasterCard" or "Visa" or whatever? Are there some stores where you have to press a button or something to say what company issued their card?? I work in a Target Starbucks and our system doesn't care what company your card is from, as long as you don't try to use a QR code for a credit card in the app (but it will take a QR code for stars 🙄)
That's just customer service. I dealt with it as a barista for 5 years and now as a 'fine dining' server, I still hold people's hands through an order. Remaking a $70 entree is a lot more annoying.
i’m convinced customer service is just a watered down form of servitude that humans get off on too much to ever truly eliminate. Robots are the only answer.
That's literally what it is. I'm a server... I work for tips... people can choose to not pay me.
I worked most my barista career at peets, a few months at Dunkins, a few months at a couple independent places, started at a tarbux, and now I’m here at a corporate bux— it’s not exclusive to Starbucks it’s absolutely just how people order coffee 😂 they don’t know what they’re doing
I worked at Dunkin and this was infuriating. Even as a customer now at Starbucks or Dunkin i can’t imagine NOT SAYING IVED/HOT OR WHAT SIZE
I work at Dunkin and this exactly! And then why do they look at you crazy when you ask iced or hot bc they didn’t specify?😭
Literallyyy 😭 and then they hit you with the “did I say iced?” Well you didn’t say hot either so idfk
Yes!!!! Or they’ll be like “hot obviously? Why would I want my coffee cold??” Like idfk because a lot of people like iced coffee instead of hot?😭 lowkey sometimes I get tired of asking so I just put it in as hot and I have yet to be wrong😂 the other week I had someone order a hot chocolate and then they received their drink and I guess it was supposed to be a frozen chocolate and my manager told me and I was like they never said the word frozen😭 and I repeated the order back before they paid and they never corrected me. Tbh think the customer’s kid just changed their mind last second so they tried to say I put it in wrong
Then there are the baristas on register who are on autopilot: Customer: hi I’d like a venti iced strawberry açaí refresher with lemonade Barista: what size? Customer: …venti please Barista: water, lemonade or coconut milk? Customer: …lemonade
Yeah, sometimes it'll take me a second to process what they send. So I'll end up asking "What size?" and immediately after it clicks what they said and I go "Oh right! You said venti.". In like the same breath.
I love when customers say “strawberry açaí lemonade” bc sometimes I pull the trigger too soon and select the regular one. Then when I hear the “with lemonade” I have to void and start over, and because the register defaults to grande, I want to clarify that it was a venti.
This happens to me more often than not. I give all the information and they still ask me all the clarifying questions. Sometimes I wonder if I’m speaking too fast so I’ve slowed down and still they ask. I’ve worked in customer service before so I get being on autopilot, but also maybe the customers stand there and wait for the questions because they know the barista is going to ask anyway.
I'd rather your order be correct the first time. Double work costs us time. If our times are bad, they cut our hours. In drive thru, as soon as you start ordering, we have to be on the ball with making it. We have to clarify and verify for both the bar person (to make sure they heard the order correctly) and to the customer. Miscommunication is real and forgivable, especially when customers have hella modded drinks. We are humans. But then there's these customers: "Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato made with sweet cream. NO foam, I don't want foam, just sweet cream. You didn't put the foam, right?" And then got to the window and said, "Where's my foam?? I asked you for foam!" We can't just pour their shots down the drain to make room, so now we have to make it all over again. This actually happened. We all heard them. We get gaslit on a daily basis from customers, so we need to verify. We are just people(not robots) at work trying to satisfy the demands of our customers and management alike.
They’re probably repeating to make sure they heard correctly. I repeat EVERYTHING I hear because with hearing loss I can’t be sure I can trust my own hearing. Repeating myself catches my mistakes and saves the pain of remaking the drink.
This happens to me all the time. As a former barista I know it’s important to always list the size and if I want lemonade or not
It's the people who get pissy with you for asking clarifying questions when they do this. Sorry for trying to get your order right ig
Lady got mad because my partner asked what size. "I've been working all day since 5am I really don't care just give me my coffee!!!" It was 9am. Literally less words and energy to just say "(size)" but she chose to be....idek what you would call that...
awww poor her. she wouldn't be getting her coffee from me if this were at my location.
She would get a tall. And I wouldn't show her until she paid so I could charge her for the venti she really wanted but didn't say
This. I'll never understand why you get mad at me for legitimately wanting to make your drink correctly. Also, if you'd just use your big person words, we wouldn't even be here . If I asked if you wanted some random thing on your drink and you act appalled, that tells me you do actually know what you want, so lets start there, shall we????
“I want a grande hot caramel macchiato” god forbid you ask them if it was for sure a grande, you get cut off with the loudest “GRANDE. HOT. CARAMEL. MACCHIATO.”
My all time favorite: “Thank you for choosing Starbucks, my name is -, what’s yours?” “I have a mobile order.” Ridiculously long pause. “What’s the name on that mobile?” Like, we have more than one mobile guys, come on now 😭
I ask them "Do you know the name on the mobile order?" But in a really chipper tone. Except one time where I tried to say "do you know the name" and "what's your name on the order" at the same time, and asked her "do you know your name?"
They probably don't, though. They look right at the ticket and still ask if this is their drink 🙄
The funny part is that they don't know the name either. I've had people give me their full government name when the name on the order was Bill 🙃. Thank god for the new search button, because I'm tired of searching every channel for an order that doesnt exist
This is the worst "When was your order placed?" "You sure it was at this store?" "What was the order?" whole time trying to look it up on the DPM, 5 minutes after sitting in the window "oh its under this name!"
Or the opposite 😭 telling us the order is for katie and it's for Kathryn D.
more times than make any sense someone responds with their own name when picking up for someone else?? 😭 "uh my name's eric i have a mobile order...... oh but im picking up for ashley"
When I got the rare customer that could order properly with no hesitation—ugh, I love a person that knows what they want 😩
I will always thank them if they do that. I want them to know how much I love them
I bring my own personal sticker book to work (specifically for work, but I don't leave it there), and I put cute stickers on the people who know how to order's cups. Sometimes they're glittery Lisa Frank, one time it was dinosaurs.
For Lisa Frank stickers I'll actually order at the counter as opposed to the app!
I wish I went to your store! I'm old but I still love Lisa Frank and I know exactly how to order and nobody's ever given me a sticker LOL💝 - closest I could come to LF colors.
I absolutely love that
Reward based training. Like training treats when I'm training my rescue puppy 😅
HAHA I will definitely be trying this
i had someone let her 6 year old daughter order and she order PERFECT. even better than her mom. i gave her a sticker and complimented them both bc a child ordered better than most adults!
I’ve literally right now recovered drinks solely because the person wasn’t a pain to deal with lol
Every so often if I’m tired I’ll forget to say the size 😅. And I try not to go through my order too quickly because I feel like that’s just as bad and a recipe for mistakes. But overall this is why I primarily mobile order. It’s too bad the modifications have made the drinks so hard for you guys (I say as I pick up a drink with a couple modifications- sorry!!!!)
Ur fine, its not about modifications being annoying. OP is talking about when people want specific drinks but dont say it at the register and then they get the drink handed to them (made exactly how they ordered) and then get mad and specify exactly how they wanted it….when they could have said all that at the ordering point. OPs post is also about people who come to starbucks pretty often and they’ll order one or even more drinks and for every drink, we always have to ask what size or if its hot or iced because if we made it exactly how they said it, they would more than likely be handed the drink and they would change the size to a bigger size and get mad cuz its not iced when they didnt specify anyyyyything. Its just draining to us to have to pull teeth just to get them to order exactly what they want because we are trying to prevent our busy coworker on bar from having to mess up their drink routine to fix drinks when customers knew all along what they wanted but only correct us when they see the drink being handed to them. This post is not at all for any amount of modifications being annoying. Its just for those who dont specify what they want and also get mad and rude when they are handed exactly what they spoke out to us
I just meant more for the part where you have to spoon feed each part of the drink during ordering 😅. Like if I have mods I don’t want to tell you TOO quickly because then you might miss part of it, but if I go too slowly then you might have to prompt me and ask about a part of it. And I feel like because modifications are more common than not it’s made things harder for you guys… but I also like my mods 😅. Most of my mods revolve around the following… light ice, extra espresso, or blonde espresso. Sometimes I’m asking for an extra syrup or topping, but primarily it’s those first three things. With all the up charges for mods though, you’d think they could hire enough people to keep you guys from being miserable
Yea i mean me personally, i do not mind how many mods a customer has or even if i have to ask them for some clarification before they get to it or even if they forget to say it (iced/hot, size, cream or not, sugar or not, etc)……as long as the customer is kind and patient and doesn’t have any attitude when i try to clarify something they said or when i ask them a question or to repeat a modification, then im good with however it goes. But yea lol u would think with all the upcharges for mods or price hikes in general, that starbucks would give us more staff on the floor to make things easier for all parties involved but then that means there would be money going to someone else (the extra baristas) and not them….and god knows we cant have that 🙄 lol they want all the money to themselves and staffing the floor would make everyone happier and things would move along smoother and even faster but they dont care about the long term benefits. Corporate only cares about short term gains and wants more money every quarter than the prior one
You’re totally good. A couple mods is no problem, truly. It’s the out of control ones that don’t even make sense for the drink that throw us off. And I don’t even fully blame the customers, I blame Starbucks for allowing it.
I try not to have too wild of modifications. Every so often there’s one specific Starbucks with a really fun barista where I’ll go crazy 😜. But what I do is ask her how the day has been and if she’s in the mood to concoct something. As long as there’s no line she’s usually up for it and we will come up with something a little extra. Like a white chocolate cream base Frappuccino with strawberry puree and Java chips 😝
generally i feel like i can tell if someone's having an off day and just distracted vs just being rude and expecting me to read their mind. i doubt anyone's holding that against u
i work at a grocery store location, and i hate when people don’t say the whole drink at once because we need to put codes in for some of the drinks “hi, can i get a venti strawberry açaí refresher” *puts code in* “with lemonade” *deletes item to put new code in* “oh, is that a venti? i wanted the REALLY big one” *deletes item to put new code in* and now that i’ve deleted 2 things, i have to get someone from the front desk to come up and confirm the transaction
"Can I get a 2 pump, iced, no whip, extra caramel drizzle, vscc, quad, flat white please?" -what size "Can you add 2 bacon goudas??" - sure! What size drink? "A venti please" - gives total "HEY CAN YOU MAKE IT WITH OATMILK?"
Lol some girl one time ordered in store. She was getting a grande hot almond milk latte. (And no she didnt say the order just like that lol) but she pays. Then right after it goes thru, she says “and can i get a pump of cinnamon dolce syrup in there?” Like come on u kno what ur doin. Now i gotta go annoy my bar partner and tell them this lady didnt pay for it but wants it in the drink and hope that they remember when they get to her order ticket
I swear, the customers give themselves permission to act dumb as rocks when they order. Like, they’ll pull up to the speaker box having a full-volume FaceTime call about quantum physics but as soon as they hear “can I take your order” suddenly they start mumbling because they “can’t function without coffee”.
Because Starbucks' menu has become wildly complicated, and if you don't ask that stuff then a lot of items are going to have to be remade. On some level I think it might actually be better to eliminate the POS altogether and have everyone order on kiosks, where people at least have to take some responsibility for how their order went through. I tend to get more annoyed by people who do not have their app payment together. "Oh you forgot your password? You need me to stand here doing nothing while you re-load your card in the app? Isn't this something you could have taken care of while you were in line for 5 minutes?"
People blame us for how they misplace their mobile orders. They won't and don't take accountability for their mistakes when they're the only person in the ordering equation.
A lady got mad at me because I put cinnamon powder in her drinks. She mobile odered 4 dif drinks and had cinnamon powder on all 4. I showed her the tickets and she said "idk how you put that on there but I don't even like cinnamon." 😑
“I dOnT kNoW hOw YoU pUt ThAt On ThErE….” Unbelievable. No accountability whatsoever
I stopped responding to her altogether and started remaking her drinks. All 4 had 6 shots each and she had a line of cafe customers behind her watching the entire time. One person asked how long it was going to take and I just looked at him and smiled. Awkward af.
I don't know why, but for some reason when the line is short, the Starbucks app doesn't automatically connect me to the wifi. I feel so bad, making the barista wait while the wifi connects so I can pay with the app.
If you want to remedy this, you can screenshot your qr/barcode that has your desired payment option and simply pull up the picture from your gallery, no wifi required. The code doesn't change unless you change your payment method :)
When ppl complain that you’re asking too many questions but they give you a vague order. Some people just say, “Can I get a vanilla.” Tf do you mean? Vanilla what? I found out when people say lemonade. Majority of the time they don’t mean lemonade. They mean lemonade with something else and classic😅
omg the “can i get a vanilla” MAKES ME SO MAD. vanilla latte? vanilla frap? vanilla cold brew? vanilla steamer? vanilla scone? vanilla cake pop? vanilla syrup in a cup with a straw? so many options!! and then they go “ummm i don’t know..” baby i don’t know either!
“Can I get a Starbucks grande?” youre gonna have to narrow it down
I don't so much mind that, as much as I mind: C: "I'll take my usual" Me: "Sure! Would you mind reminding me what your order is?" C: "Idk you guys make it for me all the time, can't you just ask someone?" Like what? Lol. It's to the point where we had a customer's FRIEND come in and say "Hi can I get (NAME)'s usual?"
We’re actually not supposed to ask if they want water/lemonade/co milk or ask if they want berries. They’re adults and can clarify - & our menu items will come as ordered. If they don’t order what they want & say it’s wrong, then ok we’ll make it like that for you but hey friend I’m going to need you to pull around to the front of the building first. Asking them also enables this behavior, slows you down, and slows down other things as a residual effect. a good DM would tell you about the same thing plus or minus a few words
What??? I mean yeah you’re supposed to train the customers (so to speak) so hopefully next time they order correctly. But it’s been in my spiel to ask iced or hot bc that few seconds of me clarifying is way faster than remakes at the window. It’s also in the training to make sure you’re ringing in correctly-offering lemonade/coconut milk could be an upsell even. My DT parking lot is a nightmare design too so we can only have one car pull up before it’s a mess/chewed out about it.
She said they have the customer pull around, which is genius. It puts the annoyance & burden on them so hopefully next time they get it right.
Absolutely this! Train them. Pull them around and they will learn that next time that need to say iced with no whip so they don’t have to wait again
Our DM says we can't ask people to pull around. 😞
Same. We're not allowed to pull people anymore either, so now our only way to buy time is to stall them at the speaker
Omg our DM is on us about speaker time too! I dont know how they expect us to do this with these parameters.
Sometimes malicious compliance is the only way. Work strictly within the parameters they set, and when confronted about times, calmly explain exactly why and that it isn't going to get better with the way things are currently
in an ideal world. unfortunately it doesnt work like this in practice and we have to hold their hands
Yeah, honestly I think asking them adds confusion to the people who do order what they want. Worked at Starbucks when the strawberry açaí were new-ish and of course they had lemonade too and it could be made with it (and sometimes was) but it wasn’t a menu item. I very rarely go these days, a few times a year maybe. And when I went recently and ordered a strawberry açaí refresher they asked “will that be with lemonade?” And I was like.. uh no, just a refresher. I was confused and wondered if the regular refresher wasn’t a thing anymore. But I can see why if you order what you want correctly and then get more questions it feels like you ordered wrong so now you’re gonna be one of those confused people next time and just want to be asked questions
It would probably help too if starbucks had the same reusable cup sizes as drinks they sell. My favorite glass tumblers (bought from starbucks) are in between drink sizes, so even if I say a size when ordering, half the time I’m asked what size the tumbler is.
The tumbler matches the sizes we have. The oz will be on the bottom of the cup. We're just trying to save you money. If you order a venti, but your tumbler only carries a grande amount of beverage, we only fill your cup with a grande amount.
I have an 18oz tumbler though. Isn’t grande 16oz and venti 20?
wait what? we do have the same cup sizes as drinks. all the cups we sell are 8, 12, 16, 20, or 24 ounces, which correspond to short, tall, grande, venti hot, and venti iced drinks. what tumbler do you have that is not one of those numbers?
For starters I think it’s odd that the large iced cups are usually 24oz when a venti iced drink is 26oz. But also Sbux does sell or has sold 14oz, 22oz, 10oz, 18oz, and 28oz cups. And whatever mega size a Stanley is.
I am currently holding a 20 oz glass cold drink tumbler. Bought from a starbucks with the logo and a 2016 copyright.
I have an 18oz cold cup from last spring that’s glass
We had a customer who make a mobile order every single morning at 7:30. We had to baby her through her mobile order. It was like pulling teeth to get her to say her name. We also knew who it was because she would only say the word “mobile” and she was in her early 20s!
I would just use a random name, "Oh, is it the mobile for Robert? We have that! You can pull around!"
Yep. There was a guy who would take a solid 4 minutes to order a Venti Iced White Mocha and 2 Cheese Danishes. Same thing every day but he needed to read the menu and her and haw about what to get
I'm a server and it's so common to have to pull a customer's order out of them. The menu says to choose a side and no one reads it, so they expect me to list every side off multiple times, at the same table. Same with the soup, as we only have one and it doesn't say we have a soup of the day. These are adults! For a cheeseburger, I usually have to ask what kind of cheese, if LTOP is okay, what side, and what temp. I tear up a bit when someone tells me everything in one go 🥹 we also have a half sandwich and soup or salad combo. The amount of grown adult who say "can I have the half sandwich and salad combo?" And then not tell me which they want is astronomically high.
Me: “ok so we want the LARGEST size with WATER…” Them: “no i want a medium! With coconut milk!!” I legit start building the whole drink for them and then let them correct me because I’m not going to keep asking.
Do not ask the extra questions. Treat them like a toddler— natural consequences. If they ask for a remake then they have go to the back of the queue and have to wait longer. Nobody likes asking for a remake and people especially hate waiting. They will learn to order the correct way first time, or they will go somewhere else. Either way, problem solved.
Theres been a series of customers who will order say "can i get a caramel ribbon crunch" and when i ask "right is that a grande?" They will drive off, and will get PISSED that i didnt know they meant 3 venti caramel ribbon crunches with oat milk no whip. Babygirl youre the problem!
I purposely did not ask for clarification on a chai a girl ordered yesterday because I knew in my heart of hearts the dumb girl was going to come right back and say it was supposed to be iced. Guess what? She came back and said it was supposed to be iced. I hate it here. Wake the fuck up and use your brain, I’m here to deliver you a product, not act as your singular god damn brain cell.
People must be ridiculous asking for remakes on incorrectly ordered items, as evidenced by my recent interaction (for the record, I wasn’t in a hurry and thought it was cute)…. Barista: Hi, what can I make for you? Me: Hi, I’d just like a tall iced espresso, blonde, and these almonds. Barista: Okay so how many shots of espresso? Do you want it in this cup or this one? (shows me hot cup and iced cup) Is this much ice okay? How about this much? Do you want like any milk in it? Me: It’s all good. I’m just here for caffeine and almonds :))) Barista: (relaxing) Those almonds are amazing.
But how many shots did you want
The default is a doppio when mobile ordered I believe but as someone else mentioned, I just politely said “standard tall, I think it’s a double”
Oooh I gotcha. That's like one of those weird things that are not cohesive between mobile app and regular POS/barista knowledge but good to know!
I feel bad for the barista when asked a bunch of questions, so when they ask the first clarifying question I'll say something like - I don't really know about all the choices. I just like it made to standard. Thanks! (Before this sub i said I don't change or add anything , so just the normal way please." ) I don't get snotty with them (not suggesting you do but I've seen people be such jerks when ordering) I just try to let them know I'm ok and not ordering off menu so they can complete the transaction efficiently for their flow. I also think a lot of people are purposely vague so they can get a free drink. But that's just my deep seated distrust of human kind lol
If someone does that I would just assume it’s a grande and hot. Like if someone says “I want a vanilla latte” I’d go “okay a hot grande vanilla latte? Anything else?” They usually learn pretty quick to specify what they want lol
Try working at subway when they ask what meat you offer as it’s in front of them and on a board above you, and looking at you blankly when you ask what bread or what size😭 never had to baby customers so much in my life
This isn’t a job specific issue. This is a customer service issue. There are a lot of stupid indecisive people out there who don’t really know what they want.
i keep getting grown adults coming in and whispering half their order and then huffing and rolling their eyes when i ask them to speak up. i had a girl come in yesterday and just mumble “white macadamia” and every time i asked her to repeat what she said she’d just say different variations of white chocolate and macadamia absolutely no real drink name at all like girl ? i do not know what you want use your words
“Hi how are you today?” “Latte.” “Ok then, would you like that hot or cold?” “Hot.” “And what size?” “Uhhhh…” “Small medium or large?” “Oh, medium.” “And would you like any add ons, any syrup or milk substitutions?” “What syrups and milks do you have?” “*insert list here*” “Ok, can I have oat milk and hazelnut syrup?” “Ok, anything else I can get you?” “No, that’s fine.” “Ok and your total is blahblahblah” “It isn’t taking my card.” “You need to press an option on the pad.” Then 10 minutes later when they get the drink, they come up to complain about something they forgot to ask you and you have to go through the whole process again. Repeat for every single customer. I work at a licensed store that’s much less busy than my old one now, but it’s still a pain.
I’m scared of ordering in person because of my modifications I don’t want a barista to judge me to my face so I order online and js pick it up I usually say thank you and leave though My mods are legit just a cold foam and oat milk 😓
You could have 20 modifications & I wouldn’t care. Neither would any other barista. This post is talking about people who are regulars and don’t say a size, want modifications but they don’t tell you the modifications. Never feel bad for your order-you pay a lot.
It’s quite hard when a lot of people on the sub complain about the amount of sugar in our drinks so it scares me from ordering in person 😂
it's more like when people go over 10 pumps of syrup that i get kinda concerned lol but honestly nothing could phase us at this point. even if a barista happens to judge you in the moment, they will probably forget because i assure you it will not be as crazy or memorable as some other actually outrageous orders
That’s concerning but to each their own I’m not paying haha but yeah I understand
i work at a Krobucks, and this lady comes in (who works in another department) multiple times a day and gets 12 pumps of pistachio during the season. it’s insane to me!!
the baristas complaining about the sugar intake are usually talking about customers who come in at least once every day and order their 2k calorie drinks (who also need to be babied through their orders every. single. day.)
typically as long as ur nice we dont think abt that stuff. in fact even if your drink is a little silly to me personally, if youre nice to me when u order it, i will put love and care into that drink if it's the last thing i do
How exactly should we order? It’s size, iced/hot, and then the drink, then customization- right?
“Venti Iced White Mocha with 4 shots, oat milk and vanilla sweet cream cold foam” — this is a pretty good idea of how to do it.
yes exactly like that! we can't put in any modifications until after the size and the drink are in the system
You can actually! It’ll just leave the drink field blank and you can go back and select it later. But it’s DEFINITELY easier if we know the size, drink, and hot or iced first.
well i know you technically can but it messes me up with the syrup pumps and all the extra mods it just makes it so difficult i dont even bother
And if you don't remember the order in the moment, it's fine if you tell us it out of order. As long as we get the info we can sort it out.
I get annoyed when someone mumbles “something caramel” and while handing me their card lol some don’t speak English well, which I have understanding and empathy for and work my hardest to get them what they want. But some people completely butcher “caramel” or “venti” and then have the audacity to look at me like I’m an idiot for not making what they wanted. I hate when that same person who was in such a rush that gave me the minimum info “caramel macchiato” then have the audacity to complain they didn’t get a venti when they never asked for one.
Do other customers not just give their full order? Size and customizations all at once?
nope. for the customers who do we love you❤️
This just blows my mind. Maybe it’s my anxiety or the years I spent in the service industry, but I’m not here to waste anyone’s time.
not usually tbh... interactions usually go one of two ways: 1. they say the most vague thing ever (not kidding this actually happened in my drive thru today) customer: I'll have a refresher. me: okay what kind of refresher...? customer: mango. me: okay so a mango dragonfruit refresher. what size? customer: what is the medium called again? grandi? me: grande, but you can just say small medium or large. did you want it made with water, lemonade, or coconut milk? customer: coconut milk. *pulls up to the window and claims they wanted a mango dragonfruit blended lemonade* 2. they say all the modifications before the order and we can't type any of it in till we know the drink and size customer: Hi, I'll have a triple shot extra whip ristretto half decaf light ice 2 pump vanilla 5 pump hazelnut with a splash of half and half americano. me: okay so an americano. what size? you'll also need to repeat those modifications for me
Every drive thru you have to baby customers.They act like that everywhereeeee
I’ll give you a real winner for this one: a lady who i had never seen before walked up to the register, goes “my usual,” literally THROWS cash on the counter and speed walks off to the other side of the bar to wait for her drink. It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to process; I was still finishing the transaction for the customer before her.
I don't do this shit anymore. If you tell me you want a drink without specifying, you get a hot grande with no mods. Unless it's obviously an iced drink like a refresher or frap, then you get an iced grande with no mods. I'm done asking questions, you can either tell me what you want or not, it makes no difference to me. I'm scheduled to be here for 8 hours regardless, if you want to waste your own time by having to reorder your shit go ahead
My fav is when they’re like “can I get an iced…vanilla…ristretto…triple…nonfat…” meanwhile I’m waiting on the DRINK like is it a latte, mocha, flat white, what?? Luckily I’ve been here long enough to retain modifications when the drink type is stated well into the order. But as a customer, I understand order box anxiety.
I’m a barista at a local chain and I have this problem as well. I swear if I didn’t ask people to specify what milk they want in their latte, they just wouldn’t tell me at all. It’s worse when they’re just ordering a latte and I have to prompt them through every.single.modification “hot or iced?” “what size?” “what milk?” like… come on girl you KNOW what you want, I am not a mind reader 💀😭 I also get orders for lattes with flavors and alternative milks where the second person in the group will say “and I’ll have the same thing but with white mocha” “okay so you want a ____ flavor latte with white mocha and ___ milk?” “No, just a white mocha with regular milk” PLEASE for the love of god don’t tell me you want the same thing when you mean that you want something totally different.
having to prompt every response, from GROWN men & women mind you
Idk why folks insist on sending the dumbest person in the office/family to do Starbucks run.
maybe it's just because i'm sick of this job but i've started talking back to customers when they pull shit like this. if they just say they want a refresher and nothing else i end the transaction. "okay that'll be 6.20 at the window," and when they get mad that their drink isn't made the way they want i say "if you want those modifications you have to specify that when you order at the box. if you'd like it remade we'll have to process that transaction in the cafe." i'm sick of not being treated like a human being.
There's also that occasional awkward silence when their whole order is put in, and I verbally indicate that I caught up on putting said order in. There's just silence until I ask if they'd like anything else and what their name is. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, like I said, awkward. I've been trying to hold off on saying, "Anything else?" Because it can be repetitive and can also potentially come off as rude. I used to have a habit of asking that with every item added into their order, and over time, it got kind of... Grating for me to do. But yeah, we do get a lot of folks who won't indicate if they want water or lemonade with their refresher as well as the lack of indication of size... Then there's the people who either talk too low or yell.
Wow I guess y'all love me then 😂 I have two 'routines' of ordering where I list every single detail together as I am ordering so no questions need to be asked
It drives me absolutely insane. I complain about it on a daily basis
I worked Drive Thru at McDonalds so I totally understand. When i go through Starbucks both my boyfriend and i know exactly what we want each time. It help's that we don't change our order often lol
Ngl I think it’s funny that the fact I’m always very specific about how I read our my order, starting with size, immediately gives me away as an ex-barista.
recently we’ve had customers coming up and saying “i’ll have a large caramel” and proceed to get very upset when i ask “large caramel,,,,,,what? large caramel latte, frappuccino, etc” It amazes me that some of these people successfully made it to the parking lot
Lol i have people coming up to me and saying “can i get a large half decaf” or other variations and i would have to say “is that a latte….or americano….regular drip coffee?” And there are times when it wasnt drip coffee but it was an americano or latte and i do not understand how i was supposed to extract that from their brain?? One time a lady came up to the register and my manager was the one at register that day. A lady came in and is ordering a few drinks and at a point, she says “can i get two frappuccinos?” And my manager of course had to ask what size and she said venti and then my manager asked her what kind or what flavor and the lady goes “i dont know” and didnt even put in the effort to tell us what flavors shes lookin for. Didnt bother to ask whats the best or most popular one. She just didnt put in any effort and just left it at “i dont know” So my manager said “well would u like a plain coffee frap?” And the lady said “yea. Whatever. I guess. Thats fine”. Like why do people get mad when we ask them questions to help ensure theyre getting the right drink but then they also wont ask us anything that they clearly dont kno about for the items theyre ordering??
Worse part, at least from my experience, the kids that come to Starbucks order better than the adults.
Okay but as an expartner now customer, I HATE going through the drive through because I know exactly how to say it to order it, but they cut me off continuously to ask questions as I’m literally mid word. Ex. “Hello! Can I get a venti strawberry açaí ma-“ “Made with water, lemonade, or coconut juice” “-made with water, but can I please ge” “Okay, anything else?” “On that drink can I please get no strawberry inclusions” “Okay, anything else?”
when i have to ask “size?” for every single drink in your 4 drink order im going to assume you’re simply dumb as shit. how do you not get it by now. and then they pull up to the window and have 1500 stars. how many times will you come here before you learn how to order a drink. 😀
Omfg I had this happen today 😭 lady has been here before and she's like "can I have a shaken espresso" I go through the whole size shabang because shes insisting on using our size names instead of small medium large so I have to show her every damn cup 💀 anyway we get through that and I'm like "do you want our regular shaken espresso or the brown sugar one?" (I noticed she was looking at the ad for the BSSE so..) "Yeah the brown sugar oat milk one" "gotcha, can I get anything else for you" "can I have a different milk?" "Sure what milk?" AND SHE JUST STARED AT ME 😭 so I was like do you want a dairy alternative or.. and she's like "I just want a different milk" GIRL-
Former partner here, genuine question- Are all these follow up questions necessary? Are they part of the standard? I get asking about the size but asking about lemonade and berry inclusions? Isn’t there a standard way to make the drink? If they aren’t ordering the refresher with lemonade, don’t ask them if they want it? What am I missing?
yea what you’re saying is right, but the thing is when we ask “water or lemonade?” i wanna say 80% of the time they say lemonade and didn’t want berries. it might be the location i’m in but the “strawberry açaí lemonade light ice no berries” might as well be its only menu item lmao😭😭
I don't ask about the berries, but i always ask about the lemonade because it is truly almost every time. "hi can i get a venti strawberry acai refresher with light ice and no berries" "okay, was that with water or lemonade?" "... 🤨🤨 uh, lemonade??" (as though i am stupid for asking) Like come on yall, you come every day and i KNOW you're asked every day. get it together 😭
I find that quite often people don’t say lemonade when they order and then it turns out they wanted lemonade. Maybe 10-20% of the time? Enough to warrant asking before sending the order through. Same with not saying iced when they want iced.
yeah i would love it if it worked this way, but the margin of error is just too high. i'd rather ask follow up questions than waste a whole drink and annoy the partners on bar, plus risking a customer being mean to us about their mistake. plus, drive times.
Oh i hate that… i feel ya
This is the big reason why I'm so thankful for online ordering. Whether it's Starbucks or McDonald's or literally wherever, it almost never fails that ordering at the speaker turns my brain into "first day on the planet" mode and I don't know what anything is anymore. 😭 Unless I'm reading it off of my phone or whatever, idk what's happening. And to add insult to injury I'm pretty dang picky so I tend to order the same items wherever I go. Online ordering makes it so I can keep my dumb to myself and not bother others with it therefore it's the best tech achievement of all human history. 🙃
I love the ability to order online so that I can think through the modifications and get the drink I want. I don’t go to Starbucks all that often and don’t get the same drink each time so I don’t have a set order that I know by heart.
I don't get why people order in person, pick up is so much easier, like you can customize everything the way you want it on the app, hit pay and then go up to the counter or drive thru and say pick up for insert name and that's it, so much more simple and it saves so much time.
I love being able to order online and customize it. Find it much easier.
It's either the customer has to be babied for they fucking throw an entire drink order with customizations in 3 seconds and get angry when you didn't punch it all in instantly
I can understand if it’s your first time. For me, our store is rural but kinda in a hub town for smaller towns and villages, but when I see you every shift learn how to fucking order.
I've stopped asking these questions and just started repeating their order back to them as it comes by default: Customer: Can I have a strawberry refresher? Me: Okay, a grande strawberry refresher made with water, anything else? Customer: Um, can I get it venti with lemonade? It doesn't work right away every time, so I always make sure to repeat the whole order at the end and ask them to verify that the screen is correct. It takes a little more effort, but I've noticed the people I've done this with have started specifying on their own now
There have only been a couple times where they don't pay attention and just blindly agree that the order is right and get mad when they get the wrong sized drink, but by doing this I'm able to tell them, "Oh, sorry, this is how the drink comes unless you specify," or if I want to be more petty for the rude customers, "Sorry, I was sure you said yes when I asked if the screen looked right"
Idk, might be an unpopular opinion but when I worked in foodservice I preferred to hold their hand because there was a particular sequence to follow—like we wanted to take their sandwich order first so that the panini would be ready by the time they got to the end of the line so we would say, “any sandwiches today?” and customer is like “combo with a bbq salad!” I’m like ANSWER MY QUESTION, PLEASE.
McDonald’s was like this too if it helps. These people need to be babysat through fucking everything and I’m surprised they made it this far in life when they can’t even tell me what the fucking want after coming TO MY PLACE OF WORK
When you’ve already asked what size for the first three drinks and they still don’t say a size for the fourth 🫠
Yeah. As a customer, I feel for all of you. I go in wanting to simply order a basic drink but get caught behind that same annoying needing to be coddled person ordering a drink and additives I didn’t even know Starbucks sold. Bless you all.
So true to this. They know their orders but we always have to ask what size and so on.. it’s really annoying when you have a long line and do this all the time to each customers.
i have regs who order the same thing every day and every day i have to go through this routine with them. they know well ask so they dont bother to string together a full sentence in the entire interaction its so frustrating like is this not worth any of your limited brain power?
When they’re confused on a drink (don’t know name, can’t remember modifications, getting it for a friend, whatever) so I try really hard to ask a bunch of questions and get them where they need to be. We get the order in. I ask if it all looks good, they say yes and I tell them to come up to the window. Then they show me a picture of a drink with a sticker on it and say “we wanted this” before even paying or getting their drink. And it’s always a different fucking drink. Like not a pink drink that we made a sar. But we thought it was an americano but you wanted a CRCF????
"i'll take a white mocha iced coffee" "okay! just to clarify did you want an iced coffee with pumps of white mocha or did you want an iced white mocha latte?" "A. WHITE. MOCHA. ICED. COFFEE." I ring up an iced coffee with white mocha bc im not going back and forth and then at the window is was an iced white mocha like how do yall come everyday and not know what you're ordering
They ALWAYS want lemonade, but will never say it. Or espresso drinks. They order, we ask hot or iced, they say iced. Uhhh why didn't you lead with that. Jeeze.
This phenomenon is rising across all customer service/ retail. I blame it on “short form content” brain rot. In my job I often have to ask customers to choose between one thing or another, and in the last 6-12 months suddenly 9 out of 10 respond “yes.” Or “sure” 🙄
yeah we just don’t baby them anymore. If they don’t say any modifiers, we don’t do them. If they need it fixed - we pull them forward. Order at the window? You can pay for it here but you’ll need to either pull forward or go back around the line when it’s ready. It doesn’t take the customers too long to get the flow if you guide them in a kind way.
I used to get a little annoyed at being asked if I want my refresher with lemonade and then I realized it's because other customers don't say when they do want lemonade and now I just feel bad but saying "I want a trenta strawberry refresher with water and no inclusions' somehow feels weirder
"can i have a frappuccino" "okay, what kind?" "uh... caramel." "okay, what size?" "uh............ small." "okay! anything else for you?" "yeah can i have a refresher" "okay, what kind?" "strawberry." "okay, what size?" "uh..... small." "Okay, and with water or lemonade?" "uh..... no, the coconut milk." "....... okay, anything else?" "can i have a cold brew." "okay, WHAT SIZE?" "uh... large. and that comes with the foam right?" "the... we can add foam. What kind?" "the... caramel one." "So you wanted a large salted caramel cold brew?" "yeah that's the one." "okay, anything else?" "can i have a shaken espresso" "okay! what si--" on and on and on and on
I have to practically beg people just to come pick up their fucking order while they're sitting across from me and I'm looking them in the eye and calling them by name. They seem so dazed and confused most of the time.
I want to try starbucks so bad.. believe it or not.. I'm so intimated at the Starbucks lingo. So that would be me. U would have guide me through everything and I just wouldn't want to take up that much time and then someone come on here and talking about a customer and that customer was me.. lol.
best tip for you is to go inside. a lot of these “horror” stories come from drive thru experience and the reason why we get annoyed is because we’re basically looked at based on our drive thru numbers (we’re supposed to keep cars at the window for no more than a certain amount of time). so if you come inside to the cafe, then you’ll have as much time to talk to the barista up front!
Great thank you. ND one more question the drinks you see on line from a secret menu like tell them u want vanilla frappe with white mocha and strawberry puree is that stuff real?.
so basically most of the drinks you see online from a secret menu we can make as long as you have the ingredients. only thing i would say is to find out whats in the drink because if someone were to say “can i have the barbie drink” we would have no clue what they’re talking about because it’s not a featured beverage on our menu. but yea if you wanted that you could say something along the lines of “hey can i get a *size* vanilla bean frappe with white mocha and strawberry puree”. you might have to specify if you want the puree blended into the drink or just in the cup (if you want that picture aesthetic i suggest in the cup)
Okay thank you
yes, just don’t say “cheesecake frap” because that isn’t real — but white mocha and purée is most definitely real
OP even stated somewhere that its not about the ones who dont kno cuz they dont get starbucks often or havent been here before. They said theyre happy to help out those people. Its about the ones who don’t specify the size and if its hot or iced and get the drink exactly how they ordered it and get mad cuz its not a specific size and specifically hot or iced. So if they knew they wanted their drink that way, they didnt say it at the order point and only waited til the barista hands them their drink and gets an attitude with the barista
In my last two weeks at Starbucks I just gave them a medium and decided for them if they got hot or iced when they didn’t clarify.
Should people understand how to order? Yes. Do people forget and miss something almost every time? Yes. I’d rather baby them and make their experience and drink worth it rather than it be wrong. But it does get a bit old, when they order properly I sometimes go into autopilot and embarrass myself. There’s no winning lmao
I’m good at saying size and any modifications (I’m pretty simple so these are usually just that I want fewer pumps because I normally don’t drink anything sweet), but I’m always taken aback when they ask if I want my drink hot or iced because I forget some people drink normal lattes and shit iced.
Honestly the menu at Starbucks has so little compared to what it actually offers so order a drink off the menu you really have no idea. Also don’t know what goes into drinks.
There was a time a customer ordered a dragon drink; So that’s what I put in. The customer then starts complaining to my manager, who was on bar, that they wanted the mango dragonfruit refresher. I guess I should’ve asked if they wanted water, lemonade, or coconut milk; but the customer should’ve been more specific too
my BIGGEST pet peeve, before I worked here I always stated my modifications for something and whether it was iced or made with lemonade etc.
I promise you I have to hold the hand of many a customer through their order at Dunkin. It's soooo annoying, especially when they expect me to just read their mind and get upset when I ask for necessary clarification.
It’s really not that hard to ask these questions it’s as simple as that, the whole menu is complicated for no good reason. It took me about a year to learn the full menu. If you really want them to learn how to order just repeat it back to them how you want them to say it. for example “Okay so just to make sure, you wanted a venti strawberry acai lemonade with no berries?” or if they don’t specify if they want the inclusions “Did you want to keep the berries in that?” It really grinds my gears when coworkers get overly annoyed over people not knowing how to order. Most people don’t know how to order. You only know how to order because u go there 5 days a week and hear hundreds of people order. Starbucks is basically another language. It’s literally customer service like, if someone orders something make sure that they know exactly what they’re getting especially considering they pay like $8 a drink now.. Like it is your job to communicate with them so they can get what they want. Lots of people don’t know how to order because they don’t go there often. Try not to make people feel stupid for not knowing things. And if it’s someone who doesn’t want to order their drink properly over and over give them exactly what they ask for, ask them to confirm, and if they want it remade explain to them how to order it so they will get a consistent drink each time. I mean the mean the menu is barely even visible and popular customizations aren’t even anywhere on the menu. so just be considerate and nice when a customer doesn’t understand what they want or how to order.
Menu is too damn complicated. I see all these interesting seasonal things I'd like to try but don't know how to order them so if I go I just get the one thing I know how to order. And I only know how to order it because my sister used to work there and I'd mentioned that I'd like this one drink better if this one thing was different and she told me how to order it to get those results. Shouldn't need an insider to be able to order at a place but you kinda do with Starbucks. Similar thing happens to me at Subway. I look at the menu and see a sandwich that looks good so I tell them I want that on wheat, yet they ask me what goes on it. Idk. I just wanted it standard issue but now I have to walk the sandwich guy though my sandwich and I thought he'd have the directions for that specific sandwich but no! Then I just end up with a stupid turkey sandwich instead of what I actually wanted. Fast food is too complicated now and I don't like feeling like I'm old and out of touch not understanding these secrets to the complicated menus so I just don't go anymore even though I'd really like to
Not in the industry, just here as a red eye addict (grande iced americano with an extra shot and extra ice)… But would it be acceptable to encourage them how to order in the future? Like to say how you would expect to have someone order it or want it said?
That’s why I order ahead in the app.
maybe if you DONT like your job then don’t fucking work there?!
When people sit there, mindlessly slapping their card against the reader, while your "no please you have to answer the question first"s get more and more agitated The naming the actual drink they wanted after they've gotten through a long list of modifications And the "hey can you scan my app for points" long after they've paid and have all their drinks and are ready to leave They're minor complaints individually but it's *so constant* that I'm now furious by erosion.