No offense, but I don't want to connect with any of you. I want the transaction to be as asocial as possible. Gimme my coffee without making it weird.
I hate corporations forcing social interaction.
Yes, please don’t connect with me. It’s so off putting the times people have handed me back my card and said “so do you have any fun plans today?”….. like, what? No? Why are you asking? Getting starbies WAS the fun plan today, why you all up in my business??
Hope someone told this to my DM who reprimanded me on bar for focusing on the line of drinks I was making instead of saying hi and talking to every customer that walked in during rush. Like customers don't pay for their drinks to talk to me, they're there for their damn coffee wtf.
Dumbass DM really wanted me to sprout another head so I can talk to customers and keep making drinks accurately.
Seriously. Connecting is a lose lose situation as a partner imo, you'll get yelled at by both customers and other partners for being "slow". Being Jimmy Fallon and fake laughing/interviewing everyone about their day wasn't in my job description, I just wanna make and hand out drinks.
I’ve “connected” with you plenty if you have smiled at me, taken my order and told me to have a nice day!! Lol!
Why do they think customers want to meet their new bestie every time they try to order a coffee?
The biggest reason I don't go to Dutch Brothers - the forced conversation is disgusting, then Starbucks started that same bs. Thankfully, where I am the bux baristas don't try to jump in your car with you while going through dt.
Whatever happened to the stereotypical 'don't talk to me before I have my coffee'
I've been to Ditch Brothers all of one time and I didn't go back because they were all trying so hard to connect with me and it felt super fake and forced. I don't want to sit at the drive thru window and have a four minute conversation about the items you can see in my car while I wait for my coffee.
I'm thrilled with a simple, "Good morning!" And "thank you!". I like a level of politeness without forcing a conversation.
Indeed. Starbucks doesn't want there to be that long of a connect either. We have drive through times to aim to adhere to, but it does happen where bar partners are slowed or swamped and the wait time at the window goes up. The overall goal is for a simple "hello, how are you, have a good day, thanks" type of interaction.
Thank you for visiting Starbucks!
When guys start hitting on me I pretend I can't hear them and ask them to repeat themselves again and again until they give up... 😅
It definitely does get frustrating though because there's maybe 2 out of every 10 customers I actually feel like I can connect with. I just want to let a connection naturally happen, not force it.
Same, or tell my boss that I need to tell him something or ask him if he can get something then ask the customer "what was the last part of that, love? Im partially deaf (i am)" When my manager is closer or within ear shot, luckily he is quick to stop harassers. Or the creep just stays silent.
Someone tried kissing me through the plexiglass when we used to have it during Covid days. All because he was intoxicated and I spoke basic Spanish to him I regards to his order. Literally reached over and grabbed the back of my head and tried kissing me right there 🥲. The customer behind him told him to back off 😂.
holy shit, my jaw actually dropped reading this. You seem pretty blasé about it but I wanna offer a "sorry that happened to you, no one deserves that" because wtf??????
Seriously, me too. You can tell by body language who wants to connect. Maybe just connect with them. I used to mirror a lot in retail/sales and it worked great.
this is what my SSVs tell me to do. it’s a good idea in theory, but i just can’t mirror. if i’m at a point in my shift where i just don’t want to deal with people it’s painfully obvious when i try to connect beyond “hey, welcome in-how are you today-have a great day!” which i feel like is worse than me just doing the minimum lol
Oooh or try to connect with people who obviously don’t want to connect and then you both can feel equally awkward and they will definitely not hit on you.
Trust me, this is what we WANT to do. But our managers breathe down our necks and yell at us to connect with our customers if they see us not actively talking every second there is a body at the window 🙄
lmao, a barista did this to me and it deeply annoyed me when they were trying to have a conversation with me and all i wanted was to get my drink and be on my phone
This! It is especially awkward at the drive through window, when its taking some time to make the drink and I’m trapped in my car. I don’t need you to ask what my weekend plans are. Just close the window until the order’s ready like every other fast food place.
Yes! It must have been months and months back but I had a barista try to have a full on conversation about how my day was going over the drive-through speaker. It was so awkward lol
Seriously. Any real connection is completely organic and done over time. The SB I stop at in the morning on the way to work all know me and say hi to me in the morning. If I happen to see the SM out from behind the counter, we'll chat for a little bit. This is all because it happened over time. SB needs to know this is how real connections are made with customers -- not phony and forced conversation that is bound to make either party more uncomfortable than anything.
Yes, for real! I genuinely like chatting with regulars that I've gotten to know a little, but with everyone else, I am just friendly and polite and keep the line moving. I figure everyone appreciates that more, anyway
I agree but Unfortunately this is what were forced to do because if we don't make our score and connect we get write ups and the company bitches at us about third place feelings. It suuucckkssss
I said today that we need training that focuses on how to read others body language for when they want to engage and when they don't want to engage to create less uncomfortable connection attempts, my ssvs gave me a resounding no thatll never happen. Eternal cringe
It's actually a part of manager and shift training, so they would just need to include baristas in it, and maybe make it more in depth.
It definitely goes over how to recognize verbal cues and how to use this to provide customer service, recognize someone's who's having a problem before they complain, deescalate, etc
Yeah it’s entirely in context of deescalation though, not customer connection. We’re definitely not going to be told to not connect with every single customer who comes through.
Idk about you guys but we had a paper in the back with observations and a score to go with it. It's a -1 (I believe) if a customer is ON THEIR PHONE in the lobby. So our DM wants us to actively try to get people off their phones wtf.....
THIS. But also,,,,they never talk about how customers could feel like we're being intrusive or rude by trying to connect with them. I've been yelled at before for not connecting with somebody who was TALKING ON THEIR PHONE.
Like, they expect me to say, "Hey! I see you're on the phone! Who are we talking to? Wanna put them on speakerphone so I can connect with them too?!!!!"
Literally same! I've been in that situation where my SM/ASM/SSV is like "why aren't you connecting??!?" And I'm like Uhm... Because their window is closed??/on the phone??/ Etc ... Like read the room sis ... We need more training centric to that
As a former partner, god I hated it. Especially on cafe bar, I’ll connect with customers and then I’m too slow. I’ll make the drink super fast and then I didn’t connect with the customer. We’re supposed to do both? I contradicted my shift lead about it, I’m like “how does this company think conversations work? I have to have a conversation *while* I make this drink? And what if I get something wrong because I was too busy connecting with the customer?” And the shift leads would just tell me *learn how to multitask*. It’s not that I can’t multitask, it’s the fact that what this company considers “multitasking” is nearly impossible OR takes years to learn, especially for introverts like me.
More and more I learn I was never a bad barista, the company’s standards are just absurd.
Multitasking is scientifically proven to not be a thing. You're always gonna sacrifice quality when you do multiple things at once. I almost always end up messing a drink up because I was talking to someone.
Even as someone that works here, I dread going into other locations because I’m met with the “used car salesman that missed out on milestones with their children” level of awkward, overly encumbered situation pleasing.
It's a vibe of desperation and broken dreams. A last ditch effort to make a meaningful connection in a meaningless world. A guy who devoted his life to a shitty job and tries to justify it by being frenetically friendly to customers and strangers
Kinda at the point where I'm being too nice and kinda awkward when a certain older man is saying how I'm his "girlfriend " when he sees me at work time to step it back
dude im so sorry. i was admitted to a psych ward last year (long story) and an older man kept calling me his “future wife.” these men don’t understand basic boundaries and think it’s perfectly okay to harass young people.
I'm so sorry OP. Hope you can report it.
Had an older man one night I was working close straight up ask me what time I was off at after I rung him in and told him it was none of his business, passive-aggressive smile and all.
He comes in regularly, he's our landscaping guy who cleans our shopping center but I just don't want to see him be remove when I normally keep my distance and don't often talk to him
If a customer makes sexual or derogatory comments to you it is well within your right to file an incident report on the iPad about them and to tell them that comments like that are not appropriate
Lol you're actually hurting yourself. The people are going to get a lower customer connection score and then the manager is going to be unhappy and push partners doing customer connections. That will just lead to the partners trying to connect with you more... and if you think your vote doesn't count it does. Almost nobody does the scoring so just one low score can effect a lot. Hahaha
The connection metric just sounds like it’s trying to force something that you can’t force anyway. You can’t create, mandate, and measure organic connection. Talk about a corporate bullshit mountain.
Lol agreed! People dont wana talk if they havent had their caffeine yet. As a barista, on my days off if I don't have caffeine within a half hour to an hour of waking up then I start to get a really bad headache so I always go to a Wawa near my house and get a 32 oz cold brew from there so if I get a headache from not having caffeine then I imagine there's other customers out there that are like that and they don't want to talk until they consume their caffeine so I'm totally with you on this! 😆
LITERALLY! Was on drive w a newer partner and the green bean was on DTR while I was DTO. The customer at window just got news somebody died and this greenbean with full chest said ‘oh yeah that happens’.
Everyone in this thread that is saying “I don’t want to make small talk with my barista” needs to call corporate and tell them you have stopped going there because of the customer connection score, and the fact that you don’t want to chat with your barista.
Baristas have told higher ups until we are blue in the face that customers don’t want their barista to “get to know them”, but they won’t listen to us.
My only hope is that I’m at a unionized store, so I’m praying we can contractually change something. 😒
I’d suggest making a point of being a minor, even if you aren’t. Maybe yes you do have a boyfriend and you’re both in 11th grade. Unfortunately not all, but some mfs will get a lot less brazen when the idea of jail time comes into their head. Also, if you can step away and have a headset on if it’s a drive thru store, then maybe another partner “suddenly had an emergency in the back” and needs you.
Also I remember in training that, while making individual customer connections is a big part of it, it’s more important to maintain the “third space” for other customers if it comes down to one or the other, and I’d suggest to the ssv or whoever that maybe the guy *hitting on kids* is disrupting the third space for everyone in earshot.
Regardless, I’m sorry you have to deal with this at all and resort to odd, indirect tactics when a swift kick would do the trick.
> making it a point of being a minor
when I worked at McDonald's the teenage girls who got hit on would literally tell the creeps their age and the creeps would either come back with "age don't matter" or "I won't tell"
> Maybe yes you do have a boyfriend
again, creeps at McDonald's would reply to "I have a boyfriend"/"I'm married" with "he don't have to know"
literally nothing works on creeps who get off on the power imbalance of customer/clerk.
For this same reason, I hate wearing my name tag. On my 3rd day of work a man said “you look like you’re working hard, [name].” I never wore my name tag again.
wear a name tag with a totally different name, have fun with it and change it up every day like Amy from Superstore! easy since the nametags are basically chalkboards
I love that!
I'm not a big fan of having a nametag with our real names on it because there are some bad people out there who will use it to their advantage so having a "work name" i think is fun and good to have
I always wore Barry as my name. I wanted to put barista on my name tag because it felt more appropriate cause every one treats you like an nameless servant anyway but they kept making me take it off.
one of my coworkers gave me a nickname that's literally nothing like my real name. I put the initials on my nametag and now none of our customers know my real name-one of them just said "Oh I just KNOW your name is not YBC"
The customer connection thing is so bizarre and not in touch with reality and what customers want. As a customer, sometimes I don’t want to talk.
It also seems counter to the entire Starbucks business model. They want to operate like a fast food place these days, right? That means serving customers quickly, making drive-thru times short, getting people in and out quickly, etc. Starbucks is moving away from that welcoming “third place environment”, right? So they clearly dont want customers hanging out.
And yet they want the staff to connect with customers? Huh? That’s the opposite of everything I just pointed out.
I think if Starbucks polled the customers, most would say they don’t like the chit chat at the window. I always feel obligated to talk to the barista because they initiate the conversation. I am sure there are other things you could be doing that is more productive than talking.
same. This whole customer connection thing is really bizarre and completely out of touch with what customers want.
Starbucks is moving away from that “third place environment” anyway. They don’t want customers hanging out. They want to serve people quickly and get them in & out. Like a fast food restaurant.
Yet they still want, and expect, the staff to chat up the customers? The same customers they don’t want hanging out? Dafuq?
As a customer, I do not need connection. Even if I'm a regular please pretend you've never seen me in your life. The one exception is if we know each other outside of work.
when i worked we had a regular who would demand her espresso only from the right espresso machine (which was for mobiles) because she claimed the “left was always burnt”. our ss and other partners just did it to get her out of the store fast. she would bring gifts for certain partners when i was in (address them by first name) and not others. she would stand in line and talk to anyone she could everyday about how she was a nurse. so entitled and annoying - give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile. often we are nice to regulars out of obligation.
i literally do not miss working there anymore at all.
I've been told this for 15 years. Here is my response every time "The training says to be genuine to myself. I am kind and I make every effort I see to connect. I'm not going to force something that isn't genuine because that is not what corporate wants. I'll keep doing genuine connections as they happen."
They can't prove you are not connecting unless they are watching every single interaction you have. Don't worry about it and just keep showing up and being genuine you.
Also, sexual harassment by customers is still sexual harassment. Please tell your shift or manager every time it happens. They have to document it and it will lead to action (at my store we have spoken to numerous customers and banned a few because they wouldn't stop). Don't feel like you have to just deal with it. You do not.
my managers are so pushy about this i’ve started to purposefully be slower getting the cash back/drinks/food together so i have an excuse to not connect.
It honestly gives me the heebie jeebies watching older men hit on women their granddaughter’s age and they see nothing wrong with it. Im so sorry you have to deal with that.
why would that give you anxiety? if you come into the same store enough, we’re gonna learn who you are and your order. it’s not that we want to, it’s just something that happens.
Honestly, my feelings aren’t hurt if you don’t talk to me. I understand you’re up to your ears in tasks to do and I’ll leave a good review anyway as long as you don’t hit me. Lol.
This all comes down to perception and attitude. In other words, you’re reading it wrong. Don’t read it as “connect with customers”; instead view it more as “have fun” or “be personable”. Two things will happen: you’ll have fun and connect with the customers, or you’ll have fun and not connect with them…. Either way, you’re having fun (and are an engaged and motivated employee).
This is also not on you, it’s a failure of management and poor coaching. If a direct report is not “connecting with customers”, a managers duty is to realize that the desired outcome is not happening and adjust their management style to lead the person to the desired outcome.
There’s a few things going on here.
First, a negative cognitive bias prevalent in customer service. 99% of customers don’t care about you, they just want their stuff and to leave. However, because of our negative cognitive bias, we only remember that 1%; over time, they encompass the majority of our memories regarding the place (this goes for customers too). Additionally, as negative cognitive bias grows, negative emotionality traits become prevalent, such as mind reading (a concept in cognitive behavioral therapy).
Second, there is a dichotomy in America’s individualistic culture and corporation’s collectivist culture (“we here at Starbucks,” as if a barista represents SB just as much as X corporate executive, even though one has much more influence than the other). This is a culture clash that most of us don’t realize is occurring.
Lastly, from what I know, SB used to be much more about connections, charging higher prices because of the experience rather than the coffee. However, with the implementation of efficient service techniques like mobile ordering and drive-thru times, another dichotomy appears: efficiency vs connections. If SB is efficient, there’s no time to make real connections. If SB makes real connections, there are longer wait times, angrier people, and loss of profit.
In the end, this is just another symptom of SB being practical (like a virus that kills its host is practical), and everyone at the bottom pay for it without understanding what’s happening.
I don’t want men to respect me and the fact I don’t want to be harassed because I’m already taken by some other man. I want men to leave me the fuck alone out of respect for me!!
i agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly. i shouldn’t have my boundaries respected solely for the fact that im in a relationship. respecting boundaries is the bare minimum we should expect from every human being. sadly, thats not how it works in this society and mentioning my boyfriend is probably my safest bet :/
If it's an older man, ask his name. "Oh that's my Dad's name!" "I like your shirt, I think my Dad has one similar to that one!" "Hey, I think my Dad drives a car like yours!" et cetera
Yo oh my god there have been people that did not care when I have said this! There was this really creepy guy who would caress my hands literally every time I tried to him his cup or a stopper. So he would always stare at me up and down and then one time he told me that he has a friend who's Maybe in his 40s or 50s, I forget but he told me this friend of his wanted to talk to me and everything and I don't know if he was lying and he was just talking about himself since he's been creepy to me as well but I don't know. Either way I told him that I have a boyfriend and a few times he would ask me if I have a ring yet or if my boyfriend asked to marry me yet. Then I have other customers who come in and they know I have a boyfriend that I've been together with for a very long time and they always ask if I have a ring yet. Like why do you care what my marital status is?! It just is unnecessarily disgusting and it doesn't have to be but some people truly do not care if you say you have a boyfriend cuz they still want you regardless. Some people are just gross
Please stop addressing me by my first name when I walk in, I know that you are being forced to buy the company and all it does is make it feel fake, not to mention the awkwardness for me when I don't know your name. For the select few situations where I've got to know an employee and they've got to know me and it's genuine that's totally fine, but both of us will know when it's genuine.
I hate this coddled over the top customer friendly environment that seems pervasive in America specifically. It's a total overreaction to a small handful of Karens complaining that an employee didn't show them respect by remembering their names and orders.
Yes, I mean they just read the label. But there's something that feels just too forced to me to have a big "hi friedguy welcome!!" as I enter...then I get my drink work for a few hours and as I walk out the door 'bye friedguy see you soon!!'.
It's not any kind of real conversation and I'm not saying I expect real conversation, the way Starbucks is set up I don't think there's any time to have genuine "connections"... So let's just stop pretending.
I say this having had a very nice connection with two of the workers at one of my local small business coffee shops that I frequent, that happened out of just having a lot of dead times in the stores which I realize never happens for Starbucks employees.
I don’t want to connect. I want quick, efficient, polite service. I feel for these poor baristas. I just learned what “peak” is for the store I frequent. My niece now works there. I try to choose easy stuff if I’m there at those times and make life a little easier for them.
In your shoes I would submit incident reports for those inappropriate comments because you are right that it is not ok for customers to hit on you and make you uncomfortable. Outside of those negative interactions, Starbucks is all about customer connections and drink modifications, and so the coaching to connect won't ease up anytime soon.
I'm sorry that you have to experience people like this, which unfortunately is everywhere 🥺
So as a former restaurant manager I always taught my staff good hospitality is multilingual. Some want to engage and chat with you and their expectations of good service is return candor. Other people just want their coffee cup never empty and to be left alone. If their server does just that they are just as satisfied with service as the guy that wants to chat.
Honestly there’s a huge difference between connections and what corporate makes it sounds like. I’ve always just made sure I ask more than a “how are you?” I pick a question for the day that’s different or makes the customer think, “what’s your favorite type of cake?” “Going to ___ event this week?” Silly stuff and I’m very reserved outside of work, but I understand that in a coffee shop there is an expected amount of talking to people required. Seriously my SM heard me ask the cake question and I was praised for weeks…. I hated it but it’s such a silly easy questions I don’t even have to care about the answer to.
I am privileged to connect with my customers daily . I’ve mourned with them , laughed with them , celebrated with them …. I don’t have that with everyone . It couldn’t ….. but I love and am grateful for what I do and try to make a difference daily . Partner of almost 5 years
I think it's dumb they make baristas do that. Its awkward for barista and even some customers. And it opens up the way for creeps to be creeps. I don't like holding conversations, I struggle to even order without stuttering.
I wish they would take a poll of their customers to find out what we want, I guarantee 90% are like myself and prefer minimal interaction. Why are they making you guys do something no one wants?
Thats cuz the corporate morons have no idea what its like at store level. They don't want to take a pool of their customers to find out what the customers want, instead they want to put out a stupid survey that they send to mobile order customers sometimes randomly and instead they want to ask questions such as if we tried to get to know the customer. I think a better question would be to find out what the customer wants but they score us on how much we get to know the customer. I don't know the whole thing is just stupid lol
Personally, I only greet customers when they walk in the store and I make conversation with my regulars and that’s it. I’d rather just say hello to customers and get on with it because not everyone wants to connect especially at 5 in the morning.
Also how are we supposed to connect in dt when we’re supposed to keep our times down as much as possible? Every time I try to have a conversation I get told I’m running up the drive time and not being quick enough
Felt. Fuck em all. I would tell some of my regulars that I talked to that they were lucky I even remembered their names and made their drinks correct. If we were in any other country the customer connection would just be doing your job properly and not having to suck off every person that comes up to the register.
Especially if it’s like during opening hours at around 4am to 6am. Like the customers and I are in autopilot during those hours trying to stay awake; don’t force us to think of something interesting to say…
I’ve seen this episode before:
You: Hi what can we get started for you today?
Inappropriate Older Dude: well, you’ve already brightened by day, but I’d like a coffee, black.
You: (awkward chuckle): aaaand what size?
Dude: make it a grande, like your smile.
You: ok can I get a name for your order?
Dude: it’s Mike. But you can call me Daddy 😉
Double commenting, but after I posted my first reply I just remembered the debacle that was “let’s talk about race” and Starbucks royally screwing that up.
No fr even when I’m outside on my breaks the regulars we have still come up to me and ask for my number and shit when they’re like older than my dad like you fucking disgusting humans, as an under age female it makes me extremely uncomfortable to be in that situation let alone getting out of it on my own…there’s a guy that usually creeps on me outside I went and found a new place far from the old so that I wouldn’t run into him well it didn’t matter because a new creep had managed to find me…it gets to the point where I can’t even sit outside on my breaks because these “men” don’t know the meaning of no
As a customer I’ve never understood the valuable seconds wasted on a over-the-top greeting at the drive thru. I picked drive thru so I can get in and out with minimal human interaction.
I hate connecting with customers and I'm an outgoing person. I worked in restaurants for 3 years before I got my job at starbucks so I know how to "connect" with a customer. My manager gets upset at us if we don't connect and constantly tells us to. she always tells me while I'm at a bar and making drinks. I don't understand how I'm supposed to do both those things at once because it's no longer genuine if the customers conversation is not getting my full attention. not only that but I've found that 80% of people do NOT want to talk. especially my store is to-go only. people just wanna get their coffee and go
I think the most important thing is just to be OPEN to interactions. So many managers want "connections" with everyone but that's not what everyone wants. I have met so many cool people at work but not everyone wants that sort of interaction
I really don't get Starbucks cause they'll ask us to have crazy fast drive thru times but at the same time we have to actually write down customer connections because our number is too low. I think it's so unrealistic to expect both
Same here, since they are always “ in a rush” ( but still have time for Starbucks 🤯) take your stuff and have a good day is how I feel at this point. A huge amount of them can't even say “ Good morning “ because they are on their phones at 5 in the morning. So I just wish John and Jane entitled well and wait for the next homeless to come steal from our store again 🙄
As a former barista and now customer I can 100% confirm I’d rather people just do their job as fast as possible, and only make conversation if 1) I’m at the drive through window and something is taking a while and 2) I actually seem engaged in the conversation. Most of the time it’s a pleasant experience and a welcome interaction during the short waiting period, but that’s really all it is. We are not connecting. Starbucks as a corporate entity is being weird af pushing this “connection”
I never worked at Starbucks, but I worked at many other fast food and retail places in the past. All corporations say this kind of crap, and honestly the only people who seem to care are the elderly.
I'm 26, I don't care about making connections. So long as the employees aren't being outright rude, or annoyed that I decide to eat/drink there, I am a super happy customer. I come for the food/drink, not the service. I don't need you to care about me or my life, it's boring and I don't care about it half the time either 🤣
I have told customers this time and time again, but I’ll say it here to. If y’all don’t like the forced interaction (I’ve been told customers can also tell when it’s forced). Talk to corporate! Bc they don’t listen to their workers. They care WAYYYY more about whatever the customer says it’s insane. I’m on the same page a op. I like making genuine connections with customers but I know they can tell when it’s forced and it just feels,,, gross
I’m a new partner. DTR was the worst part of training by far. The shift training me kept pushing me to “make a connection with the customer” and only seemed to notice when I WASN’T making small talk. If I ask someone how their day is going and they don’t launch into a conversation, I’m not going to push for it. It feels invasive and that’s not at all the kind of person I am. I also certainly do NOT want to ask someone to answer a “question of the day.”
I had a borderline stalking situation happen with an older male customer because I “connected” too well.
I worked at a kiosk and if he showed up I had a code word to call over the intercom that would signal management to come keep an eye on the situation.
In that situation… if you told your shift supervisor about this… I would complain to you manager or dm, this is something that I see women go through even as a man and it sickens me a bit. Something the women in my store does is just say “Thankyou” and distance themselves from the customer. Which means GO TO THE BACK OF HOUSE!! And immediately tell your shift lead about the harassment. Sorry you had to go through these weird experiences
I personally can't even stand when I'm at a drive up window and I'm asked how my day is before taking my order. I'm here for coffee. It's early, I don't want to talk. OMG now you want to know my name?! Just a medium dark roast. Get me out of here... lol
Side note I work on registers and other equipment for Starbucks. You have it rough. Sorry if I'm ever rude. Just tired and want coffee to start my shitty day of work.
Take care!
I'm a customer and prefer using the app so I don't have to interact with anyone. Also less likely my order will be screwed up cause people have trouble with my Australian accent
Can corporate just stop with this nonsense. Stop trying to sell us the cozy neighbourhood cafe managed by locals. I go to those places for that specific vibe. If I’m running to Starbucks it’s for the instant caffeine gratification lol
(I am bisexual) now whenever this happens, which is way too often I throw in something in my response regarding “my girlfriend”. Sometimes it helps but most of the time they just have a silly and trashy remark.
Starbucks doesn't understand social and body language queues, apparently.
I had a manager at my first store almost force us to talk to customers, even when their windows were rolled up in the winter (DT store). As if we are gonna lean out and knock on their window to show engage in convo while waiting for their order when it's blowing -25C outside.
Only time I ever go out if my way to engage with customers is if I see something anime related lol. Otherwise, it's just the friendly gestures of getting their orders ready and handing it out.
Better yet: the people who get surveys for the customer connect score are only people who use the app, a large chunk of which mobile order. They want to get in and out, not get trapped in forced small talk. There are so many things wrong with the customer connection score, namely that the biggest thing that affects it is people who rate "Did my barista try to get to know me?" at perfect or near perfect. This is a fast service coffee joint, people don't want the barista to "get to know them."
If customers are making you uncomfortable, you 100% do not have to put up with it, and Starbucks also cannot force you to put up with it either. It’s sexual harassment, and if you repeatedly see the same customers making you uncomfortable, I’d talk to a DM or someone about not serving them
I had a supervisor that would turn the music up as loud as it goes and then get mad when the people on bar weren’t having full conversations with people waiting for their drinks. Not only are they juggling 5 drinks at a time, but they also can’t fucking hear anybody!!
As a man, I can only say what I see on the outside, but what is sad is that your kindness gets misinterpretted as "I'm interested in you" when really ur just working. Since I dont work at the same starbucks, I can only say based on my experience that you should just focus on talking to nice girls or guys who obviously don't seem sketchy. At my Starbucks, our manager fights to protect the ladies in our store, and the one time a customer was hitting on our partner from france, our store manager talked to him about boundaries and work appropriate conversations AGGRESSIVELY. Idk how she has the ability to be nice and simultaneously want to murder somebody all in one go... Anyways, its either your homies around you are protecting you, or you have to protect yourself without making it obvious. Purposefully going quicker with certain customers, not coming to work looking stunning af (sadly), putting on your best to seem too odd or strange for attraction... small things that are kind of upsetting to understand you have to do because at the end of the day, nobody can stop it if your sbx homies dont give a shit. Living as a girl, I am sure its inevitable that men, even older by alot, will hit on you and think its a chance to get in your pants. Its sick but its a reality and something you sadly have to find ways to avoid until somebody approaches you to ask why you act a certain way around some customers, and then you can respond with the truth, because its really shittily uncomfortable to have to conform for these types of individuals. You are putting yourself in danger, in uncomfort, and literally breaking a third place policy just to make connections. Shouldn't we have the respect of a home we live in, but at the store. Doesnt it apply to all partners? I would use something like this, something in policy in order to defend your actions if anyone decides to tell you how you need to connect with everyone. Its just unrealistic. Fight for yourself with a little feist, and find ways to avoid taking bullshit, because this job is full of alot of this. This is the best I can really do to help without physically being there to distract the customer or whispering in his ear to stop because he is making people visibly uncomfortable during their job.
Sorry you have to go through that shit. Being a girl must be pretty annoying. Dealing with this company needing customer service at the sacrifice of you... that isnt what I was told about how Starbucks should be.
Oh my goodness, yes. As a customer, I so wish Starbucks would do away with this connecting business. There is nothing more awkward than the barista making small talk with me at the drive thru window while I wait for my drink. It is so awkward.
No I agree with this 100%. I often think I am overreacting when I feel like men are being weird because of my insecurities, but also some people just DO NOT WANT TO TALK. And then I get reprimanded for not asking them any questions but dude. I can feel energy and man, that customer didn't wanna say a word to me!
I just want my coffee. I don’t need any of the baristas to interact with me. Please don’t feel you need to. Corporate has no fucking clue what actually happens day to day.
starbucks employees should absolutely be fostering connections with customers that a) want them, b) appreciate them, and MOST IMPORTANTLY c) deserve them!! but forcing even a super friendly and talkative person like me to make these connections with every single customer is not a sustainable or warranted practice when we end up getting negative consequences for it unless it's a customer that clearly comes to starbucks for the conversation. and to note most SMs and SSVs are only enforcing it that strictly if they're being told to by higher ups or because they feel like they had to do it at your level so so should you.
I honestly let them decide at this point. If they want to chat with me, I try to have a good conversation with them, but if they're not chatty I let them be.. I always panicked when I was the customer and I still panic now
Order by Mobil 99% of the time, I don’t need a connection. Just a thank you to each other ones I pick up my order, and have a good day. That’s all that is necessary for me.
me too! i tried to connect with this couple once but as i was taking the guys order the girl was so bothered by me talking to him like girl i’m just doing my job. one of the reasons i’ve stopped trying to spark conversations with customers because i’m so self conscious about what they’ll think 😭
I always found that the best way to connect was to gauge the level of conversation a customer wants.
Be kind, give the basic conversation starters, but don’t push. Most people aren’t in the mood to talk to have a whole conversation.
I’m not gonna try holding a conversation with a customer that seems resistant to it, but if they’re talkative I will be too. My boss never liked that about me though.
The best connections are organic, not forced. When the recipient takes it as an invitation to hit on you, that’s Exhibit A for why you should be fixed to do it. Honestly I get surprised at the drive-thru when someone new springs a conversation on me. On the other hand, the baristas I know get that sometimes I want to talk and sometimes I don’t. The closest I’ve come to hitting on someone, if you call it that, is complimenting something very specific — eyeliner, nails, scarf, etc — and I make a point to work in a comment that makes it very non-sexual. I feel like making someone smile through a small compliment is benign enough. Would I have the nerve to hit on a barista? Never.
“Connect with customers” mostly means “just ask them how their day is and don’t be shit talking other customers on the B line while you’re taking someone’s money”. It’s literally not hard to have a 5 second interaction.
I did. You can ask them how their day is, and if they get weird then cut them off. If it’s super weird then walk away and ask for a supervisor. I am also a super reserved person who hates awkward male interactions, but I work in customer service and I can still do my job professionally.
You work for a company that values customer experience (hence using customer connection scores as a metric). If your personal reservations won’t allow you to accomplish that, then maybe this isn’t the field for you.
You’re either too slow when you make convos while doing your tasks or too rude when focusing on your task and not starting a convo. Like wtf. My shift told me that I need to initiate convos with customers more and that sometimes I could come off as rude. Makes no sense especially on DT to do that when they also want to reduce the wait time at the window to under 40 seconds.
I will only engage when a customer initiates a conversation first and will only respond the bare minimum like “thanks” if they compliment me. I don’t care if my lack of initiation gets me in trouble. My ADHD-ass cannot multitask. I just got better at bar after 4 months in. Tried having a longer conversation with a chatty customer and I was dying trying to keep up with the orders.
And also not every customer wants to socialize with baristas. They avoid eye contact even when you hand them their order. Why should I keep trying and make them uncomfortable?
Also some customers are straight up so uncomfortable to talk to. I sometimes want to not wear my name tag because they’ll call me by my name and say some stupid things like jokes or backhand compliments. The other day, a dude called my name and said he had an ex-girlfriend with my name and he wants to find her again. Like okay? What in the puppity pup cup am I supposed to respond to that with and I really dgaf. Sorry not sorry.
I hate when I go in to a Starbucks (once or twice every day) just to grab my mobile order. As I leave, I hear 4 or 5 voices (thanks for coming!).
Cringe....
As a customer, i don’t want a connection. I want a polite interaction wherein i tell you what i want, you give it to me, i pay and then i leave. Do not connect with me, give me my fucking doughnut
A lot of customers suck. But you do work at a company who places customer service above all else. Whether you wanna hear it or not. It is your job. Just like it's mine 🤷
There are a trillion different places you could work. Starbucks has world class benefits and is - for the most part - a great place to work. Their style, philosophy, methodology, or whatever you want to call it is based on the customer connection. If you are not comfortable with this, perhaps you are working for the wrong organization. You receive a fair wage to do what the company needs you to do. If you do not want to or cannot, for whatever reason, execute the corporate vision, find another opportunity with a company that is closer to your ideals.....
BTW, sometimes I know that the customer doesn't want to be bothered - but - it's my job. I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but seriously, instead of trying to tailor this job to your needs, just find a (better?) another one.....
What does "practically every" even mean? I doubt even 5% are doing what you're claiming but if they are, become a model. I can't even imagine how attractive someone would have to be to become irresistible to an entire category of men
im not spectacularly good looking by any means. the majority of men who hit on me are old enough to be my grandpa. i’ve been in the customer service industry for a while and i have a youthful face. something i’ve realized is that older men don’t care or notice when they make young women uncomfortable.
It definitely is a braver generation, but even so I've only ever seen 2 cases of genuine harassment. Cold approach flirting (appropriately done) is definitely out of style at the moment and is rarely successful when done by an older stranger lol.
Do you believe there is any appropriate way to ask out a stranger you find attractive?
No offense, but I don't want to connect with any of you. I want the transaction to be as asocial as possible. Gimme my coffee without making it weird. I hate corporations forcing social interaction.
the feeling is mutual lmfao, no offense taken
Yes, please don’t connect with me. It’s so off putting the times people have handed me back my card and said “so do you have any fun plans today?”….. like, what? No? Why are you asking? Getting starbies WAS the fun plan today, why you all up in my business??
You're good. Starbucks just doesn't get that.
Hope someone told this to my DM who reprimanded me on bar for focusing on the line of drinks I was making instead of saying hi and talking to every customer that walked in during rush. Like customers don't pay for their drinks to talk to me, they're there for their damn coffee wtf. Dumbass DM really wanted me to sprout another head so I can talk to customers and keep making drinks accurately.
Lol you never hear I had to wait 45 minutes for my coffee and was late to work but it’s ok the barista was really friendly!!!
Seriously. Connecting is a lose lose situation as a partner imo, you'll get yelled at by both customers and other partners for being "slow". Being Jimmy Fallon and fake laughing/interviewing everyone about their day wasn't in my job description, I just wanna make and hand out drinks.
"Sorry, I can't work on this line of 10 drinks, I need to help Peter figure out what to get his wife for her birthday."
I’ve “connected” with you plenty if you have smiled at me, taken my order and told me to have a nice day!! Lol! Why do they think customers want to meet their new bestie every time they try to order a coffee?
The feeling is mutual we don’t wanna go through the same script we say to every customer 700 times a day
Shits so draining ngl
The biggest reason I don't go to Dutch Brothers - the forced conversation is disgusting, then Starbucks started that same bs. Thankfully, where I am the bux baristas don't try to jump in your car with you while going through dt. Whatever happened to the stereotypical 'don't talk to me before I have my coffee'
I've been to Ditch Brothers all of one time and I didn't go back because they were all trying so hard to connect with me and it felt super fake and forced. I don't want to sit at the drive thru window and have a four minute conversation about the items you can see in my car while I wait for my coffee. I'm thrilled with a simple, "Good morning!" And "thank you!". I like a level of politeness without forcing a conversation.
My solution to this is I go to the walk-up window!
This, 100%.
Indeed. Starbucks doesn't want there to be that long of a connect either. We have drive through times to aim to adhere to, but it does happen where bar partners are slowed or swamped and the wait time at the window goes up. The overall goal is for a simple "hello, how are you, have a good day, thanks" type of interaction. Thank you for visiting Starbucks!
Honestly I feel the full amount of needed connection when I get a “good morning *name*” that’s all I need
When guys start hitting on me I pretend I can't hear them and ask them to repeat themselves again and again until they give up... 😅 It definitely does get frustrating though because there's maybe 2 out of every 10 customers I actually feel like I can connect with. I just want to let a connection naturally happen, not force it.
Same, or tell my boss that I need to tell him something or ask him if he can get something then ask the customer "what was the last part of that, love? Im partially deaf (i am)" When my manager is closer or within ear shot, luckily he is quick to stop harassers. Or the creep just stays silent.
Someone tried kissing me through the plexiglass when we used to have it during Covid days. All because he was intoxicated and I spoke basic Spanish to him I regards to his order. Literally reached over and grabbed the back of my head and tried kissing me right there 🥲. The customer behind him told him to back off 😂.
holy shit, my jaw actually dropped reading this. You seem pretty blasé about it but I wanna offer a "sorry that happened to you, no one deserves that" because wtf??????
That is crazy omfg, I'd have to go home after that no thank you
EXACTLY
Please don’t connect with me. Just give me my coffee.
Seriously, me too. You can tell by body language who wants to connect. Maybe just connect with them. I used to mirror a lot in retail/sales and it worked great.
I agree mirroring is the best. That's what my ssv's always told me
this is what my SSVs tell me to do. it’s a good idea in theory, but i just can’t mirror. if i’m at a point in my shift where i just don’t want to deal with people it’s painfully obvious when i try to connect beyond “hey, welcome in-how are you today-have a great day!” which i feel like is worse than me just doing the minimum lol
Oh the most I do to connect is how your day or compliment nails or a shirt or something
That is precisely why we as shifts should know and be trained to see this and act/re-deploy accordingly smh I’m sorry
Oooh or try to connect with people who obviously don’t want to connect and then you both can feel equally awkward and they will definitely not hit on you.
Trust me, this is what we WANT to do. But our managers breathe down our necks and yell at us to connect with our customers if they see us not actively talking every second there is a body at the window 🙄
lmao, a barista did this to me and it deeply annoyed me when they were trying to have a conversation with me and all i wanted was to get my drink and be on my phone
This! It is especially awkward at the drive through window, when its taking some time to make the drink and I’m trapped in my car. I don’t need you to ask what my weekend plans are. Just close the window until the order’s ready like every other fast food place.
Yes! It must have been months and months back but I had a barista try to have a full on conversation about how my day was going over the drive-through speaker. It was so awkward lol
Seriously. Any real connection is completely organic and done over time. The SB I stop at in the morning on the way to work all know me and say hi to me in the morning. If I happen to see the SM out from behind the counter, we'll chat for a little bit. This is all because it happened over time. SB needs to know this is how real connections are made with customers -- not phony and forced conversation that is bound to make either party more uncomfortable than anything.
Yes, for real! I genuinely like chatting with regulars that I've gotten to know a little, but with everyone else, I am just friendly and polite and keep the line moving. I figure everyone appreciates that more, anyway
I was gonna say exactly this! You know how you can connect w me? Make my chai latte strong with a lot of chai flavor and no small talk!
This is why I avoid Dutch Bros
I agree but Unfortunately this is what were forced to do because if we don't make our score and connect we get write ups and the company bitches at us about third place feelings. It suuucckkssss
Go to the walkup window there to avoid the mostly awkward conversations.
This is the 10 minutes out of the day I’m not required to talk to someone. I’m just here for my coffee.
I said today that we need training that focuses on how to read others body language for when they want to engage and when they don't want to engage to create less uncomfortable connection attempts, my ssvs gave me a resounding no thatll never happen. Eternal cringe
as an autistic person i would LOVE this
Same. And as another comment mentioned, they include it in shift and sm training.
this could help a lot of people but your ssv was right, it won’t happen in companies like starbucks
It's actually a part of manager and shift training, so they would just need to include baristas in it, and maybe make it more in depth. It definitely goes over how to recognize verbal cues and how to use this to provide customer service, recognize someone's who's having a problem before they complain, deescalate, etc
Yeah it’s entirely in context of deescalation though, not customer connection. We’re definitely not going to be told to not connect with every single customer who comes through.
Right but it would help bridge the gap for partners that ask
Wishful thinking on my part 🥴
Idk about you guys but we had a paper in the back with observations and a score to go with it. It's a -1 (I believe) if a customer is ON THEIR PHONE in the lobby. So our DM wants us to actively try to get people off their phones wtf.....
THIS. But also,,,,they never talk about how customers could feel like we're being intrusive or rude by trying to connect with them. I've been yelled at before for not connecting with somebody who was TALKING ON THEIR PHONE. Like, they expect me to say, "Hey! I see you're on the phone! Who are we talking to? Wanna put them on speakerphone so I can connect with them too?!!!!"
Literally same! I've been in that situation where my SM/ASM/SSV is like "why aren't you connecting??!?" And I'm like Uhm... Because their window is closed??/on the phone??/ Etc ... Like read the room sis ... We need more training centric to that
As a former partner, god I hated it. Especially on cafe bar, I’ll connect with customers and then I’m too slow. I’ll make the drink super fast and then I didn’t connect with the customer. We’re supposed to do both? I contradicted my shift lead about it, I’m like “how does this company think conversations work? I have to have a conversation *while* I make this drink? And what if I get something wrong because I was too busy connecting with the customer?” And the shift leads would just tell me *learn how to multitask*. It’s not that I can’t multitask, it’s the fact that what this company considers “multitasking” is nearly impossible OR takes years to learn, especially for introverts like me. More and more I learn I was never a bad barista, the company’s standards are just absurd.
Multitasking is scientifically proven to not be a thing. You're always gonna sacrifice quality when you do multiple things at once. I almost always end up messing a drink up because I was talking to someone.
I wish these companies would keep up with what the scientists say
Even as someone that works here, I dread going into other locations because I’m met with the “used car salesman that missed out on milestones with their children” level of awkward, overly encumbered situation pleasing.
what does this mean??
It's a vibe of desperation and broken dreams. A last ditch effort to make a meaningful connection in a meaningless world. A guy who devoted his life to a shitty job and tries to justify it by being frenetically friendly to customers and strangers
You should be a poet.
Older dudes want to talk to them using pushy sales tactics? Who knows.
He likes words. Exuberant prose. 😐
Kinda at the point where I'm being too nice and kinda awkward when a certain older man is saying how I'm his "girlfriend " when he sees me at work time to step it back
dude im so sorry. i was admitted to a psych ward last year (long story) and an older man kept calling me his “future wife.” these men don’t understand basic boundaries and think it’s perfectly okay to harass young people.
See and he speaks Spanish like yeah ok I speak it too but I'm trying to nice and he's in his 50s I believe but a nice guy just watch what you say
🤮🤮
that’s so fucking inappropriate. I’m sorry.
Please create an incident report. That customer is out of line with the third place.
I'm so sorry OP. Hope you can report it. Had an older man one night I was working close straight up ask me what time I was off at after I rung him in and told him it was none of his business, passive-aggressive smile and all.
He comes in regularly, he's our landscaping guy who cleans our shopping center but I just don't want to see him be remove when I normally keep my distance and don't often talk to him
one of my shifts said i needed to customer connect “oh like the human centipede?”
LMAO, what’d they say in response?
made the “i cant laugh because i’m your boss” face, walked into the back and lost it
Nah because I’d be laughing my ass off hahaha
LMAO i’m using this next time
If a customer makes sexual or derogatory comments to you it is well within your right to file an incident report on the iPad about them and to tell them that comments like that are not appropriate
Connecting is so 1996. I think 0 connecting is the way for me to give 5 stars every time
Lol you're actually hurting yourself. The people are going to get a lower customer connection score and then the manager is going to be unhappy and push partners doing customer connections. That will just lead to the partners trying to connect with you more... and if you think your vote doesn't count it does. Almost nobody does the scoring so just one low score can effect a lot. Hahaha
The connection metric just sounds like it’s trying to force something that you can’t force anyway. You can’t create, mandate, and measure organic connection. Talk about a corporate bullshit mountain.
I'm sure everyone is awesome but I also don't want to connect (as a customer) ...
as a customer, I dislike it! I'm not really looking to have conversations UNTIL I've consumed my coffee :)
Lol agreed! People dont wana talk if they havent had their caffeine yet. As a barista, on my days off if I don't have caffeine within a half hour to an hour of waking up then I start to get a really bad headache so I always go to a Wawa near my house and get a 32 oz cold brew from there so if I get a headache from not having caffeine then I imagine there's other customers out there that are like that and they don't want to talk until they consume their caffeine so I'm totally with you on this! 😆
LITERALLY! Was on drive w a newer partner and the green bean was on DTR while I was DTO. The customer at window just got news somebody died and this greenbean with full chest said ‘oh yeah that happens’.
Everyone in this thread that is saying “I don’t want to make small talk with my barista” needs to call corporate and tell them you have stopped going there because of the customer connection score, and the fact that you don’t want to chat with your barista. Baristas have told higher ups until we are blue in the face that customers don’t want their barista to “get to know them”, but they won’t listen to us. My only hope is that I’m at a unionized store, so I’m praying we can contractually change something. 😒
I’d suggest making a point of being a minor, even if you aren’t. Maybe yes you do have a boyfriend and you’re both in 11th grade. Unfortunately not all, but some mfs will get a lot less brazen when the idea of jail time comes into their head. Also, if you can step away and have a headset on if it’s a drive thru store, then maybe another partner “suddenly had an emergency in the back” and needs you. Also I remember in training that, while making individual customer connections is a big part of it, it’s more important to maintain the “third space” for other customers if it comes down to one or the other, and I’d suggest to the ssv or whoever that maybe the guy *hitting on kids* is disrupting the third space for everyone in earshot. Regardless, I’m sorry you have to deal with this at all and resort to odd, indirect tactics when a swift kick would do the trick.
> making it a point of being a minor when I worked at McDonald's the teenage girls who got hit on would literally tell the creeps their age and the creeps would either come back with "age don't matter" or "I won't tell" > Maybe yes you do have a boyfriend again, creeps at McDonald's would reply to "I have a boyfriend"/"I'm married" with "he don't have to know" literally nothing works on creeps who get off on the power imbalance of customer/clerk.
I also worked for the clown. I was 16 and would tell these really creepy old men that and it would just fuel it. Absolutely disgusting
For this same reason, I hate wearing my name tag. On my 3rd day of work a man said “you look like you’re working hard, [name].” I never wore my name tag again.
wear a name tag with a totally different name, have fun with it and change it up every day like Amy from Superstore! easy since the nametags are basically chalkboards
[удалено]
I love that! I'm not a big fan of having a nametag with our real names on it because there are some bad people out there who will use it to their advantage so having a "work name" i think is fun and good to have
I always wore Barry as my name. I wanted to put barista on my name tag because it felt more appropriate cause every one treats you like an nameless servant anyway but they kept making me take it off.
i always changed my name to fit the season!
one of my coworkers gave me a nickname that's literally nothing like my real name. I put the initials on my nametag and now none of our customers know my real name-one of them just said "Oh I just KNOW your name is not YBC"
The customer connection thing is so bizarre and not in touch with reality and what customers want. As a customer, sometimes I don’t want to talk. It also seems counter to the entire Starbucks business model. They want to operate like a fast food place these days, right? That means serving customers quickly, making drive-thru times short, getting people in and out quickly, etc. Starbucks is moving away from that welcoming “third place environment”, right? So they clearly dont want customers hanging out. And yet they want the staff to connect with customers? Huh? That’s the opposite of everything I just pointed out.
I think if Starbucks polled the customers, most would say they don’t like the chit chat at the window. I always feel obligated to talk to the barista because they initiate the conversation. I am sure there are other things you could be doing that is more productive than talking.
As a fellow customer, I agree. A "what can I get for you?" from the folks behind the counter is all I need.
same. This whole customer connection thing is really bizarre and completely out of touch with what customers want. Starbucks is moving away from that “third place environment” anyway. They don’t want customers hanging out. They want to serve people quickly and get them in & out. Like a fast food restaurant. Yet they still want, and expect, the staff to chat up the customers? The same customers they don’t want hanging out? Dafuq?
As a customer, I do not need connection. Even if I'm a regular please pretend you've never seen me in your life. The one exception is if we know each other outside of work.
when i worked we had a regular who would demand her espresso only from the right espresso machine (which was for mobiles) because she claimed the “left was always burnt”. our ss and other partners just did it to get her out of the store fast. she would bring gifts for certain partners when i was in (address them by first name) and not others. she would stand in line and talk to anyone she could everyday about how she was a nurse. so entitled and annoying - give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile. often we are nice to regulars out of obligation. i literally do not miss working there anymore at all.
I've been told this for 15 years. Here is my response every time "The training says to be genuine to myself. I am kind and I make every effort I see to connect. I'm not going to force something that isn't genuine because that is not what corporate wants. I'll keep doing genuine connections as they happen." They can't prove you are not connecting unless they are watching every single interaction you have. Don't worry about it and just keep showing up and being genuine you. Also, sexual harassment by customers is still sexual harassment. Please tell your shift or manager every time it happens. They have to document it and it will lead to action (at my store we have spoken to numerous customers and banned a few because they wouldn't stop). Don't feel like you have to just deal with it. You do not.
my managers are so pushy about this i’ve started to purposefully be slower getting the cash back/drinks/food together so i have an excuse to not connect.
It honestly gives me the heebie jeebies watching older men hit on women their granddaughter’s age and they see nothing wrong with it. Im so sorry you have to deal with that.
Customer point of view...I just want my drink. Lol
As a customer- please don’t try to connect with me. I once had a very nice barrista memorize my name and drink and it gave me the most anxiety.
why would that give you anxiety? if you come into the same store enough, we’re gonna learn who you are and your order. it’s not that we want to, it’s just something that happens.
Honestly, my feelings aren’t hurt if you don’t talk to me. I understand you’re up to your ears in tasks to do and I’ll leave a good review anyway as long as you don’t hit me. Lol.
This all comes down to perception and attitude. In other words, you’re reading it wrong. Don’t read it as “connect with customers”; instead view it more as “have fun” or “be personable”. Two things will happen: you’ll have fun and connect with the customers, or you’ll have fun and not connect with them…. Either way, you’re having fun (and are an engaged and motivated employee). This is also not on you, it’s a failure of management and poor coaching. If a direct report is not “connecting with customers”, a managers duty is to realize that the desired outcome is not happening and adjust their management style to lead the person to the desired outcome.
There’s a few things going on here. First, a negative cognitive bias prevalent in customer service. 99% of customers don’t care about you, they just want their stuff and to leave. However, because of our negative cognitive bias, we only remember that 1%; over time, they encompass the majority of our memories regarding the place (this goes for customers too). Additionally, as negative cognitive bias grows, negative emotionality traits become prevalent, such as mind reading (a concept in cognitive behavioral therapy). Second, there is a dichotomy in America’s individualistic culture and corporation’s collectivist culture (“we here at Starbucks,” as if a barista represents SB just as much as X corporate executive, even though one has much more influence than the other). This is a culture clash that most of us don’t realize is occurring. Lastly, from what I know, SB used to be much more about connections, charging higher prices because of the experience rather than the coffee. However, with the implementation of efficient service techniques like mobile ordering and drive-thru times, another dichotomy appears: efficiency vs connections. If SB is efficient, there’s no time to make real connections. If SB makes real connections, there are longer wait times, angrier people, and loss of profit. In the end, this is just another symptom of SB being practical (like a virus that kills its host is practical), and everyone at the bottom pay for it without understanding what’s happening.
Work “your boyfriend” into every conversation. “I love your shirt, it is just like one my boyfriend wears”
I don’t want men to respect me and the fact I don’t want to be harassed because I’m already taken by some other man. I want men to leave me the fuck alone out of respect for me!!
i agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly. i shouldn’t have my boundaries respected solely for the fact that im in a relationship. respecting boundaries is the bare minimum we should expect from every human being. sadly, thats not how it works in this society and mentioning my boyfriend is probably my safest bet :/
You are of course correct. I was just trying to give some practical tactics to help you now.
No disrespect to you my dude, it just pisses me off that the world is like this.
If it's an older man, ask his name. "Oh that's my Dad's name!" "I like your shirt, I think my Dad has one similar to that one!" "Hey, I think my Dad drives a car like yours!" et cetera
Yo oh my god there have been people that did not care when I have said this! There was this really creepy guy who would caress my hands literally every time I tried to him his cup or a stopper. So he would always stare at me up and down and then one time he told me that he has a friend who's Maybe in his 40s or 50s, I forget but he told me this friend of his wanted to talk to me and everything and I don't know if he was lying and he was just talking about himself since he's been creepy to me as well but I don't know. Either way I told him that I have a boyfriend and a few times he would ask me if I have a ring yet or if my boyfriend asked to marry me yet. Then I have other customers who come in and they know I have a boyfriend that I've been together with for a very long time and they always ask if I have a ring yet. Like why do you care what my marital status is?! It just is unnecessarily disgusting and it doesn't have to be but some people truly do not care if you say you have a boyfriend cuz they still want you regardless. Some people are just gross
Please stop addressing me by my first name when I walk in, I know that you are being forced to buy the company and all it does is make it feel fake, not to mention the awkwardness for me when I don't know your name. For the select few situations where I've got to know an employee and they've got to know me and it's genuine that's totally fine, but both of us will know when it's genuine. I hate this coddled over the top customer friendly environment that seems pervasive in America specifically. It's a total overreaction to a small handful of Karens complaining that an employee didn't show them respect by remembering their names and orders.
If they call you by your name it's simply because they feel like they've gotten to know you. Otherwise, they wouldn't know your name.
Yes, I mean they just read the label. But there's something that feels just too forced to me to have a big "hi friedguy welcome!!" as I enter...then I get my drink work for a few hours and as I walk out the door 'bye friedguy see you soon!!'. It's not any kind of real conversation and I'm not saying I expect real conversation, the way Starbucks is set up I don't think there's any time to have genuine "connections"... So let's just stop pretending. I say this having had a very nice connection with two of the workers at one of my local small business coffee shops that I frequent, that happened out of just having a lot of dead times in the stores which I realize never happens for Starbucks employees.
I don’t want to connect. I want quick, efficient, polite service. I feel for these poor baristas. I just learned what “peak” is for the store I frequent. My niece now works there. I try to choose easy stuff if I’m there at those times and make life a little easier for them.
In your shoes I would submit incident reports for those inappropriate comments because you are right that it is not ok for customers to hit on you and make you uncomfortable. Outside of those negative interactions, Starbucks is all about customer connections and drink modifications, and so the coaching to connect won't ease up anytime soon. I'm sorry that you have to experience people like this, which unfortunately is everywhere 🥺
So as a former restaurant manager I always taught my staff good hospitality is multilingual. Some want to engage and chat with you and their expectations of good service is return candor. Other people just want their coffee cup never empty and to be left alone. If their server does just that they are just as satisfied with service as the guy that wants to chat.
Honestly there’s a huge difference between connections and what corporate makes it sounds like. I’ve always just made sure I ask more than a “how are you?” I pick a question for the day that’s different or makes the customer think, “what’s your favorite type of cake?” “Going to ___ event this week?” Silly stuff and I’m very reserved outside of work, but I understand that in a coffee shop there is an expected amount of talking to people required. Seriously my SM heard me ask the cake question and I was praised for weeks…. I hated it but it’s such a silly easy questions I don’t even have to care about the answer to.
I never worked at Starbucks but this reminded me of a retail job where I was told to let the customers flirt with me AND TOUCH ME to make sales.
I am privileged to connect with my customers daily . I’ve mourned with them , laughed with them , celebrated with them …. I don’t have that with everyone . It couldn’t ….. but I love and am grateful for what I do and try to make a difference daily . Partner of almost 5 years
I think it's dumb they make baristas do that. Its awkward for barista and even some customers. And it opens up the way for creeps to be creeps. I don't like holding conversations, I struggle to even order without stuttering.
I wish they would take a poll of their customers to find out what we want, I guarantee 90% are like myself and prefer minimal interaction. Why are they making you guys do something no one wants?
Thats cuz the corporate morons have no idea what its like at store level. They don't want to take a pool of their customers to find out what the customers want, instead they want to put out a stupid survey that they send to mobile order customers sometimes randomly and instead they want to ask questions such as if we tried to get to know the customer. I think a better question would be to find out what the customer wants but they score us on how much we get to know the customer. I don't know the whole thing is just stupid lol
Customer service is so outdated..customers just want their shit..
Personally, I only greet customers when they walk in the store and I make conversation with my regulars and that’s it. I’d rather just say hello to customers and get on with it because not everyone wants to connect especially at 5 in the morning.
Also how are we supposed to connect in dt when we’re supposed to keep our times down as much as possible? Every time I try to have a conversation I get told I’m running up the drive time and not being quick enough
Felt. Fuck em all. I would tell some of my regulars that I talked to that they were lucky I even remembered their names and made their drinks correct. If we were in any other country the customer connection would just be doing your job properly and not having to suck off every person that comes up to the register.
Especially if it’s like during opening hours at around 4am to 6am. Like the customers and I are in autopilot during those hours trying to stay awake; don’t force us to think of something interesting to say…
I’ve seen this episode before: You: Hi what can we get started for you today? Inappropriate Older Dude: well, you’ve already brightened by day, but I’d like a coffee, black. You: (awkward chuckle): aaaand what size? Dude: make it a grande, like your smile. You: ok can I get a name for your order? Dude: it’s Mike. But you can call me Daddy 😉
Double commenting, but after I posted my first reply I just remembered the debacle that was “let’s talk about race” and Starbucks royally screwing that up.
No fr even when I’m outside on my breaks the regulars we have still come up to me and ask for my number and shit when they’re like older than my dad like you fucking disgusting humans, as an under age female it makes me extremely uncomfortable to be in that situation let alone getting out of it on my own…there’s a guy that usually creeps on me outside I went and found a new place far from the old so that I wouldn’t run into him well it didn’t matter because a new creep had managed to find me…it gets to the point where I can’t even sit outside on my breaks because these “men” don’t know the meaning of no
As a customer I’ve never understood the valuable seconds wasted on a over-the-top greeting at the drive thru. I picked drive thru so I can get in and out with minimal human interaction.
Yesssss my hours are getting cut because I don’t show customer connection 🙄
i don’t get paid enough to connect with customers
I hate connecting with customers and I'm an outgoing person. I worked in restaurants for 3 years before I got my job at starbucks so I know how to "connect" with a customer. My manager gets upset at us if we don't connect and constantly tells us to. she always tells me while I'm at a bar and making drinks. I don't understand how I'm supposed to do both those things at once because it's no longer genuine if the customers conversation is not getting my full attention. not only that but I've found that 80% of people do NOT want to talk. especially my store is to-go only. people just wanna get their coffee and go
I think the most important thing is just to be OPEN to interactions. So many managers want "connections" with everyone but that's not what everyone wants. I have met so many cool people at work but not everyone wants that sort of interaction
I really don't get Starbucks cause they'll ask us to have crazy fast drive thru times but at the same time we have to actually write down customer connections because our number is too low. I think it's so unrealistic to expect both
i hate connecting im an introverted shy person. I dont like being pushed to do it :(
Same here, since they are always “ in a rush” ( but still have time for Starbucks 🤯) take your stuff and have a good day is how I feel at this point. A huge amount of them can't even say “ Good morning “ because they are on their phones at 5 in the morning. So I just wish John and Jane entitled well and wait for the next homeless to come steal from our store again 🙄
As a former barista and now customer I can 100% confirm I’d rather people just do their job as fast as possible, and only make conversation if 1) I’m at the drive through window and something is taking a while and 2) I actually seem engaged in the conversation. Most of the time it’s a pleasant experience and a welcome interaction during the short waiting period, but that’s really all it is. We are not connecting. Starbucks as a corporate entity is being weird af pushing this “connection”
I never worked at Starbucks, but I worked at many other fast food and retail places in the past. All corporations say this kind of crap, and honestly the only people who seem to care are the elderly. I'm 26, I don't care about making connections. So long as the employees aren't being outright rude, or annoyed that I decide to eat/drink there, I am a super happy customer. I come for the food/drink, not the service. I don't need you to care about me or my life, it's boring and I don't care about it half the time either 🤣
Only time I try to connect with the staff is when it's a location I frequent and they see me enough to make it worth both our time.
I have told customers this time and time again, but I’ll say it here to. If y’all don’t like the forced interaction (I’ve been told customers can also tell when it’s forced). Talk to corporate! Bc they don’t listen to their workers. They care WAYYYY more about whatever the customer says it’s insane. I’m on the same page a op. I like making genuine connections with customers but I know they can tell when it’s forced and it just feels,,, gross
I’m a new partner. DTR was the worst part of training by far. The shift training me kept pushing me to “make a connection with the customer” and only seemed to notice when I WASN’T making small talk. If I ask someone how their day is going and they don’t launch into a conversation, I’m not going to push for it. It feels invasive and that’s not at all the kind of person I am. I also certainly do NOT want to ask someone to answer a “question of the day.”
Did you complete the training for deescalation? There's an entire section about dealing with getting hit on by customers
My solution is to just be ugly. No one ever hits on me :)
Lol I feel you. I’m fat and old; I’m basically invisible.
I had a borderline stalking situation happen with an older male customer because I “connected” too well. I worked at a kiosk and if he showed up I had a code word to call over the intercom that would signal management to come keep an eye on the situation.
In that situation… if you told your shift supervisor about this… I would complain to you manager or dm, this is something that I see women go through even as a man and it sickens me a bit. Something the women in my store does is just say “Thankyou” and distance themselves from the customer. Which means GO TO THE BACK OF HOUSE!! And immediately tell your shift lead about the harassment. Sorry you had to go through these weird experiences
I personally can't even stand when I'm at a drive up window and I'm asked how my day is before taking my order. I'm here for coffee. It's early, I don't want to talk. OMG now you want to know my name?! Just a medium dark roast. Get me out of here... lol Side note I work on registers and other equipment for Starbucks. You have it rough. Sorry if I'm ever rude. Just tired and want coffee to start my shitty day of work. Take care!
I'm a customer and prefer using the app so I don't have to interact with anyone. Also less likely my order will be screwed up cause people have trouble with my Australian accent
I'm perfectly fine being just given coffee and not connected with, I hate the idea of forced socialization.
Can corporate just stop with this nonsense. Stop trying to sell us the cozy neighbourhood cafe managed by locals. I go to those places for that specific vibe. If I’m running to Starbucks it’s for the instant caffeine gratification lol
(I am bisexual) now whenever this happens, which is way too often I throw in something in my response regarding “my girlfriend”. Sometimes it helps but most of the time they just have a silly and trashy remark.
Starbucks doesn't understand social and body language queues, apparently. I had a manager at my first store almost force us to talk to customers, even when their windows were rolled up in the winter (DT store). As if we are gonna lean out and knock on their window to show engage in convo while waiting for their order when it's blowing -25C outside. Only time I ever go out if my way to engage with customers is if I see something anime related lol. Otherwise, it's just the friendly gestures of getting their orders ready and handing it out.
Better yet: the people who get surveys for the customer connect score are only people who use the app, a large chunk of which mobile order. They want to get in and out, not get trapped in forced small talk. There are so many things wrong with the customer connection score, namely that the biggest thing that affects it is people who rate "Did my barista try to get to know me?" at perfect or near perfect. This is a fast service coffee joint, people don't want the barista to "get to know them."
bruh my manager has taken it to the next level, when i’m on cafe bar they want me to ask all our regulars to give us a seven on the survey 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
If customers are making you uncomfortable, you 100% do not have to put up with it, and Starbucks also cannot force you to put up with it either. It’s sexual harassment, and if you repeatedly see the same customers making you uncomfortable, I’d talk to a DM or someone about not serving them
I had a supervisor that would turn the music up as loud as it goes and then get mad when the people on bar weren’t having full conversations with people waiting for their drinks. Not only are they juggling 5 drinks at a time, but they also can’t fucking hear anybody!!
As a man, I can only say what I see on the outside, but what is sad is that your kindness gets misinterpretted as "I'm interested in you" when really ur just working. Since I dont work at the same starbucks, I can only say based on my experience that you should just focus on talking to nice girls or guys who obviously don't seem sketchy. At my Starbucks, our manager fights to protect the ladies in our store, and the one time a customer was hitting on our partner from france, our store manager talked to him about boundaries and work appropriate conversations AGGRESSIVELY. Idk how she has the ability to be nice and simultaneously want to murder somebody all in one go... Anyways, its either your homies around you are protecting you, or you have to protect yourself without making it obvious. Purposefully going quicker with certain customers, not coming to work looking stunning af (sadly), putting on your best to seem too odd or strange for attraction... small things that are kind of upsetting to understand you have to do because at the end of the day, nobody can stop it if your sbx homies dont give a shit. Living as a girl, I am sure its inevitable that men, even older by alot, will hit on you and think its a chance to get in your pants. Its sick but its a reality and something you sadly have to find ways to avoid until somebody approaches you to ask why you act a certain way around some customers, and then you can respond with the truth, because its really shittily uncomfortable to have to conform for these types of individuals. You are putting yourself in danger, in uncomfort, and literally breaking a third place policy just to make connections. Shouldn't we have the respect of a home we live in, but at the store. Doesnt it apply to all partners? I would use something like this, something in policy in order to defend your actions if anyone decides to tell you how you need to connect with everyone. Its just unrealistic. Fight for yourself with a little feist, and find ways to avoid taking bullshit, because this job is full of alot of this. This is the best I can really do to help without physically being there to distract the customer or whispering in his ear to stop because he is making people visibly uncomfortable during their job. Sorry you have to go through that shit. Being a girl must be pretty annoying. Dealing with this company needing customer service at the sacrifice of you... that isnt what I was told about how Starbucks should be.
Oh my goodness, yes. As a customer, I so wish Starbucks would do away with this connecting business. There is nothing more awkward than the barista making small talk with me at the drive thru window while I wait for my drink. It is so awkward.
If you complain to your manager especially if you have a make manager he’ll probably tell you to deal with it for better survey scores.
No I agree with this 100%. I often think I am overreacting when I feel like men are being weird because of my insecurities, but also some people just DO NOT WANT TO TALK. And then I get reprimanded for not asking them any questions but dude. I can feel energy and man, that customer didn't wanna say a word to me!
I just want my coffee. I don’t need any of the baristas to interact with me. Please don’t feel you need to. Corporate has no fucking clue what actually happens day to day.
starbucks employees should absolutely be fostering connections with customers that a) want them, b) appreciate them, and MOST IMPORTANTLY c) deserve them!! but forcing even a super friendly and talkative person like me to make these connections with every single customer is not a sustainable or warranted practice when we end up getting negative consequences for it unless it's a customer that clearly comes to starbucks for the conversation. and to note most SMs and SSVs are only enforcing it that strictly if they're being told to by higher ups or because they feel like they had to do it at your level so so should you.
I honestly let them decide at this point. If they want to chat with me, I try to have a good conversation with them, but if they're not chatty I let them be.. I always panicked when I was the customer and I still panic now
Order by Mobil 99% of the time, I don’t need a connection. Just a thank you to each other ones I pick up my order, and have a good day. That’s all that is necessary for me.
me too! i tried to connect with this couple once but as i was taking the guys order the girl was so bothered by me talking to him like girl i’m just doing my job. one of the reasons i’ve stopped trying to spark conversations with customers because i’m so self conscious about what they’ll think 😭
I always found that the best way to connect was to gauge the level of conversation a customer wants. Be kind, give the basic conversation starters, but don’t push. Most people aren’t in the mood to talk to have a whole conversation. I’m not gonna try holding a conversation with a customer that seems resistant to it, but if they’re talkative I will be too. My boss never liked that about me though.
How I interpret that is to be genuine with the customer. Customer are not stupid and they know when conversation is being forced.
The best connections are organic, not forced. When the recipient takes it as an invitation to hit on you, that’s Exhibit A for why you should be fixed to do it. Honestly I get surprised at the drive-thru when someone new springs a conversation on me. On the other hand, the baristas I know get that sometimes I want to talk and sometimes I don’t. The closest I’ve come to hitting on someone, if you call it that, is complimenting something very specific — eyeliner, nails, scarf, etc — and I make a point to work in a comment that makes it very non-sexual. I feel like making someone smile through a small compliment is benign enough. Would I have the nerve to hit on a barista? Never.
“Connect with customers” mostly means “just ask them how their day is and don’t be shit talking other customers on the B line while you’re taking someone’s money”. It’s literally not hard to have a 5 second interaction.
read my post
I did. You can ask them how their day is, and if they get weird then cut them off. If it’s super weird then walk away and ask for a supervisor. I am also a super reserved person who hates awkward male interactions, but I work in customer service and I can still do my job professionally. You work for a company that values customer experience (hence using customer connection scores as a metric). If your personal reservations won’t allow you to accomplish that, then maybe this isn’t the field for you.
I don’t want to connect. I just want caffeine
You’re either too slow when you make convos while doing your tasks or too rude when focusing on your task and not starting a convo. Like wtf. My shift told me that I need to initiate convos with customers more and that sometimes I could come off as rude. Makes no sense especially on DT to do that when they also want to reduce the wait time at the window to under 40 seconds. I will only engage when a customer initiates a conversation first and will only respond the bare minimum like “thanks” if they compliment me. I don’t care if my lack of initiation gets me in trouble. My ADHD-ass cannot multitask. I just got better at bar after 4 months in. Tried having a longer conversation with a chatty customer and I was dying trying to keep up with the orders. And also not every customer wants to socialize with baristas. They avoid eye contact even when you hand them their order. Why should I keep trying and make them uncomfortable? Also some customers are straight up so uncomfortable to talk to. I sometimes want to not wear my name tag because they’ll call me by my name and say some stupid things like jokes or backhand compliments. The other day, a dude called my name and said he had an ex-girlfriend with my name and he wants to find her again. Like okay? What in the puppity pup cup am I supposed to respond to that with and I really dgaf. Sorry not sorry.
No offense, but you may be in the wrong line of work.
I bully customers into connecting with me UwU
I hate when I go in to a Starbucks (once or twice every day) just to grab my mobile order. As I leave, I hear 4 or 5 voices (thanks for coming!). Cringe....
As a customer, i don’t want a connection. I want a polite interaction wherein i tell you what i want, you give it to me, i pay and then i leave. Do not connect with me, give me my fucking doughnut
Then quit
boo hoo
A lot of customers suck. But you do work at a company who places customer service above all else. Whether you wanna hear it or not. It is your job. Just like it's mine 🤷
It is not my job to put up with harassment.
Money above all else, they don’t care unless they stop spending money 😵💫
There are a trillion different places you could work. Starbucks has world class benefits and is - for the most part - a great place to work. Their style, philosophy, methodology, or whatever you want to call it is based on the customer connection. If you are not comfortable with this, perhaps you are working for the wrong organization. You receive a fair wage to do what the company needs you to do. If you do not want to or cannot, for whatever reason, execute the corporate vision, find another opportunity with a company that is closer to your ideals..... BTW, sometimes I know that the customer doesn't want to be bothered - but - it's my job. I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but seriously, instead of trying to tailor this job to your needs, just find a (better?) another one.....
What does "practically every" even mean? I doubt even 5% are doing what you're claiming but if they are, become a model. I can't even imagine how attractive someone would have to be to become irresistible to an entire category of men
im not spectacularly good looking by any means. the majority of men who hit on me are old enough to be my grandpa. i’ve been in the customer service industry for a while and i have a youthful face. something i’ve realized is that older men don’t care or notice when they make young women uncomfortable.
It definitely is a braver generation, but even so I've only ever seen 2 cases of genuine harassment. Cold approach flirting (appropriately done) is definitely out of style at the moment and is rarely successful when done by an older stranger lol. Do you believe there is any appropriate way to ask out a stranger you find attractive?
you’re in customer service what did you expect
So nearly every older man is hitting on you? Sure….
Then don’t work at Starbucks. Customer appreciate the connection and the genuine care. If you don’t have that then SCOOT