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

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

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

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

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

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

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

tell me whyyyyy

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

The “no squirts” post got me thinking..

Someone asked me for no strawberry particles in their refresher.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Am I being dramatic

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

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

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

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

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

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

Went to a different starbucks instead of the one i work at (love them, i don't wanna go there on my day off tho 😭)

The coffee master brought my drink and food directly to my table and was really nice :D did my college for for 4 hours there

Hello!

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

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

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

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

Have you noticed a surge of older applicants?

Is this a recession indicator?

just throwing this out here to hopefully get some insight on what to do, or IF there’s even anything in my power that can be done. i’m currently a ssv.

have had the same SM at this store for three years now, but since the point system has been implemented it’s not being upheld. there’s been supervisors showing up 30+ minutes late to open shifts & opening the store 45 mins late, people no-call no showing and myself having to CALL THEM to figure out what’s happening, multiple people calling out 6+ times in a month, brand new hires no-call no showing MULTIPLE TIMES and staying hired, need i continue?

i feel a large part as to why these behaviors keep happening is because there’s never been a reaction to said-behaviors, so why would it stop? the lateness never gets addressed in the moment by MANAGEMENT, only the shift, and it’s evident no follow up occurs since it continues to happen again. i have my own personal qualms with this company, however i DO want to be in an environment where people are held to a standard so we can all function efficiently.

is there a way that i can report this…? is there any resource that’ll take it serious? is my best bet to just deal with it or transfer? if i report this will i just get in trouble instead?

to add, the first time the entire team saw their points (I REPEAT FIRST TIME) was a week ago when we had a proxy manager come in for two days.

This is for the Starbucks dataheads.

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

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

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

2026: 9

2025: 41

2024: 85

2023: 35

2022: 31

2021: 38

2020: 47

2019: 58

2018: 34

2017: 25

2016: 24

2015: 48

2014: 54

2013: 56

2012: 51

2011: 5

2010: 4

2009: 2

2008: 10

2007: 14

2006: 52

Is there a company guideline on how managers should schedule non coverage?

For the past several months my CL has been non coverage 4 days per week. Yet our schedules are consistently being updated on a weekly basis because they’re “behind” on their work. We’re also not getting scheduled to do trainings or have partner do tips each week. I just think that they’re misusing the non coverage hours for personal use as they’re always late to work. On some occasions they’ll change their schedule and push their start time back or they’ll simply show up hours later with no notice.

I would like to address this with the DM but our store does well in metrics so I think our DM isn’t paying attention to the my CL’s schedule. My DM hardly ever visits our location.

tried this for the first time yesterday and I loved the banana cream!! the bose is my vice and this was such a good variation of it!!

i wish i could’ve gotten a venti, but they only sold it in grande for some reason 😭

Been working with Starbucks for a long time and been a CL for 5 years with no CA history until this last week when I got back from PTO and was delivered a final and separation within the same 7 day period for a combo of reasons, feeling like my DM planned this whole thing to get rid of me, I appealed the decision…. Not because I want to come back but I won’t go down without some sort of fight,
For those of you wondering my issues were time and attendance due to a 25 mile commute, working 70 hour work weeks that affected my ability to come in and showing signs of poor mental health to my partners…. Genuinely I can’t provide more info than that because I wasn’t given an opportunity to speak to specific allegations just fired on what seems like hearsay. I know attendance is important but for clarity I’ve been asking my boss to transfer for all three years because I knew this would happen and the answer was always pushing the goal post further and further away. I appealed with evidence of dealing support to prevent my issues and the lack of investigation into any of the allegations but was curious if anyone had won an appeal before and what that was like! Thanks in advance!

What do you think about when a you hand off one of a drink to a costumer and they immediately say “I’m missing ___” or “I ordered another drink” like omg just wait a second pleaaaase 😭 believe it or not I actually have to craft your drink, it doesn’t just spawn in lol😭

Is mango syrup staying on the menu? It’s still available for me to order on LS Star. I don’t see anywhere that says it’s staying but just wanted to double check.

Saw this on tiktok and wondered what the consensus here was? I was trained to do 8 pumps since dark caramel is a half pump! Didn't think anyone was only using 4 half pumps?

I am not sure if this is in the right sub-category, my apologies if it’s supposed to be in the policy-question tab….

Anyways, at the store I’ve been at for a few years, we have had a few minors come and go, the youngest I think being 15, only because they would be 16 when their start-period began… but my fellow current baristas have been telling me for the last 2 days, that our HR has been communicating that they made a mistake hiring our new 16(F)… they’re in Wk 2 of their training, but since they are still in high school, and only available certain days after 4 pm, their training is taking a bit longer due to school. Now I’m not really complaining on that front but what bothers me is how it was explained as “a total mistake” and also being told that any new barista has to be at least 18 now to work at our location.

Granted for context we are a Licensee owned location. However, I would assume the guidelines for hiring would still be somewhat similar to a corporate location.. our local corporate Starbucks has minors working there often, but not during early mornings, because of school and such, but that’s understandable… It’s seemed to be that the age thing may be due to the amount of hours they can legally work since they are minors? I’m honestly just confused and concerned, due to this being brought up now, and not prior to already having minors work at our location… which we have had many come through, and then realize it was not the best fit for them…

I’ve tried checking the digital communications through Starbucks and seeing if there’s something paper-wise that can help back up what our HR is saying about baristas having to be 18 to work… or if its just something with us being a Licensee, and that it might be something with the Licensee itself and not a Starbucks thing…

Any help would be greatly appreciated at this point, tysm 🙏😇

FYI THIS CANNOT BE ORDERED WHEN THE BLACK CAT FRAPPUCCINO COMES OUT

i was doing my training and wondered what the black cake powder would taste like if mixed with cold foam.

wow. its delicious. they should have done this instead for some spooky halloween latte instead of the black cat

Closing by myself for the first time as an SSV soon! I love a good checklist, so any tips or resources you guys recommend would be appreciated. Biggest thing I’m nervous about is troubleshooting cash issues if something doesn’t balance.

THANKYOU !!!

Has anybody noticed a decrease in quality of the caramel here? My recent drinks have had globs of caramel at the bottom that just refuse to break down, makes for some questionable sips

Stopped by to grab my favorite PSL on the way to work and spotted this ADORABLE mug!!! 😭🎃☕️ I’m literally obsessed, it’s so cute and I’m SO happy with my little find 🥹🧡🍂

Hi I’m just venting because I just interviewed for a barista position on Thursday and she said she’d let me know something by early next week, but it’s Saturday and I just got the rejection email. I’m at a loss and I’m so upset right now, I really needed this job. I expressed my strong background in food service, customer service experience, wide open 4am availability, etc. and I still didn’t get it. I’m hurt . I thought I did really well during the interview and I’m wondering if it would be worth emailing the SM for a follow up or if there is a small possibility that I could still get the job and maybe it was just a small mistake on their end because the listing is no longer accepting applications? :(