I have to say I certainly understand a lot of the comments on the site, but for me, I have a pretty good manager and staff and things have gone pretty well so far (6 weeks).
HOWEVER, one thing I totally agree with is that by selling $5 watered-down espresso, Starbucks is getting into a habit of creating ****, cranky, snooty-**** customers. I work in an upscale area of Atlanta with a LOT of rich people. I can handle getting no responses to my "how are you?"s, but I CANNOT handle people that try to order the most complicated drinks while on the phone. That's probably the rudest gesture a customer could make. I am so close to telling them to get off the phone and order. For now, I either ask them as many questions as possible or call on the next customer in line (both great suggestions I got from this board -- thanks!).
There are so many companies that will not do business with people on the phone, why can't Starbucks?? I feel like making my own sign and putting it the top of the register when I'm working. The more Starbucks caters to these ****holes, the worse it's going to get.
Here's something else that happened tonight you might enjoy... 10 minutes before we closed I put in a drink order for a lady with a bit of an attitude. While she was waiting, she said:
Her: "Have you started on my drink yet?"
Me: "Actually, they're made in the order that they're ordered"
Her: "You only have one person working at the bar?" (we only had 3 drinks in line)
Me: "They actually come out pretty fast, but if you'd like to come back here and help out..."
Her: "Well maybe you could do something instead of standing around"
Me: "I'm assigned to the register. My job is to stand here."
Another customer came up by then, which was a shame because I was enjoying it :-)