Where do you draw the line « I Hate Starbucks

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Where do you draw the line

(23 posts) (17 voices)

Started 1 year ago by eyeadapt
Latest reply from Nolatteforyou

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eyeadapt

Member
Internets:2,289

On customers obviously taking advantage of our "kindness" aka, customer service.

I feel like I need to be setting some ground rules for myself.
I find myself giving a discount, or finding a way for people to get what they want for a more realistic price.
Examples: Orders a Venti coffee, want half coffee and half cold milk (either nonfat or 2%) and I find myself only charging them for a tall coffee.
Customer orders a Latte with Caramel syrup, and caramel drizzle, I just charged her for a Caramel Macchiato, sub Caramel Syrup.
But then I get irritated with customers who want Trenta B/G/P Tea, No H2O.
I think the difference between them demanding it/me helping out is what does it for me.
But anyways. Here is the point of this story:
A customer comes through my DT tonight, orders a Venti Zen with One teabag. I tell her the total, meet her at the window, Tell her the total again. Then she somewhat demands that I charge her for a tall because that is what everyone else does, and she did only want one teabag.
So to her I suggest that I will charge her for a Grande,since the Grande only gets one teabag as well and makes the most sense since what she is really paying the difference for is the Venti cup and extra water rather than the tall. She then tells me to just charge her for a tea bag, and she'll just make it at home. I'm in the middle of a mini rush, so I just **** it and charge her for a tall, and then tell her I'll just charge her for a tall this time but I won't promise her we can always do that because she is really taking advantage of us. She drives away probably happy as ****.
To further prove my point this customer comes through our DT all the time asking for venti cups of hot water and then sugar and stuff, explaining she bought a tea earlier and blah blah blah. She never really tips us for going out of our way to get her a cup of hot water with sugars and sticks included, and I just figure if she scratches my back, I'll scratch hers.

Posted 1 year ago #
Dry Sharpie

Moderator
Internets:82
I draw the line at:
- remaking a drink a second time.
- the customer cannot explain how they want their own drink in under 20 words.
- the customer constantly interrupts me while I'm busy with someone else.
- people attempting to barge into the restroom
- claiming that I messed up their drink, and upon inspection, they had already drank half of it. Greedy sons of btches.
- buying only half a pound of coffee but whining about no free tall espresso drinks
- buying a coffee double-cupped, and coming back for a refill with the second one.
The list goes on and on. I don't put up with these dirtbag customers. I don't get paid enough to be a yessir dancing puppet for them or the company.
Posted 1 year ago #
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Kellyly15

Member
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we have a regular who orders a short in a personal tumbler, so getting coffee as cheap as it gets here, comes w/ her husband... puts the coffee in a second tumbler...immediate comes bk for a refill but want it filled up... n they continue to drink up on the refills while use our wifi for hours

another guy, orders a tall mocha, but in grande cup, always asks us to put in extra milk until it becomes a grande...but glad now with the new steaming pitchers it's so exact, ppl won't be able to take advantage of this nemore

eyedapt: not sure if the same applies i assume u r from the States? but in Canada, tall and grande teas r charged same price, since its only 1 teabag. Water is always free. we press cup of water button for extra labour.

Dry sharpie: those double cuppers, we strictly enforce that they must stay in cafe to get a refill, and it doesn't work if they left the cafe n come back later in the afternoon, and some ppl come in to scam us with an old cup asking for refill, cup is obviously cold and old, if its the 1st time we see them scam us, we let them know, n well they can get expired coffee :P

Posted 1 year ago #
Quackers

Member
Internets:460

I find myself trying not to make friends with our customers because then I'll feel like it will be expected of me to do them favors.

When people want a Venti tea with only one bag, I charge venti anyway but give them the other tea bag on the side. That quiets them down and I can make my check average (dunno if you guys do this? They want each of our sales to average 6 bucks)

If they cry too much then I might oblige and charge grande instead.

Posted 1 year ago #
NoWater

Member
Internets:281

I'll call people out at the register when they try and get things for much, much cheaper.

I despise Gold Carders the worst.

"Yeah, I'll have a tall latte, two pumps mocha and whip."

They expect me to do it, swipe the card, get the syrup for free, etc. Hell no. They're getting a tall two-pump mocha.

Posted 1 year ago #
matchalung

Member
Internets:78

Water cups who come up to get "refills" of iced coffee & tea. NO... Our refill policy is so abused, it's annoying. I get it, I'm a broke college student... but I'm not THAT cheap.

@quackers
I stopped befriending customers too... they start trying to get free drinks out of you. NOPE.

@nowater
Gold carders are the worst! There are a handful of regular gold carders who are so awful. They spend hours in the cafe, free refill after free refill. They're the ones who never tip... EVER. But they expect us to be so grateful that they're choosing our store. Get out.

Posted 1 year ago #
Steamed Soy

Member
Internets:32

There's a guy who comes in everyday at my Starbucks and gets a tall coffee and gets about 10 refills a day then he complains when he leaves and we charge him for another tall coffee. Oh sorry dude those 10 cups you got earlier weren't enough?

Posted 1 year ago #
Anonymous

Unregistered
Internets:457

I befriend regulars BUT I've never so much as given them a discount. Yeah, I like you, your one of the good ones, but this is my job and im doing it. A lot of the baristas who left would give free stuff to people they thought were attractive and stuff. Complete bull. They left and now I have to gently tell those people that I don't make the prices. UGHH.

Posted 1 year ago #
JavaChap

Member
Internets:314

i live in a city. there are about 5 to 10 other stores in a 15 minute walking distance of mine. for a while after i'd started and over the summer people would horrendously abuse the refill policy. guys (mostly guys, let's be honest - and we're near the financial district so for a lot of these people it's not like they can't afford it) would come in with a cup from the previous day and demand a refill. which is stupid, because the policy is only for in-store drinks. once you step foot out of that door you are no longer allowed to get a refill.

eventually our dm had to get involved and we had to put up these signs all around the store (and in other stores) stating that the actual refill policy had to be enforced. there was an uproar. but the number of gross, nasty, two- or three-day-old cups and douchey customers i'd had to deal with before made me bitter about the whole thing (along with many of my coworkers) and we all took a little pleasure in denying people their refills.

we still get people who come in with old cups and ask for refills, and then seem totally surprised and incensed when we tell them no. i had some awful old man come in last week and demand a refill with a cup that was clearly a few days old. i told him no, he bitc-hed at me because he's a gold card member (gold carders ARE the worst) and couldn't understand the concept of me not being able to give him a refill. he kept going "but i have a gold card and it's FREE!" and i kept going "yes, with a gold card, a refill is free. but i can't give you a refill." eventually i just gave it to him because he kept saying he'd never heard of the policy. but i told him i wouldn't do it again next time. he made me double cup his tall decaf (which i think is fuc-king obnoxious - i HATE people who want their drinks double cupped, it's like oh i see you want to be even MORE wasteful? it's always people who get decaf coffee too. as-sholes). and then he stole a newspaper and left.

karma's a bit-ch as-shole.

Posted 1 year ago #
Dry Sharpie

Moderator
Internets:82

The other day a cuntomer wanted a VENTI hot chocolate but substituting hot water for steamed milk. She demanded to be charged for a kids hot chocolate ("CHIIIILD'S!"). I was doing a slide at the time but if I was on register, I would have charged her for a grande. She gave me such attitude when I was explaining to her—"That's not how it works ma'am."—that I wanted to tell her to go to a different store because we won't serve her.

Posted 1 year ago #
Allison

Member
Internets:579

re: water cups for refills

We solved this at my store by marking EVERY cup with a giant "H2O" on the side when we fill it with water. I write it across the entire side of the siren, huge. I also ring the cup of water in Symphony. Even if I wasn't on register, the register partner would have visual proof that it was a water and not a paid beverage and then have a right to refuse the refill.

And CRIPES, average ticket in some stores is $6?! In ours, it is $4.50 and I thought that was high <_<;;

Posted 1 year ago #
Steamed Soy

Member
Internets:32

So the dude who gets the ten refills was in today and I timed him between each cup of coffee

4 minutes. 4 MINUTES. I saw him go to the condiment bar and get right back in line and he waited in line and finished his refill and got ANOTHER refill.

He told me one time he had over 500 gold stars on his card before redeeming them all

Posted 1 year ago #
thegreenlobster

Member
Internets:413

We have this lady who comes in with her husband every day and gets a venti coffee in two tall cups. Everyone just does it for her as though she isn't ripping us off.

She knows I don't like to do it because I fill a venti cup up and then pour half in a tall cup and go to throw away the venti cup after pouring the other half in another tall cup and she's just like "i'll take the venti cup so you don't waste cups" and now she just asks for a tall cup on the side because it pisses me off. It's abusing the company and it's not fair! P ISSES me right off.

Posted 1 year ago #
TallHotCoffee

Member
Internets:144

Most of these things are spot on, based on my own observations.

But how does a person 'attempt to barge into the restroom' if it's locked?

Posted 1 year ago #
steamqueen

Member
Internets:3

Use a for here venti mug to pour it into the tall cups then, just say you'll wash it later.

Posted 1 year ago #
eyeadapt

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Internets:2,289

I definitely would NOT allow a customer to get a Venti coffee split into two tall cups.
And that is one thing my store is actually definitely strict on not allowing, is splitting.
And if you work in the US greenlobster, you actually can deny that, and should really talk to your SM or ASM about it. We are not allowed to be splitting drinks because it obviously is taking advantage of the company. Where you can draw the line on that is
'I'm sorry I can't split that for you, but I can give you a cup on the side and you can split it yourself'

My store had problems specifically because we mostly only sell frapps, and customers would get a Venti and ask us to split it. Before we were more leniant with it, and would do it, but split the whip at least, because they would expect extra whip and caramel on it. So we just started denying them, telling them we can't split it for them. The ONE exception I make, is that if they want a tall split because they have two kids that are under like five years old.

With people who are cheatting the system with coffee refills, i usually DGAF unless they want me to give them syrups, and make my job harder, because my store doesn't sell any coffee, and with the new cadence we waste SOOOO much coffee. So I just give them refills.But I think they know I think they're a DB when they come in with their obviously clean, unused cup, and ask for a refill........

Posted 1 year ago #
stranger

Member
Internets:410

I had a woman who wanted ONE kids hot chocolate split into FIVE sample cups. With whip and drizzle on each, of course. I'll usually split a drink in half, cause kids take like, three sips and they're done, I get that, but FIVE? Heck no.

Posted 1 year ago #
thegreenlobster

Member
Internets:413

We measured it todaywith cold water. A venti filled to the brim split into two talls leaves an even inch on the top of each tall cup! I'm documenting everything in the till from now on with that whole waste report I had a fellow partner tell me about so I dontmind splitting it but bi-tch gets an inch of room in each cup from now on!

Also, on a separate note I sometimes find myself giving free drinks to some regulars or some friends when they come in. I want to stop this as its not really my position to do so and I hate that people now think I'll hand them stuff for free (my brother a lot- who shouldn't matter but he can't think I'll throw him free stuff every time) so from now on I might give an unused partner beverage to a friend once on the blue moon. But that's it. It's work and I won't steal.

Posted 1 year ago #
IloveSBUX

Member
Internets:450

People who give stuff away for free or who don't charge for everything ordered make work a living hell for the rest of us. WE create these monsters, to some extent. Once one barista does it, a costumer seems to think that is the way it should always be..and always has been.

I feel no need to make any substitutions or manipulations to make a drink cheaper. Prices are listed on the menu; people know what they are getting into. If people can't afford the drink they order, they should not be coming in. Any variation from the true price just creates problems...for baristas, for the customer, and for the company.

That doesn't mean I don't surprise and delight a customer with a free drink, now and again...but, you can bet it is someone who doesn't think they are entitled and deserve it!

Posted 1 year ago #
Dry Sharpie

Moderator
Internets:82

@TallHotCoffee: I'm going to clean the restroom, or I'm shutting down the restroom.

1. person sees that I'm an employee, attempts to skip in front of me to use the restroom first. This may either be in the form of a race to the door knob, or physically shouldering me aside.
3. When I'm inside the restroom, I unlock the bolt... and immediately someone yanks on the door and tries to come inside like it was empty and their butt was on fire.

If they knock into me in either situation, I usually make a huge scene and shout "GET OUT OF THE STORE NOW" repeatedly until everyone's watching the person walk out in a shamed and about-to-sht-my-pants hurry.

Posted 1 year ago #
KDH

Member
Internets:757

IloveSBUX, no kidding. I encountered a customer yesterday wondering why she was charged for caramel drizzle on her MOCHA because no one else charges her for it. *headdesk*

Posted 1 year ago #
stranger

Member
Internets:410

@KDH, yeah. My store policy is "if the recipe doesn't say to add drizzle, then it costs extra." there's a button for add caramel sauce for a reason.

Sometimes I will tell customers "If you want a venti caramel mocha frap, and you don't want to pay for extras, then order a frap with half the caramel and half the mocha." The ONE person who actually does this properly, I do give him both kinds of drizzle (as a reward for playing by our rules, lol)

Posted 1 year ago #
Nolatteforyou

Member
Internets:16

For me the line is anything I don't want to do. I'll give free modifiers to people I like sometime, but if I don't want to deal with someones request I happily tell them to screw off.

Posted 1 year ago #

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