Ok, a new day has dawned on IHateStarbucks.com.
I no longer want to keep hacking the old, tired php on the site, so this is what I propose. These messages will remain up for all eternity. In addition, there is a new Guest book. So if you want to share your opinons, i.e. post to the site, go here. As always, if wish to rant or rave, send me an email:
| Name: | graphics operative #4 04211 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 02:05 AM |
| When SB first started cropping up around NYC I was mostly indifferent, although I always disliked their bloated prices and their fake-ass names for the different sizes (what's wrong with S, M, L?).
Roughly two years ago is when I first started hating them and I haven't stopped since. I work near Bryant Park in Manhattan, and on the corner of 6th and 42nd is a Starbucks. Across 42nd street, at the entrance to Bryant Park, are 2 kiosks. One of these kiosks used to be a independent coffee place run by wonderful, friendly people.
Well, it didn't take long for SB to reach their dirty, greedy claws across 42nd street to take over the indy kiosk.
Scum, I tell you! Greedy, heartless scum! It wasn't enough for them to have one corner, they needed to kill a small business and put people out of work! Greedy pigs! |
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| Name: | Gary 04213 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 02:04 AM |
| Just found this site and I love it!! I operate a coffee franchise in the UK and love it when my customers try Starbucks coffee, it makes them really appreciate the quality of the product I offer!
Having tried Starbucks on numerous occasions, I can only assume that they train their staff to dispense just enough coffee into each drink so that it stains the milk slightly, but doesn't actually leave any flavour.. Good trick. They're at their happiest when they can disguise the lack of coffee flavour with a crappy overdose of flavouring syrup.. yummy. I can pay even more for that now... |
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| Name: | Jim 04210 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 02:04 AM |
| I see a lot of posts from competitors and StarBucks employees. Let me tell you about my CUSTOMER viewpoint.
I don't "hate" StarBucks so much as I despise them, both for their products and their so-called customer service.
I used to work in New York City, where you can't throw a dead cat without hitting a StarBucks. Never had much to do with them because frankly, I felt the prices were outrageous for a cup of coffee - and while I enjoyed the unique taste of the first cup or two I had during my SB introduction days (brought in by co-workers who volunteered to gopher for coffee), it got old - really, really quickly.
I decided that there had to be more to coffee than SB, 7-Eleven, and Dunkin Doughnuts... so I started looking at local & non-chain coffee bars. Amazingly, I had a wonderful experience and enjoyed extraordinary coffee's... so well done and flavorful that I now understood why coffee-tasters sound like wine tasters!
Over the years I was fortunate enough to travel to locations like the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, etc., where I was treated to local varieties of coffee. Each trip and experience educated me more on the differences between bean varieties, blends, Robusto vs. Aribica, acidity, the proper way to make coffee, etc. I purchased a decent coffee maker, and started purchasing some good fresh-ground beans from local sellers. While I restrict myself to standard coffee (no lattes, espresso, etc.), my efforts are so good that my wife (a confirmed tea addict) will indulge herself in a morning coffee when I make it. :-)
Some years later, I found myself working closer to home (out of NYC), and craving good coffee. Unfortunately, there were no local coffee bars near my current workplace - except the ubiqutious StarBucks. I decided that I should give them another chance... now that I had some experience, I felt that I could probably walk in and make a reasonable selection that I would enjoy.
Oh, my God - was *I* wrong.
I walked into the local StarBucks and studied the "menu" on the back wall - and realized that I didn't understand a damned thing on it. Nope. "Tall" = small, "Grande" = medium, and "Venti" = large was only the first - and easiest - hurdle to overcome.
I stood there stupified, trying to find where a simple cup of coffee was priced... even looking for flavored coffees, or regional coffees, or ANYTHING that looked even REMOTELY like a product I understood. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
I felt utterly at sea and totally intimidated... as if I'd stepped into a wine snob festival at a distributor, and was about to expose myself for the ignorant lout I am by ordering a cheap wine. However, I'm not particularly easy to intimidate - at least, not for long - and so I decided that I didn't give a damn what anyone thought - I just wanted a cup of coffee, and that's what I was going to get.
As I slowly moved forward as the line shortened, I decided that the simplest and best way to handle this was to tell the person taking orders what I wanted... so when I arrived at the front of the line, I informed them that this was my first time in SB's, and that I wasn't sure what all the menu items were... and that all I really wanted was a medium cup of coffee.
First, there was silence. Then giggles. Then "You've really never been in a StarBucks before? Really?"
I kept my temper, thank goodness, because I was on the verge of snapping back "No, I'm just in the habit of lying about things like that", or perhaps "Yeah, but I have Alzheimers, so it's like the first time every time!".
Instead, I just looked at the woman (not girl, she had to be in her 40's at least) and said "That's correct, ma'am. And I have no idea what those items are on the menu. However, all I'm really looking for is a medium cup of coffee."
She replied - admidst more giggling from her and the barista, who was apparently now listening in - "Oh, that's a Grande - that'll be (whatever the price was, at that point I was so embarrassed I wasn't even listening)". Once I paid and got my change, I moved away from the register, having realized (by observation) that the so-called barista would be concocting my simple drink and then calling it out, as if it were some kind of award. (Which, in retrospect, is actually amusingly ironic... for a business that supposedly prides itself on atmosphere and specialized products, they've modeled their chosen method of product delivery to the consumer after other fine restaurants... such as McDonalds and Burger King.)
A few minutes later, I was standing by the "delivery" counter, wondering where my coffee was... no-one else was in line... the barista called out some mumbo-jumbo and the word "Grande". I shuffled forward and she handed it to me with a rather condescending look, ignored my thank-you, and turned away to flirt with another employee.
I couldn't wait to leave, so I decided to go back to the office and add my cream and sugar from the kitchen back at work. And add more cream. And add more sugar. And then more cream.
Bitter, pungent and burnt are the three words that described this supposed gourmet coffee experience from the famed StarBucks... my memories had not played me false, nor had my experience aided me in selecting something more palatable. I think I managed to choke down perhaps a third of the cup before dumping it down the sink. (My apologies to all the bacteria in the sewers that I probably killed that day.)
Thinking that perhaps I'd make some error in judgement (after all, SB *is* popular!), I have subsequently asked the advice of some fellow employees that frequent StarBucks, and order (by name) specific concoctions that are supposedly "really, really good". On a scale of 1 through 10, with 10 being the best... the highest I could possibly rate the best I tried at about a 4. Everything I tried was either cloyingly sweet, or overly milky... and everything - EVERYTHING - had that burnt-coffee, bitter undertone that apparently is the theme at StarBucks. (It must be, because their ice-cream tastes exactly the same!)
So, that was MY experience. Fortunately, there's a little cafe that opened on my way to work. As long as it's during normal business hours, I can get an excellent cup of coffee there at any time... and if it's outside of business hours, I will simply do without rather than ruin my palate with the inferior junk served by StarBucks. |
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| Name: | Mark 04209 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 02:03 AM |
| C'mon Metroworld your buying a $4.00 cup of experience. You get to watch people dress up their progressive inner child in the finest outdoorwear after a day at the office. Students lower the business section and leer suspiciously across the room at the double-standard bearers. PBS parents watch Thugz in Che shirts trade fashion tips while the cashier dreams of Italy. I (Heart) Starbucks. |
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| Name: | SureImSure 04208 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 02:01 AM |
| Thank God the holidays are almost over, and the seasonal SB marketing Juggernaut can end. I walked into a store on Nov.16, and Xmas music was already blaring from a constellation of speakers. There was no way to escape it. The store was littered with "last minute" gifts five weeks before someone would need any. I asked the counterperson if they could change it or turn it down, but they couldn't hear me through over the din of carols. I emailed SB about it, pleading for them to hold off until the day afte Thanksgiving, but never got a reply. Wish SB's coffee was a half as good as their marketing plan. I drove all the way over to Peet's and never looked back. |
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| Name: | "Trish" 04207 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 02:00 AM |
| I read about this site in the New York Times and as a public relations pro, decided to visit. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Great satirical comments! I do not hate Starbucks, but recently did a report comparing innovation in business culture between the US and China. Many great things about Starbucks, but also interesting to see how they, along with many other American and European retailers and "restauranteurs", do not alter the price of their goods comparable to the market at large. Think Starbucks is expensive and overpriced in the US?! I fed myself and four others with incredible authentic Chinese cuisine for the same price as four Starbucks lattes. Interesting business practices... |
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| Name: | Shaun 04206 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:59 AM |
| Regarding Ter's frustration at not finding alternatives to Starbucks in San Francisco: didn't you notice all the Peet's coffee shops? Sure it's a chain, but it's a hell of a lot better than Starbucks. |
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| Name: | Michael Critz 04205 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:59 AM |
| I really have a love-hate relationship with Starbucks.
I hate how a few squirts of a tepid, saccharine liquid makes a $1.50 house coffee into a $3.50 Toffee Nut Latte.
Yet, I love Toffee Nut Lattes. I just hate paying for them.
That being said, I'm a big fan of the other "Big Coffee" store: Dunkin' Donuts. I loves me the Dunkey's.
Starbucks is what I choose to buy when I want dessert for breakfast, Dunkey's is the coffee of emotional transferance.
In short, Dunkin' Donuts takes my anger and turns it into clarity. |
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| Name: | Another Roaster 04204 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:58 AM |
| I think it's ironic that Starbucks claimed, several years ago, to have an abiding interest in educating the coffee-consuming public to the joys of finely roasted coffee (rather than the robusta beans that many "canned" coffees use). In effect, they've succeeded, because people are becoming educated enough to know that there's little variety in Starbucks' roasting profiles -- despite ingenious marketing and packaging.
Thanks, Starbucks! |
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| Name: | dman 04203 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:57 AM |
| Starfux you just SUCK!!!! The only reason you have dominated the USA is because americans(99%) don't have a clue what a good cup of espresso/latte/cafe con leche/capp etc..... You'll not make it in Europe because we've had espresso coffee before you were ever even thought of!!!! The only people that go to starfux in euroland are tourist americanos that don't have a clue! Keep your shit out of the EU!!!! Oh another thing.....if you make a drink why is it sofoking HOT....I'd like to enjoy my java now not in 30 f&*^ing minutes you corporate dips*&ts. |
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| Name: | Ignacio 04201 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:57 AM |
| I have been going to Starbucks for a couple of years, but I've recently gave up on them. They are just too expensive. I did a budget analysis and found that I had spent over $1,200 there in 2004. That's A LOT of money. I resent them for the fact that they charge $30/month for use of the TMobil online service. That should be FREE.
So, I went out and bought a good Espresso machine and I can duplicate a Cappucinno and an Expresso to perfection (I think that mine are better). However, I haven't been able to match the Frappaccino. It's complex. I basically make a cappuccino and cool it off. They I add it to the blender. No dice. I think that I'm missing "Heavy Whipping Cream". Anyone out there know what the secret elixar is? It could save me thousands of dollars! |
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| Name: | john hocking 04369 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:55 AM |
| Hello,
Thanks for the site. anything that degrades and exposes
starbucks for its extreme corporate mentality to the exclusion of any standards of excellence is appreciated.
I am lucky enough to have at least two great locally
owned and run coffee houses in my town. i am constantly
amazed at the numbers of people who choose starbucks over
these two vastly superior coffee offerings.It is totally
evocative of lemmings marching over a cliff.
The thing that really frosts me is there obvious predatory
practices.if a local house has been successful and plowed
the fields starbucks will open as close to them as possible and use their economies to drive the local out of bussiness or at the least make their profits shrink dramaticly.
Their speciality drinks are particularly hideous. i could
go on but i want to read some of the comments.
jh |
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| Name: | sara 04374 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:55 AM |
| im pretty sure im about to get fired from the job i have (where i'm at this very moment) because i keep forgetting to come in and stuff. and i visit websites like this instead of working. but anyway, i wanted to work at starbucks so i typed it in and found this wonderful site. so you guys are saying i really shouldn't work there? are you sure? do they pay more or less that six dollars an hour, i guess, is what i am really asking. |
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| Name: | Tommy Richardson 04375 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:54 AM |
| I hate Starbucks. Ok, now that I've got that out of the way. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who just absolutely hates this damn corporation. I will not give any of my money to those assholes. I love coffee. Even if starbucks was the only coffee shop for miles and miles, I still wouldn't give them the time of day or penny I've earned. F**K STARBUCKS AND THEIR NASTY, SNOTTY FOLLOWERS! |
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| Name: | sickofit 04376 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:54 AM |
| So whoever posted about the hours for insurance is right..with hours each week fluctuating by up to 10...its really hard to know if I will even get to keep the benfits I try so hard to earn |
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| Name: | Francisco 04372 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:51 AM |
| I hate Starbucks for cultural reasons, near and dear to myself. I have been a coffee drinker since birth - expresso (real coffee) - learned from an Italian father and Cuban mother. People with common practice of dipping a pacifier in coffee and creating the insabtial taste for this wonderful brew! I'ver lived in wonderful places like Rome, Buenos Aires, Miami where coffee is a ritual for many ethnic groups where less than a dollar gets you a shot that is nothing like the fake crap they sell at Starsucks... in many parts of the world coffee is the center of heated political debates, long family traditions, romantic spots for al night dates. Corners of the world where coffee starts and ends the day. Places where liqour is mixed with coffee to heat the soul or becomes the meeting place of an entire community. Yet leave it to Starbucks to teach the world what coffee is not and what it should never be!!! Profit, franchising, corporate stocks, dividneds etc. They have smashed the wonderful culture of "cafe" and replaced it with an overpriced and overated concotion that one could find at 7-11! Starbucks sucks here in America and everywhere! |
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| Name: | emily 04379 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:51 AM |
| i am the shift supervisor that always makes sure you get a break. even when it means that i don't get mine. i rarely do. stupid ass half caf triple venti nonfat sugar free hazelnut no foam 175 degree one and a half splenda latte. i never realized your palate was so sophisticated that you can tell the difference in 1/2 a splenda. in addition to the ridiculous, self important customers and the whiny lazy bratty baristas i baby sit all day long, i have yet to see any of the starbucks propaganda, excuse me, mission statement in action. my store does not embrace diversity. we do not contribute to our community. hell, i have yet to be properly trained. we are encouraging fat people to get fatter. picky people to be pickier. i work at the neighborhood crack house. for shame, for shame. sarcasm gets me through the day. that and the knowledge that when smart alecky high school kids come in and order a six shot caramel machiatto i give them decaf. i brew fair trade every week and do organic french presses fairly often. i find small ways to monkey wrench the system and it makes me giggle. embrace diversity my ass. my manager made me take out my second and third very small, very tasteful earrings. im six days in on a nine day stretch before i get a day off and the drama... oh the drama. i do not make enough $$ for this much stress. it's only coffee. and i work for a multi national mega conglomerate corporation with meglomaniacal global takeover tendencies. respect and dignity. it's a great theory. treat people well and they will want to work for you. but how accurate is that that? and what are we as a culture sacrificing? for convience and consistency in super high sugar content my loyal customers will never experiance the variety of coffee houses that exist. p.s. white mocha sucks and so does every selfish bored housewife soccer mommy who spends hours in my store gossiping and letting their kids get hyped on caffiene and run around like little wildebeasts in my predominatly white and wealthy area. |
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| Name: | twilliamee 04378 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:50 AM |
| I just want to see what this is all about. I love the distaste for SB and I have some great ideas upcoming |
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| Name: | Cole 04377 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:49 AM |
| Yea SB sucks.Just because it is American. What I am saying is that the traditional French/Italian places is how it should be, not franchised American crap. And all the women think that lugging around a tall latte will somehow make them more posh. I also heard SB treats their Latin American workers really bad. Why do Americans have to be so stupid?! |
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| Name: | Mary Howick 04380 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:48 AM |
| A friend of mine has a severe mental illness that he has struggled with for years. He likes to travel to Chicago and visit the museums. He recently went into the Starbucks near the Field Museum. He told the women working there that he is the richest man in the World. I think he said it twice. My friend is never violent or aggressive. The manager came out and told him that he was going to "throw him out" My friend asked not to be thrown out because he has broken his back in the past (true statement). The manager said he didn't care about his back and made him leave.
It was unbelievable to me that they have such a low tolerance for people. Who cares if he says he's the richest man in the World....for that he was "thrown out"! I'm boycotting! |
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| Name: | FireCat 04381 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:47 AM |
| is anyone else just sick and freakin tired of having some slack jawed, drooling, excuse for a customer come in and just pander all over the counter until you FINALLY give them your complete and total and full attention? It was literally closing tonight, and this guy comes in, and pretends to have a cell phone conversation until I've effectively handed off my counted till to my supervisor and dropped my drop. Now, before I dropped my drop, I even made sure that someone took care of this customer, but he still waited around to talk to me.
Normally I'd find this nice, or flattering, but the guy has got to be like 40 and I'm barely legal. And he's creepy. Like, you're waiting to see his face in the paper as registered sex offender.
Starbucks is nothing more than a Bartending/MeatMarket job, without the alcohol and nudity. |
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| Name: | Dane Stonebraker 04382 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:47 AM |
| I hate starbucks too. I like going to the little guy. It's better and its like half price! Plus who likes coffee anyways. Its all about the steamers baby!!! |
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| Name: | Sissy 04383 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:46 AM |
| Well I've never worked for Starbucks, but I was a barista at Coffee Bean(another evil company that underpays and overworks it's employees). *sniff* I can see that all baristas have to put up with the same kind of crap! What the bloody Hell is wrong with some of these customers!? I despised those morons that would come in and order something completely absurd! I mean why on Earth would you demand soymilk in your drink cause you're lactose intolerant but then you ask for extra whipped cream? I'll also never forget this woman who got mad and started shouting at us out because SHE took the lid off HER drink and dropped it on herself! Oooh! The customers that really pissed me off(I'm sure it happens at Starbucks and every other coffee place) is morons who come in during the morning rush. I hated it when there was a line out there door and yet some bastard would shout "Hey hurry up! I'm already late for work!". If you're late for work then why the Hell would you stop for a cup of coffee!? I dunno..I guess some people look down at baristas and think they can talk to them any way they want. I haven't been a barista in years, but to this this I sympathize with them since I know they work hard, don't earn much, and have to put up with morons. Anyways I don't like Starbucks since they're overhyped and honestly not that good. Thanks for letting this ex-barista speak her mind! |
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| Name: | BaristaX 04385 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:41 AM |
| I am a former "partner." I can't blame the customers for their actions. They have just bought into the Starbucks Manifesto. As a prospective employee, my manager sold me on the wonderful benefits that they offer, completely glossing over the horrible pay. After all of your benefits kick in, you are lucky to have a livable wage. If you have ever gone to a regional meeting, you know what a cult feeling there is to it. It is more like a Klan rally, than a meeting. I hated my time there, making a crappy wage for overpriced and overrated drinks. I have made cappucinos before, and those are not cappucinos. Our manager has never been held accountable for how horrendous our store is. She has always been able to cling to her job by selling one of us up the River (Road Store #7608). Starbucks doesn't get it, and never will. 18-25 year old college kids don't need stocks, and anyone older than that needs to make more than 6.50 an hour. Starbucks should go to hell. |
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| Name: | Andy 04386 |
| Date: | Mar 10 2005 01:40 AM |
| This site is really interesting and enlightening to read! Really makes me see starbucks in a different light. I actually used to drink Starbucks coffee almost religiously. I think they do make good coffee, but now I have found better coffee to buy and to drink. There is nothing like the satisfaction you get from supporting and encouraging small local entrepreneurs. I am up in Canada and if anybody reads this and is interested in supporting fair trade and likes the idea of truly organic coffee then look up "Kicking Horse Coffee" it's roasted in Invermere, BC, Canada.
Well worth trying....My fav. blend is called "KICK *SS" and it really does does kick Starbucks *ss. Best of all, I can buy it at my locally owned little grocery store, bring it home, brew it and drink it while sitting in my p.j's!! |
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