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: | Herr Nichts 03417 |
| Date: | Sep 02 2004 12:04 AM |
| Starbucks' campaign, or whatever you want to call it, about health benifits is a lie. Maybe not for a lot of other people I know, but I have worked there for over a year and a half and have never received my health benifits or anything of the sort due to not getting 20+ hours a week. My availability has never been so crazy that they could not give me at least twenty hours a week. I have had four different bosses who have done this to me and everytime I have confronted any of them about it they beat around the bush and try to tell me to get more hours at another store, and never tell me a believable reason that they can't give me enough hours. Last week I had vacation time, which I was very specific about it only being one week, but I wasn't on the schedule again this week, and again I'm not on the schedule next week. I understand they can't guarentee hours, but why would they hire people only to have them not be on the schedule? Plus they've written me up twice for completely bogus reasons. One of the times they didn't really give me an answer. The other time wasn't even my fault. Nieder mit Starbucks! |
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| Name: | JSIDE 03416 |
| Date: | Sep 02 2004 12:04 AM |
| mom of an x ss...starbucks can fire you at anytime for any reason |
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| Name: | Mike 03415 |
| Date: | Sep 01 2004 06:26 PM |
| To all that still work at that poor excuse of a coffee shop;Think of yourselves as "on the job saboteurs"and break something.It costs alot of money to fix an 801 or a la marzocco machine.If they arent giving you the money,make them spend that money somewhere else. |
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| Name: | Fatboy 03414 |
| Date: | Sep 01 2004 01:12 PM |
| Unfortunately, the majority of people are not interested in protecting the rights of others, and time and time again I find a few people standing up for what is right and morally correct. Good on ya. |
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| Name: | Sanctum 03413 |
| Date: | Sep 01 2004 11:43 AM |
| To COMPETITOR: I do not doubt for a second on the expense of running a coffeeshop nor discount the difficulty in running one. I know a barista who tried that path for a few months, went out of business and returned to SB. I never stated it was that easy. I also never said to challenge their legal department directly but to include the Department of Labor and the federal government to add some weight to the argument. The idea is not to go and file a lawsuit blindly against SB but to build a case against them by reporting it to the Feds FIRST. That's exactly what happened to Best Buy when customers complained of product fraud to which the state of Ohio stepped in and slapped Best Buy silly around to comply, no matter how rich or powerful that company is..if they did'nt comply..guess what? The Feds kick its arse "Enron Style" with guns pointed.
If SB is doing something illegal in the 'white collar' market, the FBI or CIA would know about it already. Would they take action right away? Probably not but I'm sure they're building a case quietly.
And yes, due to the cost of running a store could be difficult but it seems you empathize with SBs as a store owner. Nothing wrong with that..but let me tell you the real truth I discovered. I saw a book in a local SB about 2 years ago which had listings of all starting wages to maximum in all areas of the U.S. Did you or did you NOT know that baristas (get this everybody..pay attention)..in Las Vegas make $13/an hour starting out? I'm not lying on this one because I SAW the numbers. The book got revoked by SB about 2 years later..want to guess why that is? Think about it.
If SBs as a conglomerate can pay baristas $13 an hour in Las Vegas but can't in other states, then what is their problem? They should have the capacity to do so. I'm quite sure it's reflective on the growing economy of Nevada, but the point is the hypocrisy SBs on the issue of wages and benefits. I've worked for SBs for several years and make $7.75 an hour when I should've been getting at least 3-4 dollars more than that.
I'm very positive that someone here as a barista or SM may know about the 'wage' book I'm talking about or at least remember it.
As far as being an unregulated business in the name of capitalism, there's a problem. Regulation matters or things go out of control. It's why we have the OPEC to regulate oil prices..if supply goes down, prices go up in value due to demand, etc..even though it's somewhat a bit complicated than that. Or an electronics company building a new PC could assemble one for cheap but has to price it accordingly (there's a certain percentage to it) but they can't just wing it and think of a price on the fly and go "Oh, let's charge $5,000" for no apparent reason and then hype it up for all its worth when people find out the materials are actually cheap.
Then again, SBs may have been buying unique beans and had to pay top dollar (if this was the case, then why are there stories of SB shortchanging Fair Trade farms? Hmm?)..so that they can rack up the price just a bit. SBs had to be a regulated company. If they were unregulated..they'd get the attention of the government. I know that there is a certain limit to pricing your products and remember this from Economics class but it's been years.
For your business, I'm curious..how much do you actually charge for a small cup of black coffee? And how much does it cost for you to buy a pound of coffee beans and price it accordingly?
The issue is that once a company becomes a monopoly, it becomes the government's concern. Look what happened to Microsoft.
To ICED LATTE: the Radio DJ. I vaguely recall...but this is one of the things I was trying to convey by using the mass media to expose SBs. This is one of the things they fear the most. F the lawyers from SBs. They may be able to chew a person up but they can never, EVER chew a population's voice of the masses. |
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| Name: | bitterbarista 03412 |
| Date: | Sep 01 2004 12:18 AM |
| my new name is scarbucks... ()(#$*%&$ I'm a asm and I hate the company. Oh, it's so frustrating... can I tell you how much I have scared myself working for this company? I've been with it less than a year and I am desperately searching to get out. Trying to make sure I have all of my stuff taken care of before I get out. But can I say to you amazing barista's and SS who work your asses off, thank you. I'm so sorry that we can't give you more money for all of your hard work, that you may get written up cause your drop was more than $5 short, when you served 90 people in a 1/2 hour, that all of the chai spilled on you at the begining of your shift and you'll smell like it all day, gross!!! I freaking hate it and hate pretending like I care. I'm sorry it's always short staffed and stupid people get to work there and man there are some dumb ones. I hate having to fight with people if they should have lids on their cups too, I hate setting 10 min timers, coffee timers, blah, blah, blah, what a pain in my ass. Thanks for dealing with this. |
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| Name: | iced latte 03411 |
| Date: | Sep 01 2004 12:17 AM |
| LAUREN: I wish I had customers like you. I applaud you for your action and I wish more customers followed your example! Having rude customers come in was the worst part of the job. I preferred cleaning a public toilet than dealing with them! There must have been an ad in the paper for jerkoffs to patron there because that's what we got in the last five months I worked there. How I wanted to throw their much desired coffee in their faces. And the bad thing is that you can't say anything to them because they'll report it to the district manager (even if it's a policy written in black in white) and to corporate who will then tell us to cater to their needs or the next time they report it they'll get a free coupon book! Wow, starbucks really cares about their employees, to allow them to be treated this way, and make the rude customers think they own the world. But if I see any of those customers now, I'll tell them off in a minute.
FORMER/CURRENT EMPLOYEES: Do any of you remember "The Scoop" which had an article on a radio dj who had a bad experience at starbucks and spoke about it on the air, and starbucks told us they could lose lots of business that way because something like that reaches a mass audience? I think we need to start calling radio stations! |
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| Name: | Nicole 03410 |
| Date: | Aug 31 2004 08:29 PM |
| ROFLMMFAO!!! Oh Carl, Cappucino, you just made my night! I'll never forget the training sessions. "This is breakfast blend/light note/one of our craptacular blends. What does it remind you of?" "It reminds me of a bright and sunny morning eating eggs sunny side-up." "It's earthy...kind of like an archaeological dig." My response: "Oh, gee, it reminds me of the 7-11 on Wisconsin Ave...who the hell cares?? It's just damn coffee, it all tastes the same to me! Why don't we taste test some Aquafina, Dasani, Deer Park, and Poland Spring and see what THEY remind us of!" Donwannacoffee...can't wait to hear what happened :P |
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| Name: | Katie 03409 |
| Date: | Aug 31 2004 08:28 PM |
| What's this whole 'Just say yes' rubbish about? If a customer verbally abuses you do you have to smile and be polite? I know a barista who is a complete loony but he still got hired and is a 'coffee master' or something. |
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| Name: | Carl Cappucino 03408 |
| Date: | Aug 31 2004 04:24 PM |
| You know what's funny? Starbucks is very selective of who they hire! They take their interview too seriously. I mean, it's just coffee, people! It's just a coffee shop! |
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| Name: | Lauren 03407 |
| Date: | Aug 31 2004 04:10 PM |
| I go to Starbucks alot. The only thing I find wrong with them is they allow rude customers to get their way. Last week I stepped in and "finished" off the tirade of some female jerk who just insisted she was the second comming of the god Isis and just HAD to have her way even though she was so very wrong. She treated the staff with the utmost contempt as they appologized and offered free drink coupons. But this "lady" had to be put in her place by a gracious well mannered female like myself. I told her to just leave and that she was making a fool of herself by being the person she was. She then starts in at me so I just smiled as she walks out of the cafe like a scallded cat. The applause I got from the staff and my fellow customers was such a joyfull sound. A sound that this "lady" certianly heard. Be nice to people and you will be treated accordingly! Double tall latte anyone? :) |
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| Name: | donwannacoffee 03406 |
| Date: | Aug 31 2004 11:01 AM |
| I was a SS and got fired by these assholes for enjoyin myself on a staff night out. Will post more details when I got the time. |
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| Name: | Competitor 03404 |
| Date: | Aug 31 2004 10:57 AM |
| This is for Sanctum. I am going to try and be nice about this, because I do believe your intentions are admirable. I have to say that your last message makes you sound like a jerkoff who doesn't understand capitalism. Any business that is not regulated can charge whatever it wants to customers who are willing to pay for it. When I had my own shop, I realized what everything really costs, and you know what? It is amazingly expensive with rent, payroll, utilities, taxes, insurances and of course cost of goods. Do the math and << |
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| Name: | Unhappy Girl 03403 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 08:36 PM |
| Oh how I applaud the message from Starf*uck london... I don't even see a need to post since they said it all so well...
When I first went to work for Starbucks I was so excited and dedicated to my job. I understood I was going to make crap for pay and that the shifts were demanding hours... Then I got promoted to Shift Supervisor.. Yay me I thought... then I realize that no matter what I did my manager would never ever be happy because she's a ruthless witch with no home life and nothing better to do than spend all her time at a lousy freaking store where everyone "partner" there hates her except for the ones stuck so far up her hiney they can't see the light of day.... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I hate my job LoL....
For a company that makes billions of dollars a year they treat their employees like slaves, but they think if they call us "Partners" and tell us we're all in this company together we'll overlook it. BLAHHHHHH.
I may not be the most educated person or even the hardest worker, but I am far too smart to stay in this crap hole of a company.
I too must agree, I hate Starbucks. |
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| Name: | starf*uck london 03402 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 05:34 PM |
| I've been working for Sf**k for way too long-1.5yrs as SS and I'm absolutely exhausted and about to quit.The only good thing is the people I work with and we always have fun behind the bar (but they hate the job as well:).All you get in Sf**k is constant demand for more and more while nobody gives a damn about partners-most of them they don't last longer than few months- no normal person can stand working in those appaling conditions for the crappy money!My store is very busy, yet we get same money as people working in stores that are quiet! The stress level is unbearable: the customers can't wait 2minutes for their damn coffee while it's three-four people slaving behind the bar trying to deal with ongoing fraps orders!There's never enough people to work on the shift, especially closing(labour percentage must be low!) and you end up cleaning the floor with one hand while making coffee with another!(you can't stay too long after closing either>see labour cost!) plus the cleaning duties!(hire somebody to do it!my contract doesn't say CLEANER but Shift Supervisor!likewise it's barista and not DEEP CLEANER OF TOILETS!);the working weekends-you can never have weekend off-there's never enough staff and we are never paid extra working on bank holidays when other people relax; ongoing training of new partners because they quit all the time, the constant demand for more and more ("keep selling more shots, food, smile,say yes,do this do that"-you know what I'm talking about-the higher you get the worse it gets.And not to mention the ever-unhappy customers who treat you like a piece of sh.t (and all you can do is show them finger when they can't see you->Legendary Service;).I could go on like this for long!All Starbucks cares for is the money-people, after all, are disposable-one quits they get another.And they recruitment motto goes (more or less): "Come and have time of your life" HA HA HA HA don't kill me!!!NEVER EVER WORK IN STARBUCKS!OR EVEN GO CLOSE TO IT! |
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| Name: | Megan 03401 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 01:31 PM |
| The morons that wrote in about how they work there and love it so much need to step back and slap themselves in the face. For one thing, there was a problem with starbucks beans and their illegal labor. Yes, this lovely company they work for, and love so much, treats workers in third-world countries like crap. So, come on' guys, why can't we see that it is a really nice place and just drink a cup coffee harvested on hate? |
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| Name: | To Sanctum 03400 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 11:22 AM |
| No. They are not guilty of price gouging, just using slave labor. |
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| Name: | Sanctum 03399 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 11:20 AM |
| To: OneWhoKnows. Since you're a commodities broker, if what you're saying is true, does this mean that Starbucks is breaking federal law on price gouging? Have you reported this to the government?
For those of you who want SBs to 'go down in flames', do not sue the manager or DMs, go after the 'bigwigs' above them and headquarters. It's the policy-makers and headquarter administration that should be the focus of the Dept. of Labor, OSHA, and other federal agencies to take them down for unethical/illegitimate practices.
Remember, Starbucks could deal with 1 or 2 lawyers, but to face at least 100 or more district attorneys (state or federal attorneys), they'll get a bit nervy and scared.
EXPOSE Starbucks by opening your mouths..pass out your paystubs and handbooks to the state governing officials and above..etc. Spread the word and write to John Kerry (since he's advocating SB...if you can get him to ditch SB out of embarassment), it'll make Schultz look like a goof.
By the way, there's a drive-thru SBs in the works near where I live and if they open it next motnh, I predict a huge traffic jam and cops will have no choice but to cordone the area and cut off meaningless traffic to the store and the city will have to crack down on SB because the area has one of the busiest intersections of the city by the hospital, gas stations, etc.
If SBs threatens you to shut up, they lose because they just crossed the line there. This is a good website but there needs to be more than just a site...you need a political group to lobby against Starbucks' practices. If you hit them hard, chances are they'll lose revenues in the near future and if that happens, their stores will start to disappear one by one.
What have you got to lose but your dignity? SB is getting away with it for less by price gouging and false advertising. |
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| Name: | Island Girl 03398 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 09:32 AM |
| I live in Guam, a US Territory out here in the Pacific. Thank God they haven’t opened a Starbucks here. Our population’s too small to support one. I love the various coffee shops here that are locally owned and where customer service is personal. Just got back from vacationing in DC and was I culture shocked. Starbucks is everywhere! I don’t know what the big deal is. The coffee’s bland and horrendously overpriced. In Manila, Starbucks is where Yuppies who want to be seen hang out. They think it’s cool. Now why would it be cool to advertise that you’re a poseur and drink crappy coffee? Go figure! Hope Starbucks doesn’t come to my town. |
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| Name: | Lucy Latte 03397 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 09:30 AM |
| Starbucks has in their Mission Statement as one of the tenets: "Contribute positively to our communities and the environment."
Now, most of their coffee is not organic or shade grown, thus contributing to the destruction of tropical rainforests and tropical wildlife.
Also, how many stores have recycling of their plastic milk jugs and plastic cups?
Care about the environment? I think not! |
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| Name: | Leslie 03396 |
| Date: | Aug 30 2004 09:30 AM |
| Yes !! It's way past time for this website to appear. Starbucks has driven out all of my favorite little neighborhood coffee shops that I used to love. I miss the good non-bitter coffee, the good people, the good times, the good feelings.
Starbucks - go away - quite pushing out the small guys, and monopolizing all of the territories. I heard that you can't even open a shop that sells coffee within a certain radias of a Starbucks. They have paid off and contracted the space around them, to kill any future compitition.
Also - they will go after the coffee haus's that are already there, with whatever dirt they can find on them with their own paid private detectives, and get them shut down. I know of three already this has happened to !!
Starbucks = Big Bad Bully Corporation that sells bitter coffee, and has a bitter attitude to match. |
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| Name: | Mocha Mike 03395 |
| Date: | Aug 29 2004 04:54 PM |
| Okay, the next time you go into a Starbucks, ask to see the nutritional contents of the items in the pastry case! They are clogged arteries waiting to happen! |
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| Name: | Joe 03394 |
| Date: | Aug 29 2004 04:54 PM |
| Better than Starbucks any day of the week ... is Equal Exchange's organic fair trade expresso. There's some variation from bag to bag but it is generally consistent in flavor. Buy a good machine and grinder and learn to make your own doppio. With the money you save, you can actually GO to Italy where I don't recall having seen any Starbucks. A barista in Italy would be strung up by the customers for serving the crap they serve at Starbucks. And the employees don't yell goofy unintelligeble orders accross the room either. Starbucks has taken a cultural icon (The Italian bar) and twisted it into some SUV'esque mass marketing campaign! Guess it worked ... crap! |
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| Name: | Manager T 03393 |
| Date: | Aug 29 2004 04:54 PM |
| I GOT HIRED IN AT ONE SALARY,AND THEY PAID ME LESS THAN THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE GOING TO.......I AM GOING TO THE LABOR BOARD AND GETTING AN ATTORNEY. |
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| Name: | Cindey Heidkamp 03392 |
| Date: | Aug 29 2004 04:54 PM |
| I do not like monopolies! Starbucks comes into small towns, where other independent coffee shops are established, move into prime real estate and run the underdog right out of town! If they respected others' territories, I might have more respect for them. Peet's Coffee is my coffee house of choice, and I support them whenever I can.
On another note, Starbuck's is very bitter. |
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