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: | Renae 02660 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 03:30 PM |
| I am so flippin frustrated. I am more than a full time shift manager at sbux, only I do the job of our manager practically! I do payroll, fix schedule snafoos (which I did not create), send in reports for the week, Place all our weekly and daily orders for everything, Get the blame for everything that goes wrong when I'm not the one who created the problems, fill out the GSC and MSR's, review P&L reports, and the list keeps going and going. I do all this while my manager is always on vacation....he's probably involved in time fraud...I've been keeping track of his hours....if he doesn't feel like working, he just tells me to find someone to fill his shift for him, he cuts ppls hours without letting them know and thats his way of saying they do a Shi**y job, he discriminates me because of my age(im in my early 20's). I've been with sbux for almost 2 years and was supposed to be in RMT a year ago, and things just keep getting drawn out. I saw an email the other day for a store looking for everything, from barista's to a manager, and when I said somthing to him he went in and deleted it....he would just cry if I wasn't there to run his F'n store! here's a good one....there are 20 partners in our store including our mgr, and only three are guys....the rest are young women in their 20's and all are relatively good looking....he flirts with all of them..I used to too, but not anymore(I've seen the light side) he flirts to get them to do exactly what he wants. get this, he's going to a concert with another gal in our store who likes him. just the 2 of them...that sounds a little suspicious, don't you think? there are so many things that aren't right in our store and I'm ready to get out. If I come to him with a serious problem he tells me to figure it out myself too, I'm capable of making my own decisions, but how rude is that. no one can call him either....so if the store burns down.....he wouldn't know until he showed up and the place was in crumbles (I'd probably get the blame for it to). ok, enough complaining. Here's to the future...hopefully things will change, cuz I'm tired of it, and I'm not putting up with it anymore. |
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| Name: | KC 02659 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:41 PM |
| J., When customers come in on their cell phones I like to make as much noise as possible. Start blending frappuccino's, steam cider so it's screams that high pitch squeal, and bang around the pastry trays as loudly as possible while ignoring them as much long as possible. One of the things I hate the most is when you go to take a customer's money and they set it on the counter, or worse yet, kind of toss it your direction. WTF is that??? I will not put the change back in their hands, I just set it back on the counter as they hold their hands out expecting respect from me that they don't give. And Joe-to-go's have got to be the invention of some sadistic A-hole with stock in the burn gel industry. With our "new and improved" coffee brewers, that give no space for anything larger than a venti cup to fit under, it has become almost impossible not to burn yourself and ruin the frickin' cardboard box and have to start over atleast once. They all but incourage costumers to treat us like crap, getting them used to our "just say yes" policy and then making us charge full price for a refill if a customer didn't stay in the store, or spent more than an hour in the store. And yet I know that a lot of jobs in this type of industry are not a lot better. Corporations like Starbucks, lure you in, making you believe they are an "employee driven" company. B*llsh!t!!! I could go on and on and on. |
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| Name: | J. 02652 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:11 PM |
| I'm looking for some inventive ways to handle customers that talk on their cell phones while I"m trying to take their order. So far, my way of handling them is:
1. Just ignore them until their off their phone or they realise they wont get service till they can pry their mouths off their phone, 2. Speak really loud so that the person on the other end can hear EVERYTHING thats going on and the customer cant hear a thing on the phone.
Any more suggestions to get the point across??
I read a note previous from someone who was making a comment about "personal days" My comment to that is more than likely your manager doesnt really push people taking "personal days" because it costs the store money, time, and labor for someone who isnt there. I would LOVE to use my 50 hours of vacation, but can i?? NOOOO, because that would affect my managers labor and efficiency for that week. And I LOVE how my manager keeps rubbing it in our faces that HE/SHE doesnt HAVE to grant time off!!! WTF??? We all have part time status.....we should get the time off if we want it. It all comes down to how it affects the store...."personal days" you get paid for...for NOT being there so you bet your ARSE your manager isnt going to push you taking them!! I actually had my manager tell me I couldnt send a parnter home who was throwing up and sick. I mean, honestly, if the health dept had gotten wind of it we could have gotten in serious trouble. I actually stood up to my manager, said I could NOT keep an employee in the store who was throwing up it was against health regulations. Starbucks has shown me out of everything that they dont give a crap about the people who work for them (sometimes the managers are the worst)...yeah sure they provide benefits, so what?? That never repays the loss of dignity that we go thru on a daily basis. |
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| Name: | Eric 02653 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:10 PM |
| I wonder if there is crack cocaine in the frap base... |
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| Name: | I just say YES! 02654 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:10 PM |
| That “just say yes” philosophy is just awesome!!! At our store we use it all the time.
“Is this my decaf double tall 2 and a half equal, 2 and a quarter pump sugar free vanila, light whip breve mocha? … “Yes it is!”
(I gave them a tall mocha with extra whip). “Is that extra hot?”… “Yes it is!” (I gave them the normal 150 degrees).
I want a grande 2 and an eighth pump caramel, extra caramel sauce macchiato. “Sure!”… Smile and say yes! (They got a grande caramel macchiato with 3 SOLID pumps of vanilla). If I had a dime for every time I said “Yes” and the customer left happy after I said “yes” to them even though they actually did not get what they wanted, I would be rich beyond your wildest dreams! Which just goes to show you…the baristas are in control and the customers would just take anything because they just can't tell the freakin difference anyway. It’s all about perception and letting customers “THINK” they are in control. I love my job! “YES”! hahaha. By the way, the stock is going thru the roof! Shall I just say … YES??? |
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| Name: | sunbug867 02655 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:09 PM |
| Starbucks (I should not even say the name ) is out to make everyone who drinks there cruddy drinks really, really, really, really, really, really, really, FAT, FAT, FAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Name: | iced decaf quad venti 2pump rasberry breve extra f 02656 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:09 PM |
| Yeah, I hate it. Come in my line on your cel phone again you weasel looking screwball! Ask me to "please" make sure your mocha latte has no foam. . . WTF is a mocha latte? If you are an idot you should just stay home. The moms comming in with 4 kids and getting them fappachinos are morons. I dont care if I go to He** I dont give those little kids decaf, I save it for there mom. Go crazy in the back of moms escalade, maybe she will be so drowsy from her thoazine she wont know. I dont care amy more. Your kids come in grabbing stuff, putting it in there mouths and you put it back. Where do you think your oj was b4 you bought it? Anybody that goes to sbuxs is just silly! No my store is not dirty, and I have a lot of experiance w/ other coffee shops and know our shots are ok. But really, $6 a day for coffee - no wonder so many people are in debt. Some lady came in the other day and returned her drink. She said it was not chocolaty enough. We asked what she ordered. Do you know what the lune said, really just guess - She ordered a F%$^ing Chai. You are a moron lady. Give us all a break and go to a bar and please become a misrable alcohoic or at least find some other addiction like scrapbooking or something. |
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| Name: | imprisoned mgr 02657 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:08 PM |
| yes, i am an assistant mgr. at the bucks......ridiculous!! i work in a million dollar store and my mgr. is completely crazy......psycho even! my life consists of eat, sleep, caramel macchiato, strawberries and cream frappuccino, venti f*ckin lattes, and rude, unrespectful customers. i just finished working 8 days straight......can you believe that?! eight days, 8-9 hours on the floor serving cracked out asshole customers. i'm burnt. worst of all is that my freakin' mgr. gets all these weekends off and is taking like a billion f*ckin vacations this year and it's all i can do to ask for one extra day off......this company and my psycho mgr. are burning me out. i want out. not easy when i've got full benefits......stock.....and i'm on salary. it's job security. they suck you in and hold you captive. |
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| Name: | Barista Number million 02658 |
| Date: | Jun 16 2004 01:08 PM |
| I am a partner at a local Starbucks and after reading what you all have to say I'm so happy that other people recognize all the hell we go through to make people's coffee. I mean, our store manager has no experience, does SHIT to help us out, leaves us out there all alone in the morning when we're hit with major volume, and then even went so far as to bring up personal issues when its inappropriate. I mean, I want to call human resources but what good is that gonna do. I work and work and for no thanks at all sometimes. I pray for shifts where the partners aren't stupid or stressed out...I love coffee and making it, but working in that store sometimes can cause one to want to shoot themselves... |
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| Name: | me 02651 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 09:31 PM |
| Personal days are pro-rated according to your total average hours for the quarter. I normally work 20-25 hours a week and I'm lucky if i get paid for 4 hours on my personal days. So don't be thinkin' you "lost" all this money because you probably didn't even "earn" a full 8 hrs of personal time in the first place. Also there is NO WAY possible to get paid $$ for back personal days. You get one personal day to use between jan and june then another to use between july and december. It's your own fault for not taking them. Its in the handbook. |
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| Name: | former sbux slave 02648 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 09:11 PM |
| I love not working for this company anymore!!! Reading about how many "partners" experience exactly what I used to encounter on a daily basis makes me laugh. Anyone who gives decaf to the rude, annoying customers I applaud you.
Sbux customers have no idea how much crap the baristas have to put up with, most managers are so fake in their concern for a "WORK/LIFE" balance and district managers they have no clue about how to work in a store much less amnage one. My advice to anyone who thinks it would be fun to make drinks and socialize with customers; go somewhere else. Coffee shops are a dime a dozen including Starbucks. |
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| Name: | antifrapgrrl 02649 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 09:11 PM |
| Hi,
you know, I spend 8-10 hours a day in my store. I spend 90% of my day thinking about everything I see on this site. Stupid, rude, self absorbed customers. Useless DM's and general managers. And the worse, really shitty partners. It's nice to know I'm not the only one that wonders how I ended up here. I'm a smart girl, college degree and all. But it's like they suck you in... I'm 22 with stock, paid vacation and a 401k. Most of my friends haven't even found a job yet after graduation. D*mn if I don't feel stuck here. Anyone here who hasn't gone into management yet: Run. You'll never leave once you do. |
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| Name: | Nicole 02650 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 09:11 PM |
| whoo!!! you go, Siren!! I thought I was the only one who had to deal with those rude "Hi, how are you?" "Tall white mocha" jerks...hang in there, it will all be over soon :) |
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| Name: | Houston TX Barista 02647 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 04:06 PM |
| My store was built from the ground up to be inefficient. The second they had the bright idea to open a drive thru window at everyone's local 'coffee' shop. I hate the drive thru, we get the world worst headsets, crappiest outside box where customers can't even hear us. Hell, Burger King has wireless headsets with a LCD Screen displaying the ordered items outside! The part I actually like about my job is ripped from me as im forced to answear to every beep and endless ranting of engine noise. I can no longer greet customers face to face or have a nice conversation. I am forced to turn into a machine, like a poor assembly line that takes orderes, takes money, hands drink.
Drive thru is the pits. And when fellow partners don't pitch in their fair share to help the line, that really gets to me. Drive thru is not a one man station, even two at more store can fall so far behind the line is backing up an intersection.
Don't even get me started on the joke that is Frappuccino Lite. |
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| Name: | Kiwi 02646 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 09:18 AM |
| Why is the the pay sooooooooo low??? |
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| Name: | Siren 02645 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 12:29 AM |
| I just got home from my fabulius 8 hour shift at Starbucks and decided to vent a little frustration by reading what y'all had to say today. Don't you just love it when you are trying to do your job and say to the customer, "Hi, how are you today?" and of course their dazed caffeine induced response is, "grande, non-fat, no whip extra hot, 8 splenda 5 pump mocha." WTF? I sked how your day was jackass, not what beverage I could fix for you, and by the way, for your rudeness, it will now be DECAF. Don't you also just LOVE the customers who stand there and tell you how to make their drink? "I said extra ice in that frappuccino..." "I think I aksed for that extra hot." I aksed for decaf, is this decaf?" I want to just hang these customers from the rafters by the strings of my stupid green apron. And WTF is the deal with this new frappuccino light crap? If you ask me it is just an excuse for those fatkins, South Beach, fatasses to get their beverage with extra, extra whip and extra, extra caramel without feeling guilty about their fat asses. OK, that's my 2cents. I think I blew off enough steam to make it through 8 more hours of frappuccino hell tomorrow. |
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| Name: | earned my money 02644 |
| Date: | Jun 15 2004 12:16 AM |
| Upset right now because I lost almost $400 in personal days. In 3 1/2 years only took it in the 1st 6 months, because the manager at the time told us we were all entitled to two a year. Everyone was new to the company. When she left, we all forgot about it because no one took another one. Fast forward to the present...when I resigned, my manager, out of guilt asked me if I took one and I said no, because I forgot all about it. But she said she'll still put it in for me even though I wasn't working for the co. but was still in the system. So I calculated all of the missed days with my different base pays and it's a shi*load of money! Called payroll to make sure that the witch put in my last personal day and to ask them about all the other missed days and was told that "if you don't use it you lose it." I'm not the only one who lost personal days because whenever someone is away on vacation or out sick, she writes it on the schedule. If I'm the manager and I see that no one is requesting a personal day I would think that they don't know about it and tell them to take it before it's too late. There have been many instances where people went to work sick because they needed the money or went exhausted from working 2 jobs for 3 weeks w/out a day off! One girl miscarried because of the schedule she had. And if we had known about this, we could have stayed home and recuperated, even if it was for one day but at least we wouldn't get others sick and be a zombie handling hot liquids. So for you guys still there, don't forgot to take your 2 personal days a year. I'm going to get some of what I earned though. |
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| Name: | Fonebone likes *$ 02643 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 11:59 PM |
| Wow!!! Reading all of this gives me new respect for all you SBUX workers. I'll tellya, I could never work there and do as good a job as I've seen you folks do. I probably wouldn't last one day in that job.
Every store I've ever been to is staffed with highly proficient and courteous people. VERY rarely is there ever a glitch or an error that I've seen. When it does happen, I am usually given a free drink or a coupon for my next one free, as well as the the one I paid for, corrections made. You can't ask for better than that!!!
I always treat people the way I'd like to be treated. I can't understand rudeness directed at someone who doesn't deserve it.
My hat's off to you guys. The pressures must be great, and the financial rewards not so much great. From now on, I'll remember to leave something in the tip jar every time I get my fatass American venti double whip extra crap frap, or whatever the flavor of the month is. :)
You guys are awesome!
P.S. I don't understand why they got rid of the "short" sized cup, and made "tall" the new "small" when they added the "venti". BTW, for those who don't know, Venti really IS a word. It's not something SBUX made up. It's Italian for TWENTY, as in 20 oz, the size of the mega-massive $5 drinks the customers are all getting hooked on now. God help us all. :) |
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| Name: | former partner of 9 years 02642 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 09:55 PM |
| A Carmel Macchiato is as much of a coffee drink as a latte, or a mocha, a vanilla latte, etc. Jackal, what are you thinking. Yes, there is more sweet added to it than a latte, but that is what it is. A vanilla latte with carmel. Most of the drinks at Starbucks fall into this category. I guess only drip coffee, a shot or two of espresso or an americano could be considered purely a "coffee drink". |
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| Name: | john 02640 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 07:13 PM |
| Just want to read. |
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| Name: | Barista in New Zealand 02641 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 07:12 PM |
| Alrighty Jackal, I must say that you are right about the sugar content, but your arguement about a caramel macchiato having as much caffiene as pepsi - well of course it does???!!! What's your point? The label on a bottle states: "contains caffiene at levels found in an average cup of coffee." Secondly, you can ALWAYS taste the difference between a 40 second and 20 second shot, in ANY drink, unless you are clueless or your tastebuds are dead. :-) |
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| Name: | The_Jackal 02638 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 09:53 AM |
| Caramel Machiatto IS not a Coffee beverage! NOT. NO!
- it is Steamed vanilla Milk, a shot or maybe two "drizzled" over the top of the steamed vanilla milk and two cross-hatches and a swirl of caramel.
That so-called "drink" is in no way celebratory of coffee. There is as much caffiene in that as a pepsi. The beverage itself is candy and dairy.
Nothing about that drink makes any self respecting barista proud to call it COFFEE. You could use 40 second shots and it still tastes the same, because of the amount of dairy (or soy -even sweeter-) and SUGAR.
And I'm not even gonna touch caramel rasberry mochas. no way.... |
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| Name: | Bunny 02639 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 09:53 AM |
| If you happen to be a customer at the SBUX where I work at and are very rude, or obnobxious, talking on a cell phone and slowing down my 100 people line or are rude to my co-partner at the register, I do society a favor and make your drinks DECAF!!! (It is very dangerous to give caffeine to these type of customers since they could ruin other peoples lives!) And you will not get milk that I just steamed; you'll get the one that has being sitting there for 30 minutes. ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD DRINKS FOR THESE TYPE OF CUSTOMERS!!! ;) But if you're good I will customize the drinks any way you want them free of charge! YOU HAVE TO BE NICE TO THE PARTNERS AND ME TO GET THE SPECIAL TREATMENT! I don't mean tips, I mean be nice, polite and friendly to us! ;) |
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| Name: | spookbaby 02636 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 01:50 AM |
| I think this site is hilarious!I have to say I was always anti-starbucks. I thought it was trendy overpriced nonsense.My friends and family would go in and buy there carmel whats???
Now a year ago my best friend became employed there and they hooked me to their beverages like drug pushers! I can't stand who I have become! I have trained my 8yr old son -the frappucino addict- to understand small=tall,medium=grande and venti=large. To which he recently asked "what's up with that anyway?" What IS up with that? Learning how to correctly order a drink is about as much fun as standing in a crowed room in your underwear. (unless your into that of course)
To a "barista to be" I suppose their friendly atmosphere and good benefits are alluring. But I've seen the torture they put my friend through. I listen to her stories sometimes horrified at their heartless approach. And as I sip my decaf vanilla almond latte w/ soy, I try to be a good listener and tell her not to let the "man" get her down. |
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| Name: | Erika *Howard Schultz can kiss my ass* 02637 |
| Date: | Jun 14 2004 01:50 AM |
| Hi Leira,
You questioned the revelance of Starbucks in Europe. Well, a couple of years ago I went to London which I know isn't mainland Europe, but still Europe. More people flock to Starbucks there than they do here! As a barista from Los Angeles, I was appalled. The lines (that's right--lines. Plural!) spilled outside the shops onto the sidewalk! Baristas were ordered to walk through the streets of Soho and such sampling frappucinos to pedestrians. Man, and I thought sampling to just the customers inside my store took away dignity. But I agree with you. Europe doesn't need Starbucks. It already has Italy.
I think this site should become a forum for all of us disgruntled Starbucks "partners" to vent our frustrations. All of you cocky know-it-alls who write in to say we're just "jealous," "righteous," and whatnot. Why don't you work back-breaking labor 40 hours a week and still try to wonder where the money for your next tank of gas to even drive to work is coming from? It sure ain't from tips cos that goes to food. And you Starbucks employees who write in to say that the job is so great. God, you're so naive. |
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