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: | Ex-Barista 02193 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:40 PM |
| STARSUCKS ! |
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| Name: | Rich 02192 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:40 PM |
| I don't work at a starbucks but i'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and assume that it's one of the worst jobs imaginable. Busting your ass for 7 dollars an hour so some inbred moron can get his double venti tall skinney slim soy milk fu**in frap/coffee whatever the f***. My best friend's girlfriend works at a starbucks and she thinks it's the best thing going. Why, it must be awesome to act like a giddy little fag and offer tastey overpriced treats to go along with shit tasting overpriced coffee. Poor local coffee shops are going out of business cause of this corporations overwhelming greed. Something needs to be done. |
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| Name: | John 02202 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:39 PM |
| to: Managers of California Starbucks.
Are your bonuses based on the income versus expense of your stores? Specifically, do they calculate workers compensation claims into the bonus payments? |
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| Name: | thecanadian 02201 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:39 PM |
| Unfortunately, I live in a city that has been monopolized by big American stores like Costco, Home Depot, Starbucks, Pier 1 Imports, etc and there is no longer any way for local businesses to make it. Just recently, a local organic cafe was forced to close. Its chai lattes were a billion times better than Starbucks and two dollars cheaper! |
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| Name: | 02200 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:38 PM |
| Reguarding dating or family relationship in store. I was recently fired from Starbucks. I was a barista working part time and going to school. I worked for them for over a year. My store manager and I started hanging out outside of work then it lead to more. He was the one that started flirting and making comments. He wasn't being a perv or making remarks that made me uncomfortable but he was making it clear to me that he was interested. I really started to like him. It was just really strange because I never thought that I would get involved in something like this. First of all he was my boss and 14 years older than me. Anyways other ppl at work found out which I still have no clue how. And then our dm became aware of the situation. And on her usual visit she informed him that I was to be terminated. (I aslo was working the day she came) It's total bullshit because everyone that worked there knew our dm had a thing for our manager. She actually asked him out to dinner and was was always so nice and calm about issues going on at out store that she should have been pissed about. The whole thing just pisses me off. And then she pulled me aside and told me why I was being fired and that I should have more respect for authority... HAHA I couldnt believe the things she was saying to me. I know that she was just jealous that the hot store manager and I had a thing going and she wanted it to be her. (However she thinks that its all me and that I was the one at fault) I'm still think that the whole thing was so unfair but I was getting sick of that place anyways before anything even started happening between my manager and I. Starbucks is not the great company to work for that its made out to be. I could go on and on about why this is. I'm so glad I'm so glad that I'm no longer one of their slaves working for hardly anything an hour. I hate starbucks! Oh and he told me how sorry he is. And for me not to worry about anything and that he will support me finacially...lol |
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| Name: | rayn 02199 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:38 PM |
| i am a former employee of starbucks. i understand people say it is a good company to work for, but that is crap. the managers work you short so they can make there bonuses for the month, people think its great that you can get benefits from a part time job, but try to get 20 hours per week for 8 weeks in a row to qualify, you will work 18, 15, 20, 18 etc. just so you cant qualify, plus we only make 6.75 per hour, where in this world can you live and try to support any kind of family on six dollars and seventy five cents an hour? the drinks are completely over charged, for what you pay 5.00 for costs starbucks about .30 cents. when you as customers even remotely give employees the wrong look, or a nasty tone of voice, or even if the employee is in a bad mood, your drink will be made wrong, your shots pulled to long so they are bitter, but you people keep coming back, as a matter of fact, the "spite" drink was the first thing i learned to make when i was training. this is an excellent website, i hope it helps inform the public that they are only bulking the bank accounts of a few people, and it certainly isnt the employees making there drinks. |
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| Name: | 02198 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:37 PM |
| First and foremost, I respect every single person'w opinion on this site. You're entitled to it. I agree there are alot of opportunities Starbucks has to improve itself, or whatever you feel needs to happen. The fact of the matter is that Starbucks is a member of the fast food industry, and while they're an over-priced member, thats all they really are. Many of these comments could be said about McDonald's SHake machine, or Wendy's Chili, or even Panera's Sandwiches. The only negative comment I have yoward many of the people posting on this site is, If you don't like your job, quit. I'm a believer in if something doesn't work in you life, eliminate it. I commend those who realized Starbucks is not a part of their lives and therefore quit. For those of who whine about how your job sucks because of this or that, do something about it, the only way your live will change is if you make it so. |
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| Name: | keep an open-mind 02197 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:37 PM |
| I don't have anything against starbucks as a coffee shop, but I dislike for a kind of crazy globilization that makes identical stores pop up everywhere that have no individualism or culture. It's kind of sad that we even have mc.donalds in almost every country in the world...it's like sucking the life out original life that once was...i dunno that's my 2 cents. |
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| Name: | Brigitte 02196 |
| Date: | Apr 03 2004 06:36 PM |
| This message is in reply to Birdie about a hostile work environment. While Washington State has the "at will" employment law, it is not excluded from EEOC guidelines set forth by the State and the federal government. It is against employment law to harbor an unsafe, unhealthy and hostile work environment. Plus, retaliation is unacceptable. If, as you state, have documentation, to include proof of reporting the situation to those who can and need to do something, then I recommend that you beat feet to EEOC immediately!!! Trust me, NO company wants a visit from EEO -- they will crawl up your "wazzu" with a microscope -- I know that for a fact -- I worked with EEO in Washington State and investigations are not pretty. I should also add that I work for Starbuck's as a Barista on the East Coast. I have to admit that the customer base and employee attitude are tremendously different from that of Seattle. Don't know what it is or why, but I am ready to hang up my green apron and call it a day! |
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| Name: | starskills? 02170 |
| Date: | Apr 01 2004 02:02 AM |
| okay kids... i am a fairly new manager of the bux.. I saw this site before I started working for them and thought everyone was crazy. NO LONGER!!! I hate working for Starbucks! I hate that good kids are totally screwed over, all they are trying to do is make some money, yet our labor is too tight, the good kids don't get enough hours, b/c the crappy ones can\'t be fired! What the heck is that about? As for whoever said it\'s our fault that the stores aren\'t clean.. that\'s BS. It\'s upper management\'s fault (by that I mean the people above store level.) We don\'t have enough time to really clean our stores or we get freaking yelled at by DM\'s for having too many hours. I hate Starbucks and I am soooooooooo sad that they bought Torrefazione... that was some good coffee... I\'m afraid to go there anymore. |
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| Name: | Mutual 01118 |
| Date: | Apr 01 2004 01:55 AM |
| The Starbucks staff tend to get a little perplexed when two people enter the coffee shop and only one of them purchases a coffee.
They look at you in the most peculiar manner.
I suggest that the 'Starbucks dufus guide to serving customers' handbook should have some kind of reference to such a bizarre occurrence. 2 people , one order of coffee....mmm.
In particular we would like to refer to the EC4 branch in London, UK |
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| Name: | bob 02191 |
| Date: | Apr 01 2004 01:52 AM |
| let's not belabor that point anymore, don't date your boss, or your subordinates... moving right along. |
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| Name: | babybat 02188 |
| Date: | Apr 01 2004 01:51 AM |
| FAO: Bunny. According to the Starbucks UK partner handbook, close relationships (i.e friendships) between Starbucks partners are a good thing, becuase they build teawork; but romantic relationships between partners, where one partner has a supervisory role over the other one, are considered a conflict of interest. For example, a relationship between Barista/shift, shift/asm, asm/sm or any variation thereof. I think you'd be ok if it was 2 partners of equal responsibility (barista/barista; shift/shift). In the event of such a relationship developing, one partner would be transferred to another store to prevent any preferential treatment in a day-to-day working environment. If this could not be achieved, one or both partners may face termination. Furthermore, the company may refuse to recruit/transfer/promote partners if doing so would breach this policy (i.e if your S.O wanted to become shift at a store where you were barista; or if a shift/shift couple faced promotion to ASM). Any partners engaged in a relationship will be expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner at work, be considerate to other partners, and not engage in displays of affection.
Note - this does not only apply to partners dating - it is also intended to prevent preferential treatment between best friends (cronyism) but that's much harder to regulate!
The guidance in the U.S partner handbook may differ slightly, as I would imagine that it is much more aware of the potential for lawsuits etc. HTH!
(NB. - if you are in a relationship with your manager - get out! It could *very easily* backfire on you! either quit the company, transfer, or quit the relationship! Just MHO...) |
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| Name: | Marie 02190 |
| Date: | Apr 01 2004 01:47 AM |
| Bunny - regarding dating or family relation in the same store...on individual cannot be subordinate to another. Therefore, an SM can't date an ASM, an ASM can't be a barista's uncle, etc. If there is a relationship that forms, typically one of the two individuals transfer to another store close to their original one. |
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| Name: | me 02189 |
| Date: | Apr 01 2004 01:47 AM |
| Our assistant mgr just got transfered for making nookie with a barista (they were both married!). if you date someone that is your mgr. on any level it is considered a "conflict of interest" and you will most probably be terminated. Baristas can date baristas until it creates a problem.....but if you deny deny deny and don't have any witnesses or hard proof nothing can happen. |
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| Name: | European 02175 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 03:12 AM |
| Hello, I have to say that since Starbucks opened in Madrid... we have tried to convince everybody that we knew not to enter and not to buy.
But they have some things aginst them:
- You cannot smoke
- They are over priced and spaniards do not drink 1/2 liter of coffee in the morning.
- We have 2 ways to serve coffe: Con leche and cortado. (Both are expresso´s)
- When we go and have coffee is not to take it away... we like to sit, smoke and take our time.
The only ones to enter this place are the turist. When they should be drinking coffe and a truly "Café" that we have millions of them.
I is a shame... they are multiplying like crazy. Now you see them in Barcelona... What are they going to do next sell coffe at the Picasso museum? |
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| Name: | Bunny 02165 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 03:10 AM |
| Does anyone here knows about SBUX Codes on Dating Co-Partners? Could Managers date Shift Supervisors? Could Assitant Managers date Baristas? Could Baristas date Shift Supervisors? Could Baristas date Baristas? Is this allowed to happen if the partners work at the same store? Answers will be appreciated. Thanks! ;) |
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| Name: | walt 02164 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 03:10 AM |
| Along with several other people, I am a former employee. What disgusts me the most is the way people act about Starbucks. Those morons will treat you with the worst disrespect because they have got to get that "fix" they have yet to have for the first time today. I say first, because they will most likely be back again and again. People actually believe thier days will be ruined without thier Starbucks. There are people whom spend 3000 dollars a yaer in that place. That is just sickening. The ones that are the worst drink those damn fraps. Not frappuccino blended coffee, fraps. The coming of a blizzard coupled with hell could not stop those people. Not to mention, all Starbucks employees love to make them. Every junior high school kid has to have one. I love the illusion that Starbucks is the best company in the country to work for. If they only knew. Employees have to average 20 hours a week in order to get those health benefits that cost 100 dollars a month. So most managers keep most of the employees under that so they can not qualify. They pay so well too, ever wonder why most employees have two jobs? Thier penny pinching is so bad I have seen managers put hot water in the white mocha to thin it out so it lasts longer. Those stores are in worse shape than you can imagine, trust me they do not care. They do not have to care. No matter how bad you treat those customers they keep coming back, maybe not to the same location, but to another. Headquarters knows that, this is the extent of frequent customer stupidity and ignorant obsession. |
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| Name: | Aus Barista 02159 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 03:10 AM |
| Hi. I was place temporarily in a Sydney store, on my third and last day at a particular location i cashed out, and was already 20 minutes late to leave, well im about to leave and the asshole SS or whatever says "Hey wait! Im going to count your till, if its down you aint going nowhere". Now i counted my till and i was 20 cents up, well he takes another 10 minute of my time. He then says "good your 20 cents up" i roll my eyes, he then raises his tone suddenly and says "Your using the cancel button way too many times" I said "I was told to use cancel instead of void when i make mistakes on the till" the then yells and says "YOU TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VOID AND A CANCEL". Bloody assholes! It sucks working for them, ive been here for 4 weeks now hating it so much.
OH and as for customers wow dont i have a story to tell you. So i was steaming the milk for this fake corportate lady, as the milk was steaming i was having a causal friendly conversation with my co worker, all of a sudden this woman says "Excuse me would you mind stop talking and making my coffee- im in a hurry".
Me and my partner went on defence and said "Im sorry we cant make the machine go any faster- so it makes your difference" . She gives us a sarcastic smile and says "Look just do your jobs okay!!!"
I was tempted to throw the hot milk on her face. |
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| Name: | UK barista 02137 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 03:09 AM |
| I wrote this as an article for college...
"Being A Barista (or Coffee Monkey):
Why Some People Just Have to Complain"
For the past 15 months I've been working as a part-time barista at the biggest coffee shop in the world. Like all jobs, it has its up and downs. The pay rate for a fully trained barista is £5.15 per hour, an amount that is excellent (taking into account that I'm only 17) compared to how much most high street retailers pay their teenage slaves.
Pay day is every two weeks so I don't have to be skint until the end of the month like most jobs. I get on well with all of the people I work with, the bitching is very minimal. The regulars are mostly friendly and say how much they like coming in for their daily grande decaf soya caramel machiattos.The work isn't that hard and can actually be looked forward to.
Whilst all this may sound like a great job, I haven't yet mentioned the one reason that a lot of people get so annoyed within their workplace - the complaining customer. The customers you deal with every day become the most irritating thing in your life. You have to rely on the fact that if no one has said "My skinny latte's gone cold" or "Can you turn the music down", then each customer was pleased with his or her 'experience'.
You can spend a whole shift standing at the till, picking out which customers look like the 'moaner' type. The ones that do it in a friendly manner don't seem as bad, but you know you have to go out of your way to do something that is usually rather pathetic. But the fact that they’re being polite seems to somehow put them on your level, and you respect that they need your help.
As for the complaining drama queens, you hate them for making your day so difficult. Whether they ask for a cake that looks like it's got a couple more nuts in, repeatedly change their mind on what they've ordered, whine that we can't heat up the bagels or croissants or ask for refunds on half-eaten food that's 'too hard' despite most of already having being consumed.
I can't understand why customers pay extraordinary prices for a toasted panini, and forget to collect it, or take the wrong one when they've been told what flavour is being handed out at that point. The 'evil paninis' part of the job, as we call it, is the probably the most frustrating. We repeatedly have to tell customers "We'll call your panini out in three minutes and bring it over when it's ready", yet they seem to just scramble for the first one they hear, end up taking a bite out of the wrong one, complaining it's wrong, then having to wait another three minutes (depending on how busy it is) for the right one, finally getting the right one and then being given a Starbucks "Recovery Voucher" so that they can get free drinks next time. Why should they be rewarded for being thick?
Apparently they'll return for their free drink, and then keep coming after that. In my experience, I've remembered the people that do it on a regular basis, either because they're being snidy trying to get free food/drink, or that they're just plain stupid. |
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| Name: | Bruce Campbell (witness protection) 02180 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 02:49 AM |
| I worked at Starbucks for a year and a half. It is one of the dirtiest establishments ever. It \"looks\" clean, but it\'s not. We had a HUGE knat problem.. they kept breeding. The exterminator said it was because of a hairline crack in one of the floor tiles and when we mop, as long as a microscopic amount of protein gets in there, TADA!
The bathrooms looked clean, but I wasn\'t about to get down and clean the toilet really well for $7.15. So you wipe it down with some windex and a glove. (sorrie ladies)
Never touch anything. Gotta love the sexual tension that starbucks breeds. It sorta of worked in my favor for a while. Flirting with the manager, emails, dinner, and then.... Milked it, until she got pregnant (by her husband). Pastries must have formeldahyde. Don\'t look in the drains, or into the sanitizer water. don\'t touch the floor mats without gloves. and Starbucks produces more garbage than any other organization known to Earth. Out of all these milk jugs and other containers, into the trash they go, with only voluntary recycling and partners taking in in their own cars to the recycling place. |
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| Name: | WebCam 02181 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 02:49 AM |
| your site is outstanding. It is set to be my homepage |
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| Name: | two parts one part 02183 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 02:46 AM |
| hi, i own the monopoly on water. yes i know, it\'s highly unfair, but relax, we havent been charging for over 4 billion years, and even when we did, the units we dealt in were so unstable you couldnt even draw with them, let alone harbor them in your pocket. Anyhow, I\'m excited when I see people using water in keen ways, like the water car, or canals, or even squirt guns, but I have to shake my wet finger at the starbucks corporation for not only instituting cruel policies, but fashioning a hip facade to fool those face value many who like the taste of corn syrup. Its a shame most have forgotten the satisfying feeling of the glucosides offered by many other sweeteners, particularly licorice root. Yet tradition yields to convention, I just wish convention hadnt become so damn hapless. Oh well, the icebergs are moving in soon anyway.
Hope you all have rafts for those coffee sacks.
bb |
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| Name: | customers-soul destroyers 02184 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 02:46 AM |
| aS a starbucks part time barista in the UK i hav 2 say i love the site, but what gets me is not the pathetic degrading pay, nor the incredibly poor managment system and not even the ridiculous coffee tasting but .... the CUSTOMERS!!!! if i have to smile whilst trying to obtain an order from some one on the mobile phone, or a group of young teens all ordering chocolate bloody cream fraps one at a time, or customers exclaiming in horror as if it is newS 2 the world (And the staff) that their cappuccino is half foam, or their latte has not enough of the stuff, or stand and wait while customers stare aimlessly at the menu board and then order exactly the same as they do everytime i will scream. i love the way you can spot regulr "problem" customers a mile off- you know they will not be satisfied with their drink and declare never to return, and yet back they come to order the same beverage the following weekend! the group of 10 young teens who order 1 kids hot chocolate between them all and then all settle down for the afternoon without purchasing anything else between them--- I DONT THINK SO!!!. I ESPECIALLY LOVE the people who couldnt pronounce caramel maccchiato if their life depended on it, u make my day! or those that persist on calling chai tea lattes, tai chi lattes DESPITE correction on several occasions. The poeple that order soya and then have whipped cream on top, or non fat milk and add syrup and cream----what is the point!?!?! i love the ones who order a grand latte with one shot decaf one shot regular coffee are these people insane or do they enjoy annoying the staff who already hav a fantastic day facing customers who throw coins at you rather than add the tiniest bit more effort and god forbid place it in ur hand!? the people who order extra hot milk, but extra wet at the same time and then are horrified that they may have to wait a moment while their far too hot milk settles. The regular individiuals who know that toasted sandwiches and alike cannot always be bought to their lips, and they may have to get off their lazy, scowling,"im on my lunch break can i jump the queue?" asses and come and get their sandwich as requested clearly by the staff yet fail to do so EVERY TIME--- how is this possible!!!??? the people who scowl at you personally when you have to explain that the frap blender/espresso bar/dishwasher/ coffee of the day/ is not working today-- IT IS NOT our personal fault if starbucks maintenance team are as ineffective as the appliances they are supposed to fix!! the people who ask to see nutritional info on our cakes and pastries- its a fair enough request but please god not when there is a queue leading out of the door of scowling customers who no doubt will complain, declare never to return... and then stroll through the door the following weekend to make my day once again - YES MANY OF MY POINTS MAY BE MINOR, BUT BOY DO THEY ADD UP TO COMPLETLEY DESTROY YOUR DAY... AND YOUR SOUL! |
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| Name: | me 02185 |
| Date: | Mar 31 2004 02:45 AM |
| Kona will be served at starbucks starting april 23 if ya wanna pay 19 dollars for a half pound |
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