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: | SleeperAgent 05177 |
| Date: | Jul 28 2006 12:50 PM |
| I am on the fence alternating between hating and liking Starbucks. I like the sugar/taste but I hate the big corporation/let's all alter the universe by absorbing this mindless coffee purchasing into our culture/ type of idea. So while I am not yet (there is still hope)a Starbucks 'hater' I have to say that I am grateful for your quick wit and obvious intelligence. Thanks for sharing your creative and artistic gifts on this site!! I had a good chuckle this morning reading through your responses online!! |
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| Name: | Shawna 05168 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:42 PM |
| I applaud you for your site. Recently being forced out of my job at Sbux by a manager that is just bitter with her own life, I have spent the last two years that I was at the store being bitter and angry towards the company for hiring managers with no coffee experience that just want to sit around on their duff all day (cos that is all they do). So I really think what you are doing is fabulous. It makes a difference to some of us. |
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| Name: | screamin' wheelis 05169 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:42 PM |
| I'm a Barista at a local, home town owned coffee house that serves students at UNM good reasonable priced coffee. I just hate starbucks! No real reason, just do!! |
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| Name: | Natalia 05167 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:42 PM |
| What a clever site! Thank you for it. I wish it could help to burst the whole Starbucks bubble. I don’t mind Starbucks’ customers who think that by going there they become “hip young professionals, networking, dating and being happy”. If they want to delude themselves it is their choice. My concern is that Starbucks still manages to get away with their incredible dishonesty to their customers by offering quite simple products at a ridiculously expensive price and the names they come up with for their coffee products are far fetched and simply ridiculous. As they can afford to pick the best locations inside cinemas, gyms, train stations, etc. it is often impossible to get a simple cup of coffee anywhere else! Let’s fight them….. |
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| Name: | John Doe 05174 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:41 PM |
| Dear Chris,
What does that mean "this is America"? You may be in America, but the Internet is everywhere. That type of attitude is why people hate Americans. |
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| Name: | Robert 05170 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:39 PM |
| Jeez. I live in London, and I would bet anything that the number of Starbucks coffee shops has increased AT LEAST fivefold in the last 5 years. Also, some of them are annoyingly close to each other; by the Strand in central London there are two of them within two minutes' walk, and then another one a further 5 minutes. How great is the nation's demand for coffee? Massive. Starbucks is muscling out the smaller independent coffee shops and monopolising the market. Not only is it starbucks, but also Costa, who are dominating the business, serving overpriced coffee to the nation.
Yes, I am aware starbucks coffee is fairtrade. BIG DEAL! You can buy fairtrade coffee from any sainsbury's/waitrose/other supermarket. They even sell it in Oxfam (charity shop). There, you get an entire bag of coffee for less than the price of one mug in starbucks.
I'm not proud to see so many new of these wretched coffee shops around town. Thankfully there is only a small one in my town Enfield, but there is no good independent equivalent. This is because of a typica; English mentality; fear of failure. With starbucks pushing out any possible hopes for those who own or would ever want to start up an independent coffee shop, it's looking bleak. |
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| Name: | Ex-Sonics fan 05172 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:38 PM |
| First of all, I want to just say that my reason for hating Starbucks is somewhat unrelated to its coffee, service, employee treatment, etc. I hate Howard Schultz. I grew up in the Seattle area and have been a diehard Seattle Sonics fan for my whole life. You might think this totally unrelated to the purpose of this web site, and it was up until about five years ago.
Being the corporate billionnaire he is, Schultz decided that, like his other insanely rich corporate couterparts, he should own a professional sports franchise. And lucky for me, the human paraquat chose to buy the Seattle Supersonics. In the same manner I’m sure he tries to get employees excited about working for Starbucks, Schultz tried to sell himself as the owner who would do anything to create a winning team, regardless of cost.
I should have immediately known this was a trick, judging by the exorbitant prices he charges for his liquid sin. And sure enough, it was all a farce. Not only did he run the team’s greatest player and most beloved player out of town, but he threw a temper tantrum when Seattle refused to charge taxpayers for another publicly-funded arena for his new toy. God forbid that a billionnaire be required to pay for his own private wetdream. So, not to be outdone in the pissing contest he created, he decided with all the maturity of a four-year-old to sell the team to Oklahoma City.
So naturally, I have decided that any corporation run by this man is surely evil and is worthy of my hatred. |
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| Name: | Chris 05171 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:37 PM |
| I like Starbucks. I don't know why. It is over-priced, but I still think it's good. What I love about your ihatestarbucks site is that this is America. I'm glad you hate it. It just shows that our free-market system works. Some Starbucks do annoy me. For example in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Queens the lattes are great, but whenever I'm in the city most are not great, and my order is wrong. I still like Starbucks though. Perhaps that is the definition of insanity. I wish the best on your site and kudos to you and all the Starbucks haters, maybe the lines will get shorter. |
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| Name: | Chris G 05173 |
| Date: | Jul 27 2006 01:37 PM |
| I love this site. It's brilliant! The section with all of those that hate you for hating $tarbuck$ is too funny. Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and devotion to this GREAT cause! Please, develop a Top 10 or 100 list of the morons that bash this site. I can't stop laughing. Anyhow, thanks again... I'll be starting www.ihatetarget.com in the future! |
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| Name: | Former Competitor 05165 |
| Date: | Jul 25 2006 11:42 AM |
| Many people take Starbuck's as just being a convenient place to go have a cup of coffee and spend time with a friend or business meeting. That's all great, but Starbuck's does a lot more to a community besides. Starbuck's is all about distribution and pushing their product onto the public at the expense of small business. Starbuck's is not heroic, a savior, a necessity or anything positive as they may want you to think. Share the wealth in your community and keep small business in tact. |
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| Name: | Barista 05156 |
| Date: | Jul 25 2006 11:42 AM |
| I've work at starbucks for three months now and i enjoy the atmosphere, the music, and my fellow co-workers... HOWEVER.. i dislike, the customers and the coffee.. I thank God everyday that i'm just workin there for the season and not for my CAREER!! I dont understand why the customers get this ego that i'm a slave to them and their wishes.... BUT thats the mask that all retail holds... the customer is ALWAYS right and their wish is my command as if they are the president of the WORLD.. screw just the USA.. its global!!! UNforatunately for them, the tiles are not red carpet.. so they can stop being a asz Full of poo!! However i do have to say i have met some of the greatest people and friendlyish ppl at this... so-called prison...(aside)to the creator of this site.. Your a bold person.. however, big business rules the U.S.. it is the USA... democracy is at the mercy of the rich... and written in the hands of the rich... it will take a great many to change that and to change that would lead to a second civil war!!! |
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| Name: | Jodi 05088 |
| Date: | Jul 24 2006 09:24 AM |
| I had to just come here to share the joy of your website! Thank you from a person who loathes Starbucks (probably for all the wrong reasons) but still... |
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| Name: | Lynne 05159 |
| Date: | Jul 24 2006 09:22 AM |
| I don't hate Starbucks, but I can see the point of view of others that do.
I'd like more information from ex-employees if possible, as I am doing a marketing project on Starbucks, and would be happy to include -facts- from employees, not necessarily the PR stuff..... |
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| Name: | Raquel 05148 |
| Date: | Jul 23 2006 10:45 PM |
| I like coffee, but since I read about the Ivory coast slave labor that they support I'd rather not buy from them. I'll just go across the street to the local coffee shop with better tasting and cheaper coffee. |
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| Name: | DM 05158 |
| Date: | Jul 23 2006 11:14 AM |
| I am a sadly one of the many previous employees to step into that vile corporation's hall of disgrace. Yes, yes I was previously a believer, not one who bought fancy $5.00 drinks I couldn't afford, but one who would appreciate the $2.00 large coffee, assuming I was getting the best in quality. I've since departed, and thankfully I am proud of one aspect.....I am not a follower, I never had to succumb to their feeble methods of training, thereby which they forced management to use this vernacular that is suitable to 5th graders and frankly quite embarassing...sadly that was my state for one year. I don't regret working there, I saw first hand how the ingredients in all of their products are full of preservatives, their pastries, stay away, the only thing on their overpriced menu that is of any health value is their coffee...it ACTUALLY is natural, but that too is over burnt in their roasting process.
In truth what one should do is at all costs avoid the Starbucks....if you're walking around in the city and realize that this is the only bathroom you can use for the next 10 city blocks...by all means enjoy starbucks and try not to wince or remark too loudly on their pathetic marketing ploys as you enter the location. But if you're just interested in a overpriced cup of coffee and are willing to pay it, just go to Dunkin Donuts (Naturally try to avoid them also, see if you can find your local coffee shop that is struggling trying to pay rent, good hearted employees; also as they attempt to avoid Starbucks' evil grasp whose only intention is to add another store to that particular store's location and build an evil vortex-like store that will eventualy siphon off any entrepreneurship struggling to build on the American dream and have their own mark on the coffee shop craze) and if you can't find another chain, then SUCK IT UP, don't drink coffee, don't drink your sugar laden frappucino drink (BY THE WAY...there is virtually no coffee in those drinks, you're all wasting your time) and just live one day without your sugar high...or just buy a Snickers bar.
What is the purpose of my rant? I will say this....if you don't have a mind of your own, if you enjoy to have other people tell you what to do, if you truly want to help a bunch of rich corporate a-holes become richer at the expense of your health...by all means dumb yourself down and pay money to the evil conglomerate. But if you're a true believer in the American dream....if you want to help out the 'little guy' then don't buy into it, purhase your own coffee beans, brew your own brew and appreciate coffee the way it was meant to be drank........... |
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| Name: | Tara 05155 |
| Date: | Jul 21 2006 03:11 PM |
| I just ordered a latte with an extra shot - Instead they made it extra 'hot' So hot that it burned the cup to the point of warping and when I picked it up in my car to get the second sip, the top seperated from the base and split scalding hot coffee all over my legs - it feels like a 2nd degree burn - I am outraged and have been on hold at customer service for over 20 minutes.
Are there any other messages out there like mine? |
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| Name: | Competitor/Independant 05151 |
| Date: | Jul 21 2006 08:08 AM |
| Re: Caribou
You can not trust any corporation. Caribou is owned by a huge corporation with ties to the middle east. Please read the quote below from **"The Urban Legend" and decide for yourself. I have been in this business 11 years now as a very successful coffee house owner. I assure you 75% of my business is cash. If there are ties to terrorism this is why they chose the coffee business. Please read and decide to spend your money at a coffee house that is not Corp. Your money may be going to fund terrorism.
**
I checked website and confirmed that Caribou Coffee is owned by this group. DL (Keeping in mind that a Caribou Coffee franchise is opening up at the former Starbucks location on Central in Highland Park, next to Baskin-Robbins)
Looks like I will be going to Starbucks from now on.
As you will see from the links below, Caribou Coffee is owned 87.8% by the First Islamic Investment Bank which, among other things has the following philosophy: "Above all, ensuring that all activities conform to Islamic Shari'ah" The chairman of their Shari'ah supervisory board is: Dr. Yusuf Abdullah Al-Qaradawi Chairman, Seerah & Sunnah Center, Qatar University; Professor, Faculty of Shari'ah, Qatar University.
As you will see from the links below he is also on the supervisory board of "Union for Good" which is a charitable organization to support Palestinians. Nothing wrong with a charity to help Palestinians, but here is a quote from the Union for Good web site:
"The Al-Aqsa Intifada is the latest of a long line of affliction faced by the people of Palestine. Its ancestry dates back to the massacre of innocent men, women and children in villages such as Deir Yaseen and the illegal occupation of Palestine in 1948."
You get the picture. |
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| Name: | Competitor/Independant 05152 |
| Date: | Jul 21 2006 08:06 AM |
| 10 reasons Starbucks is bad...
1. They over roast their beans, roasting beans is an art form and can not be done properly at such a large scale.
2. They serve their coffee in a paper cup. Fills our landfills
3. There barista's are not trained properly. They are not employed long enough to make a relationship with their customers.
4. They do not measure traditional ratios, too much milk not enough espresso. Their drinks are "super sized".
5. Their enviroment is too sterile. Not comfortable.
6. They took italian names for espresso drinks and turned them into some strange drink. Example: A macchiato is espresso "marked" with froth. You cannot do this iced you need to steam milk to get froth? Froth is warm???
7. They claim to sell "fair trade" when in reality only 3.8% of their coffee is fair trade and that is only the packaged product not what is used in there drinks.
8. They offer very little choices in organic coffees.
9. There are just way too many of them.
10. They treat their employees with very little respect and try to avoid paying medical benefits just like our friends over at Wal Mart.
Bottom line is they are a monopoly and if they keep putting the small guy under the top ten list above is going to be the only choice we have. |
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| Name: | Pissed off ex - employee 05153 |
| Date: | Jul 21 2006 01:20 AM |
| I worked at starbucks for ages, and one day, they call me to the head office (which takes 2 hours to get to!!!) and they accuse me of being a bad employee and "stealing" because i refuse to throw perfectly good food away! When there are children in the world who go hungry every day, why waste food? i do realise that the people that i fed weren't starving, but if anything, i was encouraging customers to come BACK and buy some bad coffee to go with their muffin! Whats wrong with giving food to people, when starbucks are just throwing it out at the end of the night anyway? Then starbucks tried to make me pay them for it out of my annual leave, AFTER they've written it off in tax as a loss!!! Non corporate MY ASS |
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| Name: | Angry Employee 05154 |
| Date: | Jul 21 2006 01:20 AM |
| Oh and i forgot to include, dodgy ass manager used to steal from our tills and say we were "down"... MY ASS. It's funny, Australia is so far away from america, but the greed, corruption, stupidity and incompetance that IS starbucks, managed to travel over here too, infecting our laid back culture with all this up-tight, count every cent kind of attitude.
But we get our own back, my fellow employees used to steal chocolate, food, bags of coffee (not to drink, just to throw out), and merchandise. We were bad assests to the company, and i am proud to say that even though starbucks ripped me off pay wise ($8.00 p/h aus), i got my revenge. I would NEVER recommend starbucks as a reputable company to work for, yet alone suppourt by purchasing coffee. How do companies expand and become popular...? Word of mouth. No amount of advertising can equal the reassurance you get from a friend or family member telling you how crappy something is, and that it is not worth the $4 they expect you to pay for low quality produce. As a previous barista, i can say that i honestly do not miss working for starbucks, being under-valued and un appreciated for time away from my family and friends during weekends and holidays. No other coffee company SERIOUSLY opens on christmas day... |
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| Name: | Former Competitor 05145 |
| Date: | Jul 20 2006 06:08 PM |
| You all complain about price. If you want something better to communicate about, take a look at you communities. They look like crap with nothing but large corporate chains. Spend your money on local businesses and give these chains every reason to leave. Don't get me wrong, some we need because they provide essentials. We certainly don't need Starbuck's and it's essential that we don't patron them so they will leave. |
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| Name: | Heather 05150 |
| Date: | Jul 20 2006 05:23 PM |
| Hi there - I am an employee of Starbucks, and as much as I disagree with you about the company, more power to you for voicing your opinion. In this day, people are too focused with blindly causing an argument than trying to listen to someone that voices some valid points. What the hell would the world be like if we all loved the same thing all of time?? A pretty f'n boring place!! Vive la Difference :) |
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| Name: | Tony Hannon 05146 |
| Date: | Jul 20 2006 10:05 AM |
| It’s sad, coffee drinkers pay so much money to get so little value from average generic, coffee because the vendor has good marketing and an aggressive growth strategy. Underpinning the growth strategy is the devaluing of coffee prices, hurting growers and earning them very little money. Negating this lack of moral value (they hope) is the idea that they give away their products to the underprivileged. To me it’s kind of like taking money from foreign poor people, giving the merest fraction to domestic poor people just to convince the majority of people that extortionate prices are ok? They make something like $1.8bn per year – it’s hard to know whether to applaud Starbucks’ ability to entice people to hand over money or berate those people for falling for it so easily. |
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| Name: | Dan 05127 |
| Date: | Jul 20 2006 01:52 AM |
| i just came back from a trip to China. I was taking in the sites having a good time when i came across a Starbucks shop in the middle of the FORBIDDEN CITY. If anything, it should be FORBIDDEN to have a starbucks there. Not cool..NOT COOL AT ALL. |
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| Name: | Thom 05130 |
| Date: | Jul 19 2006 11:17 PM |
| I am neither a hater or a lover of starbucks. I came here to check it out, and see what you had to say. I have many friends who won't go to starbucks for the very reasons you mentioned, I myself frequent only when it is the VERY LAST alternative. I am not an intellectual nor am I a "looser" but I do love your site mostly because it displays what this country is truly about, and that is freedom to express different opinions.
GOOD STUFF!
Thanks |
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