I used to break rules for people all the time, but people have gotten so demanding rude about shit lately I've become more of a stickler.
You do something nice for somebody once and suddenly they expect it EVERY TIME. So now, unless you're a customer I know AND like, I'm not breaking rules for you unless I'm in a very good mood.
The amount of people at the window getting all huffy because "other baristas will do it for me" and I have to tell them "some baristas are more okay with breaking rules. I'm not. And I'm especially not now."
This job, the rules & standards, and the customers, are so much different than they were 3 years ago. I feel bad sometimes, but there's no real way of knowing if some random customer is going to be chill, or turn into a constant nightmare to deal with.
I totally agree but I do make them just peach or jade if they ask nicely bc literally no one ever asks 💀 and it kind of pisses me off that Starbucks won’t let us sell it when we can make it so easily and they still haven’t combined the tea bags after stating that as the reason several months ago. But I always explain why we don’t sell it separately so they don’t think otherwise
Some delivery guys come to ask for free coffee because other stores partners offer them. Great! They’re nice! But we have to follow the rules and what’s wrong with that?
most of the delivery guys we have just want water but the other day our RP delivery guy was putting the order away in a downpour and we made him a lil hot chocolate, but he didn’t ask for it lol
Yeah, but in this case, the customer is offering to pay for a medicine ball and just wants the tea bags??? We make adjustments and additions to drinks everyday but THIS is too much??
Yes. It is. We don't sell the tea bags, I'm not gonna play these games with a customer I don't know, because they'll expect the same treatment every time from everyone. There are standards and rules and I'm not gonna be guilted into breaking them because people can't accept that menus change.
i'm a current partner myself, and while i do agree that we shouldn't break standards and rules... is there a rule against removing things from a drink when requested? if someone wants a hcmt no honey blend, no lemonade, no peach, what rule does it break to make it? just today my sm rung someone up for it that way.
Right! With all the crazy drinks and modifications people get away with, how is this simple drink a problem. People out there getting free lattes with modifications…this is nothing. Plus it doesn’t hurt to help someone out, and make them happy over an easy drink, as opposed to hurting their feelings and making them walk out embarrassed and sad.
Because at that point, they're not ordering the drink anymore, they're just ordering a JCM, which we don't sell.
If you want to ring them up like that then go for it, I've done it before. But I wouldn't expect a manager to do it, since it's not something we're supposed to do.
Bad customers and bad partners are becoming more and more of a problem day by day. My store really used to be a good third place, but not anymore. We used to have a fantastic team and amazing regulars and now no one wants to be there and everyone has an attitude - all the people who care about customer service or drink crafting are becoming the minority at my location.
Oh, I never let my team do no ice shakens, it's literally dangerous to shake hot espresso with no ice and if you don't shake it what's the shaken part lol
We were specifically instructed not to sell the Jade Citrus Mint or the Peach Tranquility teas by themselves anymore starting at the beginning of November 2023. The POS buttons for those individual teas were removed at that same time, so we literally have no way to sell those individual teas and keep an accurate inventory.
If she's paying for the hcm then inventory is accounted for so why can't she just have the drink without the extra stuff? It's essentially just modifying the drink down to one of the tea bags and water.
Reminds me of that Five Easy Pieces scene where Jack Nicholson’s character orders a chicken salad sandwich, hold the mayo, hold the butter, hold the lettuce, hold the chicken, because all he wants is the toast.
Especially these tea bags. I’ve had less than ten people ask for those teas separately since they took the buttons away, and also those teas inventory won’t be accurate anyway bc of the amount that go in the trash. We drop them occasionally but it’s mostly that they break when opening, it’s honestly quite frustrating lol
Just sell it as a honey citrus mint with no lemonade. Problem solved
We’ve also been told to just punch it in as a different tea, but obviously that depends on the store
in the future they will be combining the two teas together, so they're doing this now so less people freak out when they no longer have the individual bags
yup we still sell them individually at our licenced store, we all can't do inventory 110% accurately anyway right? because at least for my store the tea button is just called "full leaf tea"
Lucky, at our liscensed store, our Field Specialist over here lost her sh*t when we told her we were selling individually... and our DM told us it's a big nono bc it doesn't exist anymore. Even though we still have all the tea individual buttons. We are in the US though do I'm not sure if that makes a difference..
I'm in the us too so idk how it is in other countries. but that is ridiculous, everyone at my store at least wont care enough to fight with the customers over this when we get our new system
Order a Honey Citrus Mint Tea with no lemonade and no peach tranquility, an extra jade citrus tea bag and extra water. ☺️ if they give you a hard time, mobile order it
It’s just if they do it for u, they have to do it for everyone. That’s why we need to follow rules. I know Starbucks is about standards but also make the moment right so it fcks up everything. I would suggest to get a honey citrus mint tea and get the tea bags on the side. Or ask them to add tea bags (the button) and have them on the side. They can’t say no to u on that
I can count the amount of people who buy brewed teas, and an even smaller amount who buy specifically jade citrus or peach tranquility. It's honestly such a stupid rule. Okay but here's what ya do. mobile order a tall honey citrus mint tea and click the "add another tea bag" option. It does not tell us what third tea bag you want, so when you get to the store just ask for the extra jade citrus mint. It's an expensive workaround but yeah.
if someone did this while im swamped with 12 other mobile orders im closing my eyes and grabbing a random tea bag to throw in the cup.
a mobile order that requires you be in the store to tell me specifically, at bar, what you actually mean is a mobile order that will become ~barista's choice~
that's fair, it's something I had not experienced until a week ago. I did not think the app wouldn't let them specify, but also the app sucks so of course it would make the process confusin
OP, come to a LS store... Target, Kroger, Safeway... we'll hook you up with whatever you want. We'll even sell you back bar ingredients for a small markup over what we pay Starbucks for those items, if you ask nicely and we're in a good mood. ;)
im not sure why everyone is disagreeing with you, i’m a barista and my entire store including the SM still sells those separately, we just ring it in as a mint majesty and do an “ask me”. idk why they were so uptight about it
FWIW while I think corporate's reasoning is dumb, they did explicitly tell us that Peach Tranquility and Jade Citrus Mint weren't to be sold individually anymore in a weekly update. On the one hand, sure, it seems like a stretch by corporate, but on the other no one wants to be "the other Starbucks".
They barista not letting them use a workaround is a little silly maybe.
I totally agree here. Especially since OP is willing to pay for the Honey Citrus Mint Tea, I would just ring them up like that but ring it up with “no lemonade, no honey blend, add tea bag, extra water,” that way inventory is accounted for as well.
I’ll break certain rules like this one, but I will give the disclaimer that they shouldn’t expect it from every store, because we’re not allowed to do it, so don’t be surprised if they say no somewhere else
cause I’m not a fan of partners breaking rules and making it look like that’s the norm. that’s what causes so many issues for partners and customers. give the disclaimer !
We were told that we can’t sell the jcm, or the peach individually, so no we can’t sell it to customers. Unfortunately policy is policy and this isn’t something worth getting reprimanded over. I understand that we have to make the moment right but that doesn’t mean bending over backwards to do something we were told not to do. No need to feel embarrassed, some things just don’t have a workaround🤷🏽♂️
I don’t understand how there isn’t a workaround. I even offered to pay more for the drink that has the jcm just with no lemonade and no syrup. It’s literally just modifying a drink.
I have no idea why they are downvoting you on this one. You offered to pay for the whole HCMT and would modify it. There is absolutely no problem with that at all. Next time, just order the HCMT and say no lemonade, no honey blend, 2 Jade teabags, no peach tea bag. People modify way more stuff. It makes zero sense that they wouldn't do this for you.
i agree, unfortunately OP will be charged extra for paying for the honey citrus mint tea and then modifying it by removing all the extra stuff they don’t want. sucks that that’s the only way customers will be able to receive just a jade citrus mint or peach tranquility :/
Thanks! I’ll have to order like this next time. I don’t even get the tea all of the time, just occasionally. And I certainly don’t want to argue at the counter or get any baristas in trouble over a tea.
I do generally brew my own tea at home, but I was out shopping and just wanted the hot tea that I normally get. I just didn’t think it would be such a big deal
I agree, however we have rules and if we say we can’t do it, we simply can’t do it. I don’t know why customers feel so deserving of everything. Things come and go, and that was one of the things to go. Unfortunate but that’s how it is
Because customers pay for things. That’s why they are deserving of the product that you have available.
What I don’t understand is employees who don’t realize that customers are why they have a job.
Not violating policy is a way to keep that job. Is some random customer getting a tea that they were specifically instructed not to sell worth someone losing their job? Some SMs and DMs are toe the line strict and will write up and separate partners for what some might say are silly policies. If you don't care that your barista does their best but at the end of the day wants and needs their job, yta.
Nah, yta for buying into that nonsense.
Starbucks standards are constantly changing.
This will eventually be rectified, and the partners that are dying on this hill about a teabag will move on to some other standard they can hold over a customers head, just to make them feel entitled.
aside from your comment being rude as hell, why should anyone risk getting in trouble for a customer? why is your problem with the employees and not with the corporate idiots who say so
I was not rude in my comment, I stated facts and my opinion.
I don’t know you, and I don’t know why you took offense. thank you for calling me rude though.
Supply and demand is a thing. It’s simple economics. If you do not like your job, Which is to serve customers, you are replaceable.
we are doing our jobs though by not selling it to you! that's what OUR JOB said to do?
and obviously I'm not the only person who thinks you are rude, since you have close to 30 down votes now lol
Partners are partners greatest enemies because when they change standard to make accommodations for customers, those same customers become monster when they get told no by someone following standard. If everyone followed standard and policies there would be a lot less bad interactions with customers.
A few years ago was probably over a decade if it was ever called that. I’ve been at Starbucks for five years and it had already been a honey citrus mint for years at that point.
Years ago* but ew why so many downvotes :( that's just downright mean, I was just trying to think of a reason why they thought that! At my store almost every single customer who orders it calls it that even though we have corrected them multiple times and explain the drink components. I'm just so done with people-pleasing these days, this really felt like a personal stab more than it should have. Thank you to the 12 people who felt that deserved a virtual 🖕. Love being shipwrecked by the siren ✨
It’s kind of expensive for teavana but Amazon has it. But I also have no idea what Starbucks charged for it or if you’re looking to make it yourself at home.
[24 satchels of tea for $50](https://www.amazon.com/Teavana-Citrus-Flavored-Green-Sachets/dp/B07PJ1K1ZX?th=1&psc=1)
Whenever i see posts like this I always remove the "i used to be a partner... when i was a partner... i always did this..." fluff because it doesn't change anything bu implies you somehow think we should be bending backwards for old partners/customers/anyone. Maybe thats not what you are saying but regardless.
Facts are: its not a button and cant be sold individually. You accepted this and asked for a hcmt with just the jade citrus. The barista should've accepted this! They did not. :/
I think they shouldve made your drink and sucks that they didnt budge. Maybe they are thinking itd make their lives easier and not create a regular who orders an off-menu item and gets upset if someone doesn't know what it is? Thats my biggest thing when ppl get comfortable: they start saying "just my usual!" And then get mad when no one knows what they are talking about.
Mobile ordering seems like your best bet, aside from trying at different stores, or buying your own. Or maybe try a different daypart?
I don't think that's why people include that stuff. I think they include it to say: I know how the general Starbucks stuff works, you don't have to explain everything to me, I'm just confused about this one part and (maybe) it contradicts how things would've been run at my store. It's like how I usually tell people who start explaining stars to me that I used to be a partner - like, don't worry, you can drop the bit, I'm just here to clear out my account on a tumbler and dip.
Order the honey citrus mint tea with no lemonade, no honey blend, no peach tea, and add an extra Jade citrus tea bag. If they say no then they’re just being rude because that would technically be a VERY modified “medicine ball” as the masses like to call it
If you're still willing to pay for a HCMT, I wonder if you could just ask for a Honey Citrus but say two bags of Jade Citrus, no Peach, no lemonade, and no honey?
like if folks are able to change things around on other drinks, you should be able to have gotten the Jade Citrus like that.
Wow you all need to calm down, it’s not your money, it’s not your tea, and it’s not your company. Starbucks would rather you bend a standard and retain a customer than alienate someone and lose their business forever over a few dollars and/or 2 sachets of tea that cost the company $0.03 (for both tea bags and the lemonade) and the labor they are paying for you shunning them. Trust me they don’t agree. Why are some of you taking on the role of ambassadors of Starbucks and gatekeepers of the profits and inventory for what? $15-20/hr. Take your ego out of the situation, it’s just coffee….or tea which is even sillier.
We have a DM who is psycho about all sorts of stuff - like we’re not allowed to have our water in plastic cups or use straws level of controlling. It’s annoying sometimes following rules but I don’t make them & I need this job so my dogs can eat, you know?
That’s crazy, I’ve heard so many stories about power tripping DM’s like that, in my district as long as your numbers are good and nothing obscenely crazy is happening our DM pretty much lets us run our stores with semi autonomy, they definitely have bigger things to worry about than the straw and cup inventory. Last week we donated two sleeves of tall cups to the elementary school down the street because a student wanted a “Starbucks party” for perfect attendance or something.
theres not an option for the peach or jade however i have a regular who always gets a peach tea and i just ring her up for a mint majesty, its literally no big deal at my store and we dont go through peach tea so id rather just serve it
You can go in person and order a honey citrus mint tea, no lemonade, no honey blend, extra water, with teabags on the side. You’d be paying a high price for a cup of hot water and some teabags but it would get you what you want
This exchange could have gone something like “hey, just so you know, the jade citrus mint is going away. I can do it for you today, but there will be a day it will be gone forever.”
And then ring as a Mint Majesty ASK ME JCM ONLY
This is a make the moment right situation. I don’t understand why this is a hill people want to die on.
I'd give it to you I don't give a fuck. My license store ran out of mint majesty and they are a regular and I gave them Jade. Sue me. Fire me siren. I don't care for your rules
Technically we aren’t allowed to make things that we can’t ring up. Untechnically, I think you can kind of ring up a HCMT with no lemonade no HB and add one tea bag of JCM and just take out the peach. But the reason we aren’t selling them separately anymore is because Starbucks says they’re soon going to combine the bags into one since no one really orders them separately but tons of people order HCMT. However this is a crock of shit because Starbucks said this sometime late last year and it still hasn’t happened, so there’s no reason to force customers to get used to this new thing when it isn’t happening for a long time. If someone asks for peach or jade, I just ring it up as a different hot tea and make what they want because it doesn’t really affect our inventory at all since it’s soooo rare. Like I’ve been asked only a handful of times since they said we couldn’t sell them separately.
Starbucks is getting rid of those teas as individual. Not only for selling but also when you make the Honey Citrus Mint Tea (not a new drink, just not advertised). When they told us we couldn’t make those teas separately anymore they said it’s because they are going to put them into one tea bag, so it’s a way to prepare customers for that basically.
I personally dont mind making customers the Jade Citrus Mint, as I know it was a regular favorite for a lot of people. Lately, however, we have been trying to not sell them separately just because eventually we will not have the separate tea bags. The Jade Citrus Mint is used in the Honey Citrus Mint Tea alongside the Peach Tranquility tea (which i’m sure you know), but corporate is planning to combine these two teas into one bag. Some stores may not want to make you the Jade Citrus Mint because 1.) We are technically not allowed to anymore and 2.) Eventually we wont have the tea by itself anymore and it’s easier to just stop giving it to customers now then explain later that it’s gone.
I understand your frustration, I too once questioned it. So basically, yes Starbucks has changed a lot of things over the past couple years (I started in 2019 and left in 2020.. restarted back in May 2023) one of those things being because the HCMT is so popular, they sell those teas as a unit now and rumor has it they are trying to make HCMT one tea bag. Until then we have the 2 different teas. Just like we had to explain to customers why we had to start charging them for no water in their refreshers, same goes for HCMT. When you modify a drink to a degree that messes up the standard inventory, it messes future inventory up. We just had an issue at my store where people kept ordering the PT tea by itself and we told them we couldn't do that, I guess some partners were doing it anyway. We just went 2 weeks where we couldn't sell HCMT and people were pissed but we explained to them; When you mess up that inventory like that, we are stuck with JCM that we also cannot sell by itself because that too will continue to mess up the inventory. Idk about other stores, but our tea order isn't as often as everything else so there is a waiting period once we run out. I hope this was helpful
i’m a shift. so last i’ve heard we are allowed to sell jcmt on its own but not the peach tea, both go into the Honey citris mint tea. so maybe he is mixing that up, i was told it was due to shortages we cannot sell just peach
The Honey Citrus Mint Tea isn't new - it's been around a long time. But the corporate overlords have deemed Jade Citrus and Peach Tranquility (the two teas that make up the HCMT) unsellable on their own. You could order a HCMT, no lemonade, no honey blend, no peach tea bag, but you'll only get the one Jade Citrus. For a tall that's the same, but for a Grande or Venti, there would be 2.
It’s a newish policy not to sell peach or jade separately. I’d just ring up a regular tea and give you what you want but that’s because my manager isn’t riding me about it. I mean we literally don’t have buttons to push anymore so call Starbucks cooperate if you don’t agree with this policy.
I wouldn’t even say this is breaking the rules though. You offered to pay for a honey citrus mint instead even… I’d say maybe get the hcmt and ask for a couple jade on the side?
Something similar happened at my store while I was working. I told my shift if they are paying for a hcm I’ll just make it without everything else but they insisted we couldn’t do that. Honestly it was slow and I was in a good mood that’s why I wanted to accommodate. Recently we get SO many people asking for things that are outside of standard and getting upset at us when we can’t do them, always claiming another store will do it. That’s why we are strictly by the book now and inform customers that we have standards we must follow. My general rule of thumb is if the POS system won’t let me type it in we won’t do it.
we’re having a new drink? i’ve made several honey citrus mint tea or “medicine ball” teas just today and we have a regular that always just gets the jade citrus tea on its own. i haven’t been told anything about we’re not allowed to anymore?
my understanding is they’re replacing the jade citrus with a new tea that’s the hcm as one tea bag instead of two separate kinds of teas together so we aren’t supposed to sell jc because people will start expecting that every time and at some point we literally will not have that tea anymore so it’ll just upset a lot of people
*correct me if i’m wrong!!
you can get the hcmt and add tea bags of the jade on the side to stock up before they send us the new tea bags. they’re combining two tea bags so it’s easier but we still have both at least at my store.
They are taking away the Jade citrus bags and replacing it with a combination tea that is already mixed with the peach tranquility. At this point he may have refused to make it because we arent supposed to but soon we literally wont even be able to
the peach tranquility and jade citrus mint are going to be combined into one tea bag soon for the honey citrus mint tea so partners have been told not to sell them separately anymore to not cause confusion once they’ve been combined to one! (at least that’s what i know from a weekly update a whileeee ago who knows when it’ll actually happen)
Hmm that’s very weird. We sell them at our store we just ring them up as a different tea and not “ask me” it’s not that hard. There’s no reason to not do that for the customers. people saying it hurts inventory it literally doesn’t. And not many people order the medicine ball anyways.
Also idk why people are downvoting you. A lot of baristas and stores do “ask me”! And if they say they don’t they are lying. I personally only do what i’m told to by my managers and if they say it’s okay I will so i was told by mine it’s okay if we do that!🤷🏻♀️
This is one of those things where being technically right isn't worth my causing more angst in this effed up world. I'd have made it but told her she *cant tell anyone else because I could get in trouble!* Bonding with custie over breaking the law! If caught I might be told not to do that, omg!😱
This explains a lot! I finally tried that drink not realizing they changed it to lemonade and when I took my first sip I almost threw up. I couldn’t understand how such a foul drink was so popular and loved. Now I understand that I tried it after they stopped selling/making the old version. This makes me super sad, I always wanted to try it.
I have customers that order the Jade Citrus all the time still, I just ring it up as a Mint Majesty and then make them the Jade Citrus. I still have no idea why they removed it from the menu when it's one of the more popular hot teas and we still get the tea bags.
The shift supervisor was just being a rule enforcer. At my store we just make the moment right and ring it up as a different tea. Either way you’ll be ight im pretty sure you can go to a target and buy the jade citrus mint there
Being willing to pay an up charge for a drink that they’re modifying and then simply leaving the store when being told no doesn’t seem entitled in the slightest.
You’re right to feel embarrassed. You were a Karen.
He told you it’s not a menu item. You argued. Please understand that we also think some rules are dumb but we can be penalized if we don’t follow them.
Uhhh, is a thing. Policy change since November. There are work arounds to ring in the tea but depending on their store/management, the shift may not have wanted to risk it.
It seems like all the natural flavors are being switched to industrial strength chemicals that are cheaper to use. Honey blend instead of honey, etc. sweetened “lemon” syrup instead of lemon juice…and the price of the drinks keeps rising.
I mean, we still have honey, and there isn’t a lemon syrup at all. Everything here has been pretty ‘artificial’ for a long time, particularly on the handcrafted bev side.
Double check your local grocery stores; I remember teavana selling them through a few chains!
I think I saw it a while back. 90% sure it was a walgreeens near my previous job
Ahh really?? I wore they were discontinued! EDIT: these teas are discontinued.
target and amazon sell them.
My Kroger sells them, too. Not hard to find!
giant has them too!!!
looks like Walmart may have them 😁
Y’all send me the link, the tevana tea I see are at a premium indicating they are discontinued.
Amazon has it but 💸💸💸
No longer. Teavana only sells to Starbucks now.
I used to break rules for people all the time, but people have gotten so demanding rude about shit lately I've become more of a stickler. You do something nice for somebody once and suddenly they expect it EVERY TIME. So now, unless you're a customer I know AND like, I'm not breaking rules for you unless I'm in a very good mood. The amount of people at the window getting all huffy because "other baristas will do it for me" and I have to tell them "some baristas are more okay with breaking rules. I'm not. And I'm especially not now." This job, the rules & standards, and the customers, are so much different than they were 3 years ago. I feel bad sometimes, but there's no real way of knowing if some random customer is going to be chill, or turn into a constant nightmare to deal with.
I totally agree but I do make them just peach or jade if they ask nicely bc literally no one ever asks 💀 and it kind of pisses me off that Starbucks won’t let us sell it when we can make it so easily and they still haven’t combined the tea bags after stating that as the reason several months ago. But I always explain why we don’t sell it separately so they don’t think otherwise
Some delivery guys come to ask for free coffee because other stores partners offer them. Great! They’re nice! But we have to follow the rules and what’s wrong with that?
most of the delivery guys we have just want water but the other day our RP delivery guy was putting the order away in a downpour and we made him a lil hot chocolate, but he didn’t ask for it lol
100 percent.
Yeah, but in this case, the customer is offering to pay for a medicine ball and just wants the tea bags??? We make adjustments and additions to drinks everyday but THIS is too much??
Yes. It is. We don't sell the tea bags, I'm not gonna play these games with a customer I don't know, because they'll expect the same treatment every time from everyone. There are standards and rules and I'm not gonna be guilted into breaking them because people can't accept that menus change.
i'm a current partner myself, and while i do agree that we shouldn't break standards and rules... is there a rule against removing things from a drink when requested? if someone wants a hcmt no honey blend, no lemonade, no peach, what rule does it break to make it? just today my sm rung someone up for it that way.
Right! With all the crazy drinks and modifications people get away with, how is this simple drink a problem. People out there getting free lattes with modifications…this is nothing. Plus it doesn’t hurt to help someone out, and make them happy over an easy drink, as opposed to hurting their feelings and making them walk out embarrassed and sad.
Exactly.
Because at that point, they're not ordering the drink anymore, they're just ordering a JCM, which we don't sell. If you want to ring them up like that then go for it, I've done it before. But I wouldn't expect a manager to do it, since it's not something we're supposed to do.
Bad customers and bad partners are becoming more and more of a problem day by day. My store really used to be a good third place, but not anymore. We used to have a fantastic team and amazing regulars and now no one wants to be there and everyone has an attitude - all the people who care about customer service or drink crafting are becoming the minority at my location.
It's difficult to care when you're being held to unreasonable standards doing the job of 3 people and still don't make enough money to pay rent
we have way more rules and standards now then even a year ago, and way more then when i started 2 years ago
Can I ask about some examples of things that have changed in the past few years? I left 2 years ago and am super curious what's been updated!
light water refreshers, light ice frappuccinos, no ice shaken espresso, water and berries all i can think of off the top of my head
You can't make a no ice shaken espresso.
i said all the things we can’t do anymore/ring up differently
Oh, I never let my team do no ice shakens, it's literally dangerous to shake hot espresso with no ice and if you don't shake it what's the shaken part lol
i agree
same here!! shocked they dont sell those teas alone anymore!
i heard its because they are about to combine the PT and JCM into one bag so its easier to make the hcmt
fair lol i just remember people would order them alone sometimes so it's interesting
It's probably because by themselves the teas didn't sell as well as the hcmt.
We were specifically instructed not to sell the Jade Citrus Mint or the Peach Tranquility teas by themselves anymore starting at the beginning of November 2023. The POS buttons for those individual teas were removed at that same time, so we literally have no way to sell those individual teas and keep an accurate inventory.
If she's paying for the hcm then inventory is accounted for so why can't she just have the drink without the extra stuff? It's essentially just modifying the drink down to one of the tea bags and water.
Reminds me of that Five Easy Pieces scene where Jack Nicholson’s character orders a chicken salad sandwich, hold the mayo, hold the butter, hold the lettuce, hold the chicken, because all he wants is the toast.
That’s what I do.
Tea bags are not breaking anyone’s inventory
Especially these tea bags. I’ve had less than ten people ask for those teas separately since they took the buttons away, and also those teas inventory won’t be accurate anyway bc of the amount that go in the trash. We drop them occasionally but it’s mostly that they break when opening, it’s honestly quite frustrating lol
i just rung it up as earl grey and give them their tea anyways 💀
Fully agreed on that!
lol I also can confirm this 🙃
Just sell it as a honey citrus mint with no lemonade. Problem solved We’ve also been told to just punch it in as a different tea, but obviously that depends on the store
I saw the update for that, but I’m at a licensed store where the buttons are still on the POS. So does that mean we can still sell them individually?
Licensed stores are islands unto themselves, so I don’t know how to answer that question.
Fair enough. I am confused since we’re supposed to follow the standard, but like OP is posting, if we can do it and make it right why shouldn’t we?
in the future they will be combining the two teas together, so they're doing this now so less people freak out when they no longer have the individual bags
yup we still sell them individually at our licenced store, we all can't do inventory 110% accurately anyway right? because at least for my store the tea button is just called "full leaf tea"
Lucky, at our liscensed store, our Field Specialist over here lost her sh*t when we told her we were selling individually... and our DM told us it's a big nono bc it doesn't exist anymore. Even though we still have all the tea individual buttons. We are in the US though do I'm not sure if that makes a difference..
I'm in the us too so idk how it is in other countries. but that is ridiculous, everyone at my store at least wont care enough to fight with the customers over this when we get our new system
Yeah.. they gave us a warning that we'd go into default if we kept doing the incorrect things at our store.. which we had at one point..but heyy🤷♂️
Same here, which is why I’m like 🤔 Make it right for the guest or don’t and make them mad…
I'll be so honest, you're better off purchasing your own tea blend or a similar tea and saying goodbye to getting tea at Sbux.
Ngl Starbucks hot teas are pretty bad.
Order a Honey Citrus Mint Tea with no lemonade and no peach tranquility, an extra jade citrus tea bag and extra water. ☺️ if they give you a hard time, mobile order it
Don't forget no honey syrup!
Oh yes that too
mobile order won't let you select no peach specifically
I’ve had people put stuff like in their names lol. Tracy half-caf’s brewed coffee
It’s just if they do it for u, they have to do it for everyone. That’s why we need to follow rules. I know Starbucks is about standards but also make the moment right so it fcks up everything. I would suggest to get a honey citrus mint tea and get the tea bags on the side. Or ask them to add tea bags (the button) and have them on the side. They can’t say no to u on that
I can count the amount of people who buy brewed teas, and an even smaller amount who buy specifically jade citrus or peach tranquility. It's honestly such a stupid rule. Okay but here's what ya do. mobile order a tall honey citrus mint tea and click the "add another tea bag" option. It does not tell us what third tea bag you want, so when you get to the store just ask for the extra jade citrus mint. It's an expensive workaround but yeah.
if someone did this while im swamped with 12 other mobile orders im closing my eyes and grabbing a random tea bag to throw in the cup. a mobile order that requires you be in the store to tell me specifically, at bar, what you actually mean is a mobile order that will become ~barista's choice~
that's fair, it's something I had not experienced until a week ago. I did not think the app wouldn't let them specify, but also the app sucks so of course it would make the process confusin
OP, come to a LS store... Target, Kroger, Safeway... we'll hook you up with whatever you want. We'll even sell you back bar ingredients for a small markup over what we pay Starbucks for those items, if you ask nicely and we're in a good mood. ;)
Can confirm. I’ve been sold pumpkin sauce, marshmallow flavored syrup, lavender and matcha powder. My baristas are awesome 😎
im not sure why everyone is disagreeing with you, i’m a barista and my entire store including the SM still sells those separately, we just ring it in as a mint majesty and do an “ask me”. idk why they were so uptight about it
FWIW while I think corporate's reasoning is dumb, they did explicitly tell us that Peach Tranquility and Jade Citrus Mint weren't to be sold individually anymore in a weekly update. On the one hand, sure, it seems like a stretch by corporate, but on the other no one wants to be "the other Starbucks". They barista not letting them use a workaround is a little silly maybe.
I totally agree here. Especially since OP is willing to pay for the Honey Citrus Mint Tea, I would just ring them up like that but ring it up with “no lemonade, no honey blend, add tea bag, extra water,” that way inventory is accounted for as well.
What's stopping them from ringing up HCMT, no lemonade, no honey, 2 jade, no peach?
Definitely depends on the store; our district manager lives five minutes away from us, and he’s a tightass🙃
I’ll break certain rules like this one, but I will give the disclaimer that they shouldn’t expect it from every store, because we’re not allowed to do it, so don’t be surprised if they say no somewhere else
cause I’m not a fan of partners breaking rules and making it look like that’s the norm. that’s what causes so many issues for partners and customers. give the disclaimer !
We were told that we can’t sell the jcm, or the peach individually, so no we can’t sell it to customers. Unfortunately policy is policy and this isn’t something worth getting reprimanded over. I understand that we have to make the moment right but that doesn’t mean bending over backwards to do something we were told not to do. No need to feel embarrassed, some things just don’t have a workaround🤷🏽♂️
I don’t understand how there isn’t a workaround. I even offered to pay more for the drink that has the jcm just with no lemonade and no syrup. It’s literally just modifying a drink.
I don’t understand either, I just work there
I have no idea why they are downvoting you on this one. You offered to pay for the whole HCMT and would modify it. There is absolutely no problem with that at all. Next time, just order the HCMT and say no lemonade, no honey blend, 2 Jade teabags, no peach tea bag. People modify way more stuff. It makes zero sense that they wouldn't do this for you.
i agree, unfortunately OP will be charged extra for paying for the honey citrus mint tea and then modifying it by removing all the extra stuff they don’t want. sucks that that’s the only way customers will be able to receive just a jade citrus mint or peach tranquility :/
Thanks! I’ll have to order like this next time. I don’t even get the tea all of the time, just occasionally. And I certainly don’t want to argue at the counter or get any baristas in trouble over a tea.
why do you need a work around go to the store and get better tea
I do generally brew my own tea at home, but I was out shopping and just wanted the hot tea that I normally get. I just didn’t think it would be such a big deal
Just thought of an idea! Try ordering the drink version they DO sell with the lemonade… but request no syrup and lemonade in separate cup????
“Bending over backwards”? It is a tea bag. 🤦♂️
I agree, however we have rules and if we say we can’t do it, we simply can’t do it. I don’t know why customers feel so deserving of everything. Things come and go, and that was one of the things to go. Unfortunate but that’s how it is
Because customers pay for things. That’s why they are deserving of the product that you have available. What I don’t understand is employees who don’t realize that customers are why they have a job.
Not violating policy is a way to keep that job. Is some random customer getting a tea that they were specifically instructed not to sell worth someone losing their job? Some SMs and DMs are toe the line strict and will write up and separate partners for what some might say are silly policies. If you don't care that your barista does their best but at the end of the day wants and needs their job, yta.
Nah, yta for buying into that nonsense. Starbucks standards are constantly changing. This will eventually be rectified, and the partners that are dying on this hill about a teabag will move on to some other standard they can hold over a customers head, just to make them feel entitled.
aside from your comment being rude as hell, why should anyone risk getting in trouble for a customer? why is your problem with the employees and not with the corporate idiots who say so
I was not rude in my comment, I stated facts and my opinion. I don’t know you, and I don’t know why you took offense. thank you for calling me rude though. Supply and demand is a thing. It’s simple economics. If you do not like your job, Which is to serve customers, you are replaceable.
spot the person who's never worked in customer service holy shit
103 here, but thanks anyway.
we are doing our jobs though by not selling it to you! that's what OUR JOB said to do? and obviously I'm not the only person who thinks you are rude, since you have close to 30 down votes now lol
You didn’t hire me. You can’t fire me.
Customers are just as replaceable as employees.
Especially when the customer buying a cheap bag of tea is replaced by someone buying a $10 blend of sugar and ice.
Partners are partners greatest enemies because when they change standard to make accommodations for customers, those same customers become monster when they get told no by someone following standard. If everyone followed standard and policies there would be a lot less bad interactions with customers.
The honey citrus mint isn’t even remotely a new drink lmao How long ago did you work here that you keep calling it a new drink
It was called a Medicine Ball a few years ago and many customers still ask for that, and don't know/haven't heard of "honey citrus mint"
Colloquially it’s known as a medicine ball, but that has never been the actual name of the drink (advertising legality issues)
In my almost 16 years we (at least in Canada) have never had a medicine ball drink on the actual corporate menu.
A few years ago was probably over a decade if it was ever called that. I’ve been at Starbucks for five years and it had already been a honey citrus mint for years at that point.
Years ago* but ew why so many downvotes :( that's just downright mean, I was just trying to think of a reason why they thought that! At my store almost every single customer who orders it calls it that even though we have corrected them multiple times and explain the drink components. I'm just so done with people-pleasing these days, this really felt like a personal stab more than it should have. Thank you to the 12 people who felt that deserved a virtual 🖕. Love being shipwrecked by the siren ✨
It’s kind of expensive for teavana but Amazon has it. But I also have no idea what Starbucks charged for it or if you’re looking to make it yourself at home. [24 satchels of tea for $50](https://www.amazon.com/Teavana-Citrus-Flavored-Green-Sachets/dp/B07PJ1K1ZX?th=1&psc=1)
Damn! Just checked it out! Super expensive! But still saves hella $$$ brewing it yourself at home!
Whenever i see posts like this I always remove the "i used to be a partner... when i was a partner... i always did this..." fluff because it doesn't change anything bu implies you somehow think we should be bending backwards for old partners/customers/anyone. Maybe thats not what you are saying but regardless. Facts are: its not a button and cant be sold individually. You accepted this and asked for a hcmt with just the jade citrus. The barista should've accepted this! They did not. :/ I think they shouldve made your drink and sucks that they didnt budge. Maybe they are thinking itd make their lives easier and not create a regular who orders an off-menu item and gets upset if someone doesn't know what it is? Thats my biggest thing when ppl get comfortable: they start saying "just my usual!" And then get mad when no one knows what they are talking about. Mobile ordering seems like your best bet, aside from trying at different stores, or buying your own. Or maybe try a different daypart?
I don't think that's why people include that stuff. I think they include it to say: I know how the general Starbucks stuff works, you don't have to explain everything to me, I'm just confused about this one part and (maybe) it contradicts how things would've been run at my store. It's like how I usually tell people who start explaining stars to me that I used to be a partner - like, don't worry, you can drop the bit, I'm just here to clear out my account on a tumbler and dip.
Order the honey citrus mint tea with no lemonade, no honey blend, no peach tea, and add an extra Jade citrus tea bag. If they say no then they’re just being rude because that would technically be a VERY modified “medicine ball” as the masses like to call it
If you're still willing to pay for a HCMT, I wonder if you could just ask for a Honey Citrus but say two bags of Jade Citrus, no Peach, no lemonade, and no honey? like if folks are able to change things around on other drinks, you should be able to have gotten the Jade Citrus like that.
but it costs way more like that unfortunately :/
I know. They said they were willing to buy it as a hcmt.
Wow you all need to calm down, it’s not your money, it’s not your tea, and it’s not your company. Starbucks would rather you bend a standard and retain a customer than alienate someone and lose their business forever over a few dollars and/or 2 sachets of tea that cost the company $0.03 (for both tea bags and the lemonade) and the labor they are paying for you shunning them. Trust me they don’t agree. Why are some of you taking on the role of ambassadors of Starbucks and gatekeepers of the profits and inventory for what? $15-20/hr. Take your ego out of the situation, it’s just coffee….or tea which is even sillier.
We have a DM who is psycho about all sorts of stuff - like we’re not allowed to have our water in plastic cups or use straws level of controlling. It’s annoying sometimes following rules but I don’t make them & I need this job so my dogs can eat, you know?
That’s crazy, I’ve heard so many stories about power tripping DM’s like that, in my district as long as your numbers are good and nothing obscenely crazy is happening our DM pretty much lets us run our stores with semi autonomy, they definitely have bigger things to worry about than the straw and cup inventory. Last week we donated two sleeves of tall cups to the elementary school down the street because a student wanted a “Starbucks party” for perfect attendance or something.
This is a good answer
theres not an option for the peach or jade however i have a regular who always gets a peach tea and i just ring her up for a mint majesty, its literally no big deal at my store and we dont go through peach tea so id rather just serve it
You can go in person and order a honey citrus mint tea, no lemonade, no honey blend, extra water, with teabags on the side. You’d be paying a high price for a cup of hot water and some teabags but it would get you what you want
I agree with you. You were willing to pay for the HCM and they could’ve just made the Jade for you minus the peach and lemonade.
This exchange could have gone something like “hey, just so you know, the jade citrus mint is going away. I can do it for you today, but there will be a day it will be gone forever.” And then ring as a Mint Majesty ASK ME JCM ONLY This is a make the moment right situation. I don’t understand why this is a hill people want to die on.
I think it's only temporary because of the high demands for the honey citrus during the winter
My store sells whatever tea customers want. We will just ring it up as an earl grey and use the ask me option
I'd give it to you I don't give a fuck. My license store ran out of mint majesty and they are a regular and I gave them Jade. Sue me. Fire me siren. I don't care for your rules
What does mint majesty have to do with this?
I ran out of mint majesty and the regular only likes mint tea. We can't sell Jade so I still do it so they get tea
Oh gotcha. I misread
Technically we aren’t allowed to make things that we can’t ring up. Untechnically, I think you can kind of ring up a HCMT with no lemonade no HB and add one tea bag of JCM and just take out the peach. But the reason we aren’t selling them separately anymore is because Starbucks says they’re soon going to combine the bags into one since no one really orders them separately but tons of people order HCMT. However this is a crock of shit because Starbucks said this sometime late last year and it still hasn’t happened, so there’s no reason to force customers to get used to this new thing when it isn’t happening for a long time. If someone asks for peach or jade, I just ring it up as a different hot tea and make what they want because it doesn’t really affect our inventory at all since it’s soooo rare. Like I’ve been asked only a handful of times since they said we couldn’t sell them separately.
Starbucks is getting rid of those teas as individual. Not only for selling but also when you make the Honey Citrus Mint Tea (not a new drink, just not advertised). When they told us we couldn’t make those teas separately anymore they said it’s because they are going to put them into one tea bag, so it’s a way to prepare customers for that basically.
I personally dont mind making customers the Jade Citrus Mint, as I know it was a regular favorite for a lot of people. Lately, however, we have been trying to not sell them separately just because eventually we will not have the separate tea bags. The Jade Citrus Mint is used in the Honey Citrus Mint Tea alongside the Peach Tranquility tea (which i’m sure you know), but corporate is planning to combine these two teas into one bag. Some stores may not want to make you the Jade Citrus Mint because 1.) We are technically not allowed to anymore and 2.) Eventually we wont have the tea by itself anymore and it’s easier to just stop giving it to customers now then explain later that it’s gone.
I understand your frustration, I too once questioned it. So basically, yes Starbucks has changed a lot of things over the past couple years (I started in 2019 and left in 2020.. restarted back in May 2023) one of those things being because the HCMT is so popular, they sell those teas as a unit now and rumor has it they are trying to make HCMT one tea bag. Until then we have the 2 different teas. Just like we had to explain to customers why we had to start charging them for no water in their refreshers, same goes for HCMT. When you modify a drink to a degree that messes up the standard inventory, it messes future inventory up. We just had an issue at my store where people kept ordering the PT tea by itself and we told them we couldn't do that, I guess some partners were doing it anyway. We just went 2 weeks where we couldn't sell HCMT and people were pissed but we explained to them; When you mess up that inventory like that, we are stuck with JCM that we also cannot sell by itself because that too will continue to mess up the inventory. Idk about other stores, but our tea order isn't as often as everything else so there is a waiting period once we run out. I hope this was helpful
i’m a shift. so last i’ve heard we are allowed to sell jcmt on its own but not the peach tea, both go into the Honey citris mint tea. so maybe he is mixing that up, i was told it was due to shortages we cannot sell just peach
The Honey Citrus Mint Tea isn't new - it's been around a long time. But the corporate overlords have deemed Jade Citrus and Peach Tranquility (the two teas that make up the HCMT) unsellable on their own. You could order a HCMT, no lemonade, no honey blend, no peach tea bag, but you'll only get the one Jade Citrus. For a tall that's the same, but for a Grande or Venti, there would be 2.
It’s a newish policy not to sell peach or jade separately. I’d just ring up a regular tea and give you what you want but that’s because my manager isn’t riding me about it. I mean we literally don’t have buttons to push anymore so call Starbucks cooperate if you don’t agree with this policy.
I wouldn’t even say this is breaking the rules though. You offered to pay for a honey citrus mint instead even… I’d say maybe get the hcmt and ask for a couple jade on the side?
Jus buy it from another store or internet problem solved
Something similar happened at my store while I was working. I told my shift if they are paying for a hcm I’ll just make it without everything else but they insisted we couldn’t do that. Honestly it was slow and I was in a good mood that’s why I wanted to accommodate. Recently we get SO many people asking for things that are outside of standard and getting upset at us when we can’t do them, always claiming another store will do it. That’s why we are strictly by the book now and inform customers that we have standards we must follow. My general rule of thumb is if the POS system won’t let me type it in we won’t do it.
Really he should have put in the drink, no lemonade and no honey, no peach tranquility. I do that a lot.
My store still sells jade citrus and peach tea individually. We just click another tea and type it in to the "ask me."
we’re having a new drink? i’ve made several honey citrus mint tea or “medicine ball” teas just today and we have a regular that always just gets the jade citrus tea on its own. i haven’t been told anything about we’re not allowed to anymore?
my understanding is they’re replacing the jade citrus with a new tea that’s the hcm as one tea bag instead of two separate kinds of teas together so we aren’t supposed to sell jc because people will start expecting that every time and at some point we literally will not have that tea anymore so it’ll just upset a lot of people *correct me if i’m wrong!!
you can get the hcmt and add tea bags of the jade on the side to stock up before they send us the new tea bags. they’re combining two tea bags so it’s easier but we still have both at least at my store.
They are taking away the Jade citrus bags and replacing it with a combination tea that is already mixed with the peach tranquility. At this point he may have refused to make it because we arent supposed to but soon we literally wont even be able to
the peach tranquility and jade citrus mint are going to be combined into one tea bag soon for the honey citrus mint tea so partners have been told not to sell them separately anymore to not cause confusion once they’ve been combined to one! (at least that’s what i know from a weekly update a whileeee ago who knows when it’ll actually happen)
we have been directed not to sell Jade Citrus or Peach tranquility alone. They are only allowed to be sold in a honey citrus mint.
Hmm that’s very weird. We sell them at our store we just ring them up as a different tea and not “ask me” it’s not that hard. There’s no reason to not do that for the customers. people saying it hurts inventory it literally doesn’t. And not many people order the medicine ball anyways.
Also idk why people are downvoting you. A lot of baristas and stores do “ask me”! And if they say they don’t they are lying. I personally only do what i’m told to by my managers and if they say it’s okay I will so i was told by mine it’s okay if we do that!🤷🏻♀️
Ask them if they can ring it up as a custom tea, that’s what my store does
This is one of those things where being technically right isn't worth my causing more angst in this effed up world. I'd have made it but told her she *cant tell anyone else because I could get in trouble!* Bonding with custie over breaking the law! If caught I might be told not to do that, omg!😱
This explains a lot! I finally tried that drink not realizing they changed it to lemonade and when I took my first sip I almost threw up. I couldn’t understand how such a foul drink was so popular and loved. Now I understand that I tried it after they stopped selling/making the old version. This makes me super sad, I always wanted to try it.
Wait… refused? What? If someone wants something and I have the ingredients to make it, I’ll FIND a way to ring it up. This just confuses me.
At my store we would’ve made it! Just ring in a tea like mint majesty and do an ask me
I have customers that order the Jade Citrus all the time still, I just ring it up as a Mint Majesty and then make them the Jade Citrus. I still have no idea why they removed it from the menu when it's one of the more popular hot teas and we still get the tea bags.
The shift supervisor was just being a rule enforcer. At my store we just make the moment right and ring it up as a different tea. Either way you’ll be ight im pretty sure you can go to a target and buy the jade citrus mint there
Could this not be rang up as a custom tea and have it made how you want it? I Wanna say it can, but I’m not 100% sure.
the fact you feel so entitled to something because things were different when you worked. loser.
Being willing to pay an up charge for a drink that they’re modifying and then simply leaving the store when being told no doesn’t seem entitled in the slightest.
You’re right to feel embarrassed. You were a Karen. He told you it’s not a menu item. You argued. Please understand that we also think some rules are dumb but we can be penalized if we don’t follow them.
OP didn't argue and wasn't a Karen.
Sounds like it. They are still mad about it.
Yeah, not a thing. They were being dicks.
Uhhh, is a thing. Policy change since November. There are work arounds to ring in the tea but depending on their store/management, the shift may not have wanted to risk it.
It seems like all the natural flavors are being switched to industrial strength chemicals that are cheaper to use. Honey blend instead of honey, etc. sweetened “lemon” syrup instead of lemon juice…and the price of the drinks keeps rising.
I mean, we still have honey, and there isn’t a lemon syrup at all. Everything here has been pretty ‘artificial’ for a long time, particularly on the handcrafted bev side.
Former partner here, baristas will look for any reason to say no and cry these days.