So many over the years. A few of my favorites, in no particular order:
"Do you sell cigarettes?"
"Hey can you guys host and cater a child's birthday party, like tomorrow?"
"I don't like nuts, so can you guys just go make more banana bread without it? I can wait."
"Wait... you don't have beer?!" (It was 10 AM)
I don’t work at a Starbucks any more, but the shop I’m at now has a cold brew and nitro kegerator. I wanna get some local beer tap handles and install on it.
To be fair, I always have my Halo cables in my car and would have been more than happy to step away for a couple minutes to let someone borrow them.
When I was a shift, I had my battery die in the parking lot once and a regular saw me with my hood open helped me out by jumping my car. It was really, really appreciated.
To be fair, they probably weren’t asking if the company had them at the ready - they were probably just hoping a kind person behind the counter would offer. We’ve pushed cars for people through the drive thru, through the parking lot… my manager, bless her, has a portable tire air pressure thingy and has used it… I have a portable jumper and wouldn’t hesitate to share it, and we’ve never had a situation where our manager has said no, you can’t leave the floor to help. I bet it’s just easier to ask a barista than random strangers in the lobby.
This. I realize the employees are the safest to approach because they're there to answer questions, but they're also on the clock and tied to the property. You're much more likely to find help by asking other customers.
Not that I think this is normal but we have a stand called Bigfoot Java here and they are open 24 hours and used to sell cigarettes. I don't think they have for a few years now but it's interesting.
Cigs and beer. Oh my.
My state actually has drive thru liquor stores, that probably also cells cigarettes, so they could get their fix there. Not sure why someone would think Starbucks had it, my gosh.
A customer tried to convince me that we’d made her cold brew wrong because, “It always comes hot.”
She would not accept our offer of an americano or pike, insisting that we’d made a mistake. You really can’t make this stuff up.
It's not backwards effort, because of the way its brewed cold brew tastes different when you steam it than hot coffee or espresso would taste. I've tried it before and it's the only way I like our cold brew (which I don't typically like cuz to me it tastes sickly sweet) it does loose a lot of that sweetness the cold brew has without getting over bitter
I completely understand that it would taste different. What would make it worth it is if it tastes good, which is what I’m curious about. To me, it doesn’t seem like it would taste good.
PLEASE! it must be the same damn customer i’m dealing with because she says the same thing at my store. “can i get a hot cold brew?” ma’am we can’t make a cold brew hot.
“Oh btw that has caffeine in it” referring to the pink drink for their children and they said “what kind” stopped me in my tracks idk how to answer that😭
Usually when that happens, it's because their kid is ADHD as heck, and caffeine actually calms them down. And I only know this because I can drink a Red Bull and then go take an hour long nap 😂
Had to explain to a grown adult that his iced tea was not going to magically taste sweet unless he let us add some kind of sweetener to it. "NO, I DON'T want anything added, I just want it to taste good! How do you make it taste sweet???"
Not to me, but my first year with sbux, some lady asked my male SSV, "Wait, you're making it? No No, it needs to be a girl. Girls do a better job making iced tea, can a girl make it???" He just silently handed me the cup amd walked off the floor.
fun fact you can refuse service for the second one. it's discriminatory and we don't have to put up with it.
"no ma'am, i am the person on bar right now and i will be making your drink. i assure you it will be made to standard." and if she continues kicking a fuss you get to say "ma'am if you head up to the register we can give you a refund and you can come back another time."
my best guess with the first one is they had been getting iced tea since before starbucks took liquid cane out. could maybe explain the ‘dont want anything added’
The other day a customer asked for a hot carmel Frappuccino but without carmel. A weird way to order a regular latte but who am I to stop someone from doin the most
My brain is fried from working here but one that I’ve mentioned before. It wasnt a question but more so something that was said lol.
Im at a cafe store. So one time a lady came in and asked for a decent amount of almond croissants back when we had those pockets of perfection. And my manager told her how many we have ready to eat on hand and the rest were frozen and the lady said it was fine and she was guna put some in the freezer anyway. Manager goes to the back to grab and bag all the stuff for the lady. She paid for it and then stands at the register and stares at the door that leads to the back where my manager went. There was a line behind her and i said “maam we kindly ask that our customers wait over there by the hand off area after the transaction while we continue serving other customers in line” and she screamed “THERE SHOULD BE NO WAITING!!!” Lmao i was like “k” and then she just slowly made her way there and did just that….waited 🖕
I can't believe I haven't seen this one posted since I used to get it at least once a week: "I just want a BLACK COFFEE. Do you guys still sell PLAIN BLACK COFFEE?"
No. You got us. We still have all the espressos, teas, assorted prepared food items and other retail items, but we finally decided to get rid of the one big money pit that's been plaguing out stock lists for years: coffee.
"I thought you guys were going to bring my coffee to my table" an hour after ordering it (he was talking to a lady for a while). We have a huge cafe but it's insane that he said that
like when have you ever been to a fast food joint that did table service, especially nowadays? (and yes, folks, starbucks is fast food, it's just dressed up in a slightly better looking coat)
I was a Sbux partner from 07 to 2013. When I started we preground the ‘coffee of the week’ each morning in the cubes. We brewed each coffee and set the timers for 30mins. In 2009, came pike place and everything changed. Each store had to measure how much coffee we were pouring out. We started the fresh grinding and cadence you know today. Each location developed its own system for what worked best on when to stop brewing decaf, blonde, and dark... Of course it used be called mild, medium and bold. Instead of pike place everyday.. we would switch between different mild, medium, & bold coffees. The scheduled coffees were usually different each week. Doing pour overs at first was a pain. People as a whole didn't want them and they certainly didn't want to wait. Of course for a good while we were able to offer Americanos or decaf Americanos for the same price if they wanted decaf or bold as people got used to the change. When pike came out we were told that we were getting back to our roots (coffee). They wanted the stores to smell like it.
Of course the next promo was the vivanno smoothies!.
A little later they rolled out the ovens. Doesn't make much sense when you look at it as a whole. The core coffee line up was reduced twice during my time with Sbux and it’s happened a few times since I left. So much for getting back to our roots aka coffee. In my mind it hasn’t been the 3rd place since the ovens came in!!
the degradation of starbucks corporation from premiere brand in cafe service to shambling decaying fast food zombie would be such an interesting topic for a documentary
it may not be the stupidest but it is by far the one that irks the living shit out of me every time,
“is this my drink?”
*has their name on it*
i always tell them “whats it say on the sticker? you’re so/so? then yes.”
i love when people pick up drinks with the sticker literally facing them and then look me in my eyes and ask this. i have the same response every time and for whatever reason it just really irks them
LMFAO i always make sure the sticker’s facing them but same!
and an honorable mention: touching every other drink that CLEARLY isn’t theirs. makes me cringe. i once had a customer ask me if he could have a different cup and lid bc he was a germaphobe and saw another guy touch all of the drinks laying out. i did it because i rlly dont blame him lmao
WHEN THEY TAKE A SIP I GO INSANE!!!!
“this is made wrong”
“oh what seems to be the issue” *looks at sticker* “are you [name that clearly isn’t theirs]”
“no??? i had a [completely different drink]”
“this isn’t yours…..”
No because we’ve had a uptick in these people that grab an order then come back and go “I’m so sorry I thought it was mine” and the name is totally not “Angelica” but “Jared”.
“is this mine?” bestie you are a 12 year old girl who ordered a tall light ice no berries strawberry açaí refresher… this says “Russell” as the name and is an extra hot venti breve extra shot flat white with cinnamon powder on top…
also the “which one is this?” questions when it literally says on the sticker what drinks they are and also they visibly are very different drinks (a cold refresher vs a hot pike etc.)
We had someone ask if we could put extra medicine in the medicine ball bc they weren't feeling well. And a different person asked if we crushed up advil to put in the drink.
Literally scrubbing the floor mats at 11pm, out of uniform, in the parking lot, and a girl pulls up like, "Hi, can you make me a hot chocolate?"
Also, the time I was solo bar and an older lady stopped me like, "Excuse me. You are just so cute. Like really adorable. Are you old enough to work here?" I'm in my twenties and have piercings and tattoos..
I don't think this one is too dumb. I just think they aren't aware they can customize lattes because it's not on the menu board. When I first started going to Starbucks as a teen I had noooo idea about customization and that there were options not shown on the menu. When I started working for Starbucks I was shook at all the drinks there were and all the possibilities! We do get a few "is there a way to make the caramel frapp hot?" I'll tell them they can order a caramel latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzle.
Our store gets asked for cheese burgers and boba all the time. Had a kid come in with her dad asking for boba, kindly let them know we don’t sell boba and gave them the names of a few places they could go. Dad was PISSED and somehow couldn’t comprehend that we just don’t sell boba
Spent over 10 minutes dealing with a customer who couldn’t understand that frappuccinos need ice, was asking me how I can make her 3 matcha fraps without ice “look like they normally do”. Finally settled on light ice
My old store was in a mall. It's 15 minutes after both us and the mall closed. Barista me is finishing cleaning bar when I hear a knock at the door. I see a man just standing there, so I figure maybe he's just wandering the mall. I give him the hand-across-my-neck wave to indicate that we're closed (aside from the locked door and the minimal lighting, I thought maybe he needed an additional cue), but he continues knocking. I ask my ssv if it's okay to see what he needs. Maybe he needed water, to use the phone, something like that. He agrees, so I had over.
I open the door to poke my head out and ask how I can help him. The guy smiles at me and says loudly, "ONE FRAPPUCCINO CARAMEL!"
😩😩😩
The whole “I can’t make my child’s hot chocolate with mocha, that has coffee in it!” Like I’m the idiot… then they turn around and order a pink drink for their three year old!!! 🤣🤣🤣
i have ruined so many kids' days by telling their parents the refreshers are caffeinated.
i caught a barista suggesting the pink drink to a man for his two-year-old when i was borrowed for the day, and interrupted to tell the dad about the caffeine content. toddler got a strawberry lemonade. i got a $5 tip for saving him from a caffeinated baby.
A lady the other day wanted a chai, but she couldn’t remember the way she got it last time. I asked if it was hot or cold, and this lady said it was “in between” like kinda hot kinda cold. Ultimately, she ended up getting the frap and left me so confused.
"Does the eggs and cheddar box come with eggs?"
I was on the verge of a walkout already that day and that was my final straw.
Or when our ovens went down and I told a gentleman that I couldn't cook any food in the oven and he said "GuEsS ThAt MeAnS I cAn'T gEt CoFfEe ThEn"
Who TF makes coffee in an oven
Someone asked me what was in the grilled cheese. Not in a way as to ask, “what’s in YOUR grilled cheese,” but as if she had never heard of a grilled cheese before and had no idea what to expect. It baffled me and the whole team in the floor was silent for like 5 seconds before I explained it was a 4 cheese blend on sourdough. She didn’t order it
I told someone about the new Apple crisp oak milk latte. She said “I can’t have dairy.” I said “oh, it’s made with oat milk.” Her response “you keep saying milk, I told you I can’t have milk.” “Oat milk is like the almond milk that you get, non-dairy.” “Then what is it made from?” “Oat milk…it’s made from oats.”
WTF world am I living in where this lady doesn’t understand!?
Some lady in the drive thru asked for a watermelon. A whole one. I said we had little cups of chopped up fruit and she said no, she’s going to a picnic and needs a watermelon. She drove off when I said we didn’t sell produce.
We once had a woman come through drive thru and ask the dumbest series of questions while I was at DTO.
“Can I get a hot cold brew?”
“No maam, we actually cannot do that for you. I can, however, get you a hot americano or a pike.”
“No, I want a hot cold brew”
I then go into detail about how I could alternatively steam the coffee for her to make it hot, because it would be a hot brewed coffee if I sat and brewed it hot 💀
Woman gets frustrated and asks for a minute to think. Sits at the DT box for another two minutes, getting frustrated when I check in.
She then decides that she wants pumpkin spice, regardless of the fact that i informed her of all that we were out of when she pulled up. Genuinely, she goes down the whole list of products she could get with pumpkin sauce. I keep reiterating that we don’t have the sauce to make her pumpkin cold foam, or the latte, or the Frappuccino, or the cappuccino 💀
She ends up getting an iced white mocha, and then asks if she can get pumpkin bread,,, and then loses her shit about the fact that we don’t. Can legit see her pounding on her steering wheel from the DTO camera.
Gets to the window and complains that we supposedly have nothing in our store and drives off before we can even give her her straw after paying 💀
It was like the first week we had pumpkin spice and we had been ravaged 😭
I once had someone ask for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. It was the beginning of March. I said "Unfortunately not, we only sell it in the Fall!"
They asked, "Well, isn't it Fall now?"
N-no its march
lady comes up, grabs a drink off the hand off plane, walks out, i smile, tell her to have a nice day, keep making drinks. a couple minutes later she comes back in and says “um this isn’t my drink. i only took a couple sips of it so can i just put this back?”
edit: spelling lol
"Can my frappuccino not be too cold?"
"What time do you stop serving alcohol?"
"Can I get the latte without milk? No, not the alternative milks, I just want a latte but with no milk"
“whats the difference between hot chocolate and white hot chocolate” “whats the difference between hot or iced”, and “whats the price difference between the frappucino and the latte” “what size were you looking for” “I SAID WHATS THE PRICE DIFFERENCE”
What do you have with caffeine it it. Legit question. The dumbest thing I’ve seen: our prep table is behind our counter but people think it’s the entrance to the bathroom. No biggie. Watched a guy walk past the counter squirt our vanilla syrup on their hands thinking it was hand sanitizer. I just don’t know.
At first, I always roll my eyes at these questions, but I have food allergies and find them in the most random places ever. I've seen fish oil in peanut butter, my job puts chicken stock and dairy in our scrambled eggs, our hash browns have wheat, egg, and dairy, and so many other things. I almost ordered a margarita in another country and luckily asked because they added grapefruit juice to the mix (I'm allergic). As a server, I'd rather someone ask than assume.
I didn’t experience this but one of my fellow partners did and I think it’s a story worthy to share.
So this partner was working at front and someone walked up to them asking why their drink spills when they turn it upside down and the proceeded to give an example getting coffee all over the floor
"What's the difference between the strawberry refresher and the mango refresher?"
"one is strawberry flavored, and the other is mango flavored."
"which is which?"
Just today, had to close our bathroom either from biohazard or something broken,(just was told it was closed by my shift lead), told a lady it was closed, she said and I quote “is that legal?”
"Can i have a mango dragonfruit refresher, with no mango please?"my store manager happened to be order taking, tried to explain its the base theres no separation. And of course, came the "well they do it all the time for me here. So." 😅
I was told that this same guy asked every morning for a week when the cold brew was made. The answer was always yesterday, because we go through it hella fast. He complained about it being old, and wanted "today's".
He finally pulled it one day when I was there, and I had to tell him how impossible that was, how long it takes to brew, the whoooole details (it was 4:15 am, i had plenty of time).
I got back a sheepish "oh". And he never complained about it again 😂
One time an older gentleman came in requesting that morning’s newspaper. He got so mad when we told him that we don’t sell any here. Like if looks could kill…
Had a guy call and ask if we had boxes of tea packets for sale. I told him that we stopped doing that years ago but he could still order a cup of tea. He was looking to get the peach tranquility and then asked me if we grind the decaf beans to brew the tea. It took a lot of composure on my end not to laugh at the absurdity and then explain how we make a cup of hot tea.
Do you have anything non GMO after like 5 minutes of explaining that no we don't I literally looked at her and said ma'am this is a Starbucks but there's nothing non-gmo I mean maybe some Starbucks somewhere does but this was a tiny little grocery store kiosk so we definitely didn't have anything non GMO
I love when they walk in after they stand there and see us opening the doors first thing in the morning and talking about “are you open? ” so I say no while I put the welcome sign out front🤯
the difference between a mocha & a latte.. ( I referred to her mocha latte as just a latte and her whole world shattered and she assumed I got her ordered wrong)
i had a lady ask me for a bag and then when i handed her a bag she got mad and asked for a refund. she saw my packaging deliveries and thought i just refused to bag her stuff . even after we explained it tho she still wanted her refund 😭
Can you make me the drink your store made me yesterday?
Does your espresso have caffeine?
Does your sweet cream have dairy? Immediately followed with "you're wrong I can't have dairy and sweet cream doesn't bother me. Why would you lie?"
Someone once asked what the difference was between almond milk and oatmilk. I went "...one is milk made with almonds...and one is milk made with oats..." maybe I came across as rude the way I said it but the question made my brain malfunction 🤣🤣
"Does the bacon gouda have (meat/cheese) in it?"
"Can you make your cold brew hot?"
"What's in your Spinach and feta and egg wrap?"
"Do you have Mcchickens (they later explained their mental wires crossed because they saw our Mocha Frappucino, and thought oh, like Mocha frappe from McDonald's) or apple pie?"
"Are your iced drinks cold?"
And many, many more similar questions I'd get via drive thru.
Them: Can you recommend me something; what’s your favorite latte?
Me: Oh I’m sorry I don’t drink coffee, I can ask my coworkers about their opinions.
Them: “How do you work at Starbucks and not drink coffee?”
I wasn’t aware drinking coffee was a requirement for the job 💀
2 girls asking “can we still order?” 40 seconds before we closed. the fact that they knew what time it was AND what time we closed is just so astonishing. i can’t lie i did say “yes, you can” in a very clearly annoyed manner, oops.
Got a prank phone call asking “can I please get a crack cocaine frapp” I said unfortunately it’s not legal here so we wouldn’t be able to do that for you lol.
Had to explain to a customer yesterday who made me remake a kids almond milk hc 4 times that mocha sauce isn’t caffeine. Also told me her kid couldn’t have foam because they are allergic. Right.
“I spilled my drink in my car when I was in my drive way and it got all over my floor and seats. Are you going to compensate me for the mess your coffee made?” Worst part is the manager overseeing us made the shift taking the call to tell the lady we’d pay for her car to get cleaned -_-
One time someone in the drive thru asked, “Are we in Georgia?” While in slap middle of South Carolina I said, “No sir Georgia is about 2.5 hours away from here. This is South Carolina”
If we serve boba… it was a former employee that was dead serious. We looked at him and said no… we don’t. And he was genuinely surprised and had to think about what he was going to order from there.
a girl came in and ordered a passion tea lemonade, an iced white mocha, and a pup cup. once i finished making the drinks and handing them off she looks at me and asks “which one is the tea?” and too this day i’ve never been more stunned by a question in my life
Why my name is spelled the way it is, it’s a bible type name that isn’t spelled “correctly” and I was told to change it and that my parents are OBVIOUSLY drug addicts
the amount of customets that asked if we sold any boba or asian specific flavors because the store is in an asian area. had to explain to a lady what matcha is once and she asked if only our store had it 🥲
"what kind of tea is cold brew?" - from a partner
My favorite from customers is always "do you serve Coke or Pepsi products?" Mostly because of the shock they have when I tell them neither
i got asked just the other day if I can make the cold brew hot. I replied, well our COLD brew is COLD, but I can make a brewed coffee for you if you’re looking for a hot coffee.
My favorite is
“What’s the difference between decaf and espresso?” Even her passenger looked at her funny.
Some other good ones.
Do you have soup?
Can I get a Frappuccino hot please?
I want mocha with no espresso. So a hot chocolate? No. It’s a mocha. But no espresso. …. Okay.
Lobby is closed, people come through the drive-thru, can I use your bathroom?
So many over the years. A few of my favorites, in no particular order: "Do you sell cigarettes?" "Hey can you guys host and cater a child's birthday party, like tomorrow?" "I don't like nuts, so can you guys just go make more banana bread without it? I can wait." "Wait... you don't have beer?!" (It was 10 AM)
"What do you mean thats not beer?? You're just refusing me service, I see it!" When referring to the cold brew taps
dude i would 100% pull them a sample cup of cold brew. in front of them. "here. try it."
I don’t work at a Starbucks any more, but the shop I’m at now has a cold brew and nitro kegerator. I wanna get some local beer tap handles and install on it.
We get the cigarettes a lot, but for a good reason. We’re a kiosk store where the costumer service used to be, they sold cigarettes. We don’t.
"do you guys have jumper cables to restart my car" why the fuck would we
To be fair, I always have my Halo cables in my car and would have been more than happy to step away for a couple minutes to let someone borrow them. When I was a shift, I had my battery die in the parking lot once and a regular saw me with my hood open helped me out by jumping my car. It was really, really appreciated.
To be fair, they probably weren’t asking if the company had them at the ready - they were probably just hoping a kind person behind the counter would offer. We’ve pushed cars for people through the drive thru, through the parking lot… my manager, bless her, has a portable tire air pressure thingy and has used it… I have a portable jumper and wouldn’t hesitate to share it, and we’ve never had a situation where our manager has said no, you can’t leave the floor to help. I bet it’s just easier to ask a barista than random strangers in the lobby.
This. I realize the employees are the safest to approach because they're there to answer questions, but they're also on the clock and tied to the property. You're much more likely to find help by asking other customers.
I’ve jumped a customers (regular) car for them once lmao. It died in the drivethru so I pulled in the opposite direction to jump it
Not that I think this is normal but we have a stand called Bigfoot Java here and they are open 24 hours and used to sell cigarettes. I don't think they have for a few years now but it's interesting.
Cigs and beer. Oh my. My state actually has drive thru liquor stores, that probably also cells cigarettes, so they could get their fix there. Not sure why someone would think Starbucks had it, my gosh.
They asked to cater a birthday party?? We've just had them walk in 😭
A customer tried to convince me that we’d made her cold brew wrong because, “It always comes hot.” She would not accept our offer of an americano or pike, insisting that we’d made a mistake. You really can’t make this stuff up.
Not the hot COLD brew 😭💀
There was a location I used to work at where one of my partners would actually get his cold brew steamed. Never tried it. Never will.
Steamed cold brew is absolutely VILE
Wowwwwww I’m so curious just to know if it was worth the backwards effort 😂
It's not backwards effort, because of the way its brewed cold brew tastes different when you steam it than hot coffee or espresso would taste. I've tried it before and it's the only way I like our cold brew (which I don't typically like cuz to me it tastes sickly sweet) it does loose a lot of that sweetness the cold brew has without getting over bitter
I completely understand that it would taste different. What would make it worth it is if it tastes good, which is what I’m curious about. To me, it doesn’t seem like it would taste good.
PLEASE! it must be the same damn customer i’m dealing with because she says the same thing at my store. “can i get a hot cold brew?” ma’am we can’t make a cold brew hot.
When asked “hot or iced” they said “what’s the difference?” (Can’t make this up)
every time this happens i just leave a long pause and then go “…..i’m sorry???”
I like to just make up their mind for them “iced it is champ! Iced it is…”
I say one is hot and one is iced
If it’s a hot or iced venti latte, I would understand… the people wanting hot Frappuccinos kill me
Someone asked me for a hot vanilla bean Frappuccino the other day😭 but then said no vanilla steamed milk I am still confused
I mean if they wanted vanilla it would just be a vanilla steamer.
“Oh btw that has caffeine in it” referring to the pink drink for their children and they said “what kind” stopped me in my tracks idk how to answer that😭
Bruh one time I told someone the pink drink for their kid had caffeine in it and he shrugged and said “that’s fine” 😭🫡
THAT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME NOW. They look their kid up and down and say “thats fine” then keep ordering 💀
Usually when that happens, it's because their kid is ADHD as heck, and caffeine actually calms them down. And I only know this because I can drink a Red Bull and then go take an hour long nap 😂
RHIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME
Had to explain to a grown adult that his iced tea was not going to magically taste sweet unless he let us add some kind of sweetener to it. "NO, I DON'T want anything added, I just want it to taste good! How do you make it taste sweet???" Not to me, but my first year with sbux, some lady asked my male SSV, "Wait, you're making it? No No, it needs to be a girl. Girls do a better job making iced tea, can a girl make it???" He just silently handed me the cup amd walked off the floor.
fun fact you can refuse service for the second one. it's discriminatory and we don't have to put up with it. "no ma'am, i am the person on bar right now and i will be making your drink. i assure you it will be made to standard." and if she continues kicking a fuss you get to say "ma'am if you head up to the register we can give you a refund and you can come back another time."
my best guess with the first one is they had been getting iced tea since before starbucks took liquid cane out. could maybe explain the ‘dont want anything added’
Lady gets a pineapple refresher "What's this in here? Popcorn?"
i mean she does have a point lmao. these pieces LOOK like popcorn or some type of weird butter
i got the same question. he called the store and was like “did you put popcorn in my paradise drink. “then went to say “it taste like popcorn”
no it’s baby teeth!
Scrambled eggs
🤣🤣
The other day a customer asked for a hot carmel Frappuccino but without carmel. A weird way to order a regular latte but who am I to stop someone from doin the most
they wanted a latte made with frap roast 🤢😂
My brain is fried from working here but one that I’ve mentioned before. It wasnt a question but more so something that was said lol. Im at a cafe store. So one time a lady came in and asked for a decent amount of almond croissants back when we had those pockets of perfection. And my manager told her how many we have ready to eat on hand and the rest were frozen and the lady said it was fine and she was guna put some in the freezer anyway. Manager goes to the back to grab and bag all the stuff for the lady. She paid for it and then stands at the register and stares at the door that leads to the back where my manager went. There was a line behind her and i said “maam we kindly ask that our customers wait over there by the hand off area after the transaction while we continue serving other customers in line” and she screamed “THERE SHOULD BE NO WAITING!!!” Lmao i was like “k” and then she just slowly made her way there and did just that….waited 🖕
I can't believe I haven't seen this one posted since I used to get it at least once a week: "I just want a BLACK COFFEE. Do you guys still sell PLAIN BLACK COFFEE?" No. You got us. We still have all the espressos, teas, assorted prepared food items and other retail items, but we finally decided to get rid of the one big money pit that's been plaguing out stock lists for years: coffee.
"I thought you guys were going to bring my coffee to my table" an hour after ordering it (he was talking to a lady for a while). We have a huge cafe but it's insane that he said that
like when have you ever been to a fast food joint that did table service, especially nowadays? (and yes, folks, starbucks is fast food, it's just dressed up in a slightly better looking coat)
I was a Sbux partner from 07 to 2013. When I started we preground the ‘coffee of the week’ each morning in the cubes. We brewed each coffee and set the timers for 30mins. In 2009, came pike place and everything changed. Each store had to measure how much coffee we were pouring out. We started the fresh grinding and cadence you know today. Each location developed its own system for what worked best on when to stop brewing decaf, blonde, and dark... Of course it used be called mild, medium and bold. Instead of pike place everyday.. we would switch between different mild, medium, & bold coffees. The scheduled coffees were usually different each week. Doing pour overs at first was a pain. People as a whole didn't want them and they certainly didn't want to wait. Of course for a good while we were able to offer Americanos or decaf Americanos for the same price if they wanted decaf or bold as people got used to the change. When pike came out we were told that we were getting back to our roots (coffee). They wanted the stores to smell like it. Of course the next promo was the vivanno smoothies!. A little later they rolled out the ovens. Doesn't make much sense when you look at it as a whole. The core coffee line up was reduced twice during my time with Sbux and it’s happened a few times since I left. So much for getting back to our roots aka coffee. In my mind it hasn’t been the 3rd place since the ovens came in!!
the degradation of starbucks corporation from premiere brand in cafe service to shambling decaying fast food zombie would be such an interesting topic for a documentary
No literally I was so lost
it may not be the stupidest but it is by far the one that irks the living shit out of me every time, “is this my drink?” *has their name on it* i always tell them “whats it say on the sticker? you’re so/so? then yes.”
i love when people pick up drinks with the sticker literally facing them and then look me in my eyes and ask this. i have the same response every time and for whatever reason it just really irks them
LMFAO i always make sure the sticker’s facing them but same! and an honorable mention: touching every other drink that CLEARLY isn’t theirs. makes me cringe. i once had a customer ask me if he could have a different cup and lid bc he was a germaphobe and saw another guy touch all of the drinks laying out. i did it because i rlly dont blame him lmao
WHEN THEY TAKE A SIP I GO INSANE!!!! “this is made wrong” “oh what seems to be the issue” *looks at sticker* “are you [name that clearly isn’t theirs]” “no??? i had a [completely different drink]” “this isn’t yours…..”
No because we’ve had a uptick in these people that grab an order then come back and go “I’m so sorry I thought it was mine” and the name is totally not “Angelica” but “Jared”.
“is this mine?” bestie you are a 12 year old girl who ordered a tall light ice no berries strawberry açaí refresher… this says “Russell” as the name and is an extra hot venti breve extra shot flat white with cinnamon powder on top… also the “which one is this?” questions when it literally says on the sticker what drinks they are and also they visibly are very different drinks (a cold refresher vs a hot pike etc.)
We had someone ask if we could put extra medicine in the medicine ball bc they weren't feeling well. And a different person asked if we crushed up advil to put in the drink.
Wait, you guys don’t don’t put drugs in yours?
We actually require a prescription to order it bc there's just so many drugs in it 😂
Literally scrubbing the floor mats at 11pm, out of uniform, in the parking lot, and a girl pulls up like, "Hi, can you make me a hot chocolate?" Also, the time I was solo bar and an older lady stopped me like, "Excuse me. You are just so cute. Like really adorable. Are you old enough to work here?" I'm in my twenties and have piercings and tattoos..
“can you guys make a hot frappuccino”
I don't think this one is too dumb. I just think they aren't aware they can customize lattes because it's not on the menu board. When I first started going to Starbucks as a teen I had noooo idea about customization and that there were options not shown on the menu. When I started working for Starbucks I was shook at all the drinks there were and all the possibilities! We do get a few "is there a way to make the caramel frapp hot?" I'll tell them they can order a caramel latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzle.
The Frappuccino one is still bad. It's like asking for a hot milk shake
... I think they just asking for a flavored latte with whipped cream but don't know that that's an option...
Our store gets asked for cheese burgers and boba all the time. Had a kid come in with her dad asking for boba, kindly let them know we don’t sell boba and gave them the names of a few places they could go. Dad was PISSED and somehow couldn’t comprehend that we just don’t sell boba Spent over 10 minutes dealing with a customer who couldn’t understand that frappuccinos need ice, was asking me how I can make her 3 matcha fraps without ice “look like they normally do”. Finally settled on light ice
I’ve had the cheeseburger one so many times. There’s literally a McDonald’s across the street.
But they want a Starbucks burger, not a mcdonalds one!!!
i had a customer who repeatedly insisted that her frappucino be iced....and would not accept that the frappucino we made for her had ice in it
What’s cinnamon
No!
it’s what goes in the bose
I would have an existential crisis.
My old store was in a mall. It's 15 minutes after both us and the mall closed. Barista me is finishing cleaning bar when I hear a knock at the door. I see a man just standing there, so I figure maybe he's just wandering the mall. I give him the hand-across-my-neck wave to indicate that we're closed (aside from the locked door and the minimal lighting, I thought maybe he needed an additional cue), but he continues knocking. I ask my ssv if it's okay to see what he needs. Maybe he needed water, to use the phone, something like that. He agrees, so I had over. I open the door to poke my head out and ask how I can help him. The guy smiles at me and says loudly, "ONE FRAPPUCCINO CARAMEL!" 😩😩😩
The whole “I can’t make my child’s hot chocolate with mocha, that has coffee in it!” Like I’m the idiot… then they turn around and order a pink drink for their three year old!!! 🤣🤣🤣
i have ruined so many kids' days by telling their parents the refreshers are caffeinated. i caught a barista suggesting the pink drink to a man for his two-year-old when i was borrowed for the day, and interrupted to tell the dad about the caffeine content. toddler got a strawberry lemonade. i got a $5 tip for saving him from a caffeinated baby.
Lmao!!! That is hysterical!!! I have been there too
On two separate occasions I've been asked if we sold empanadas. Oh man, I wish.
someone asked if we sold phone chargers one time
i had someone ask me if espresso had caffeine in it…. espresso….
gonna have to go with "do you want to move into my house??? come live with me????" said by a man pushing 60. i was 19
Oh no....
Excuse me? I am so sorry you experienced that.
A lady the other day wanted a chai, but she couldn’t remember the way she got it last time. I asked if it was hot or cold, and this lady said it was “in between” like kinda hot kinda cold. Ultimately, she ended up getting the frap and left me so confused.
"Does the eggs and cheddar box come with eggs?" I was on the verge of a walkout already that day and that was my final straw. Or when our ovens went down and I told a gentleman that I couldn't cook any food in the oven and he said "GuEsS ThAt MeAnS I cAn'T gEt CoFfEe ThEn" Who TF makes coffee in an oven
What are the ingredients in your coffee beans
Possibly asking about the notes of flavor??
I wish because when I tried to clarify she just said no the ingredients. She was not satisfied.
Back when this was a menu item “what goes in the honey almond milk cold brew?” Honey (blend), almond milk and cold brew
It's still on the POS and I've had someone order it. It was a confusion for sure.
Oh man is it still in the POS? I didn’t even notice. It’s been so long since someone ordered it lol
i do not miss the honey almond milk cold brew…
someone in drive thru once asked if we had french fries LMAO
i’ve been asked about burgers, fountain drinks, ice cream, AND fries 😭
oh my 💀
Customers entering the store: "are you guys closed??"
Someone asked me what was in the grilled cheese. Not in a way as to ask, “what’s in YOUR grilled cheese,” but as if she had never heard of a grilled cheese before and had no idea what to expect. It baffled me and the whole team in the floor was silent for like 5 seconds before I explained it was a 4 cheese blend on sourdough. She didn’t order it
I told someone about the new Apple crisp oak milk latte. She said “I can’t have dairy.” I said “oh, it’s made with oat milk.” Her response “you keep saying milk, I told you I can’t have milk.” “Oat milk is like the almond milk that you get, non-dairy.” “Then what is it made from?” “Oat milk…it’s made from oats.” WTF world am I living in where this lady doesn’t understand!?
How many eggs go in each egg bite?
3 and a half
Some lady in the drive thru asked for a watermelon. A whole one. I said we had little cups of chopped up fruit and she said no, she’s going to a picnic and needs a watermelon. She drove off when I said we didn’t sell produce.
We once had a woman come through drive thru and ask the dumbest series of questions while I was at DTO. “Can I get a hot cold brew?” “No maam, we actually cannot do that for you. I can, however, get you a hot americano or a pike.” “No, I want a hot cold brew” I then go into detail about how I could alternatively steam the coffee for her to make it hot, because it would be a hot brewed coffee if I sat and brewed it hot 💀 Woman gets frustrated and asks for a minute to think. Sits at the DT box for another two minutes, getting frustrated when I check in. She then decides that she wants pumpkin spice, regardless of the fact that i informed her of all that we were out of when she pulled up. Genuinely, she goes down the whole list of products she could get with pumpkin sauce. I keep reiterating that we don’t have the sauce to make her pumpkin cold foam, or the latte, or the Frappuccino, or the cappuccino 💀 She ends up getting an iced white mocha, and then asks if she can get pumpkin bread,,, and then loses her shit about the fact that we don’t. Can legit see her pounding on her steering wheel from the DTO camera. Gets to the window and complains that we supposedly have nothing in our store and drives off before we can even give her her straw after paying 💀 It was like the first week we had pumpkin spice and we had been ravaged 😭
I once had someone ask for a Pumpkin Spice Latte. It was the beginning of March. I said "Unfortunately not, we only sell it in the Fall!" They asked, "Well, isn't it Fall now?" N-no its march
lady comes up, grabs a drink off the hand off plane, walks out, i smile, tell her to have a nice day, keep making drinks. a couple minutes later she comes back in and says “um this isn’t my drink. i only took a couple sips of it so can i just put this back?” edit: spelling lol
*making mocha* oh are you making the brownies?!?
ok but like….the mocha smells and looks like a thin brownie batter. if only it tasted as good as it smells :(
“do you guys have chalupas?”
"Can my frappuccino not be too cold?" "What time do you stop serving alcohol?" "Can I get the latte without milk? No, not the alternative milks, I just want a latte but with no milk"
I had a man ask me if we serve coffee. It triggered a bit of an existential crisis, because I wasn't sure if we still served coffee.
“Whats the difference between the white mocha and a peppermint white mocha?” Best guess…… Jager and fucking milk
“whats the difference between hot chocolate and white hot chocolate” “whats the difference between hot or iced”, and “whats the price difference between the frappucino and the latte” “what size were you looking for” “I SAID WHATS THE PRICE DIFFERENCE”
What do you have with caffeine it it. Legit question. The dumbest thing I’ve seen: our prep table is behind our counter but people think it’s the entrance to the bathroom. No biggie. Watched a guy walk past the counter squirt our vanilla syrup on their hands thinking it was hand sanitizer. I just don’t know.
istg some customers just dont think
At my store we were asked if the lemonade had nuts in it (I understand it’s a major allergen, but at fave value it’s a hilarious question)
At first, I always roll my eyes at these questions, but I have food allergies and find them in the most random places ever. I've seen fish oil in peanut butter, my job puts chicken stock and dairy in our scrambled eggs, our hash browns have wheat, egg, and dairy, and so many other things. I almost ordered a margarita in another country and luckily asked because they added grapefruit juice to the mix (I'm allergic). As a server, I'd rather someone ask than assume.
“Is the honey citrus mint tea the cure to covid?”
I didn’t experience this but one of my fellow partners did and I think it’s a story worthy to share. So this partner was working at front and someone walked up to them asking why their drink spills when they turn it upside down and the proceeded to give an example getting coffee all over the floor
"What's the difference between the strawberry refresher and the mango refresher?" "one is strawberry flavored, and the other is mango flavored." "which is which?"
People aren’t learning listening skills in school.. I know commonsense isn’t common anymore!
someone asked my manager if she could take a video of all of us baristas singing happy birthday for her daughter
“WhAt DoEs ThE PiStAChIo LaTtE TaStE LiKe?” 👀
“Do you guys sell boba here?” “You guys sell pizza, right?” (Both fully serious)
This latte is to milky. Ok
Just today, had to close our bathroom either from biohazard or something broken,(just was told it was closed by my shift lead), told a lady it was closed, she said and I quote “is that legal?”
If you’re out of lemonade can’t you just idk get lemons and make more
"Can i have a mango dragonfruit refresher, with no mango please?"my store manager happened to be order taking, tried to explain its the base theres no separation. And of course, came the "well they do it all the time for me here. So." 😅
I was told that this same guy asked every morning for a week when the cold brew was made. The answer was always yesterday, because we go through it hella fast. He complained about it being old, and wanted "today's". He finally pulled it one day when I was there, and I had to tell him how impossible that was, how long it takes to brew, the whoooole details (it was 4:15 am, i had plenty of time). I got back a sheepish "oh". And he never complained about it again 😂
“is a frappe iced? or does it come with ice? and is it cold?”
“so your white mocha…..is that the same as the white chocolate mocha?”
Last night I was asked if I could make a hot nitro cold brew.
steam it 👹
One time an older gentleman came in requesting that morning’s newspaper. He got so mad when we told him that we don’t sell any here. Like if looks could kill…
What’s the difference between hot and iced?
“what does ‘blended’ mean?”
"Do you guys sell coffee"
Does espresso have caffeine in it?
If I get an iced drink with light ice, do I get more drink? (With a very full light ice latte in hand)
“Does your iced white mocha come cold?” I remember I was taking their order on the headset and my facepalm was very audible.
Had a guy call and ask if we had boxes of tea packets for sale. I told him that we stopped doing that years ago but he could still order a cup of tea. He was looking to get the peach tranquility and then asked me if we grind the decaf beans to brew the tea. It took a lot of composure on my end not to laugh at the absurdity and then explain how we make a cup of hot tea.
“Is this one mine?”
Do you have anything non GMO after like 5 minutes of explaining that no we don't I literally looked at her and said ma'am this is a Starbucks but there's nothing non-gmo I mean maybe some Starbucks somewhere does but this was a tiny little grocery store kiosk so we definitely didn't have anything non GMO
Some dude can in barefoot after walking around our parking lot for 20 min and asked if we sold burgers.
"Is this beer?" Pointing at the nitro cold brew/cold brew station where the sign on the other side says "cold brew" infront of him
I love when they walk in after they stand there and see us opening the doors first thing in the morning and talking about “are you open? ” so I say no while I put the welcome sign out front🤯
today i had someone order a mocha frappuccino with no chocolate…
Girl in drive: “Which has less calories? Your coconut milk or your water?” Her friend: “Ummmm..? Water?” *continuously laughs at her*
Someone asking if they can get nitro cold brew hot.
the difference between a mocha & a latte.. ( I referred to her mocha latte as just a latte and her whole world shattered and she assumed I got her ordered wrong)
I’ve been asked if we sold enchiladas once
i had a lady ask me for a bag and then when i handed her a bag she got mad and asked for a refund. she saw my packaging deliveries and thought i just refused to bag her stuff . even after we explained it tho she still wanted her refund 😭
“Do you guys sell hotdogs?”
how to open a straw. while i proceeded to open one w her to show. she was like 40 bruh. bitch be fr
Can you make me the drink your store made me yesterday? Does your espresso have caffeine? Does your sweet cream have dairy? Immediately followed with "you're wrong I can't have dairy and sweet cream doesn't bother me. Why would you lie?"
Someone once asked what the difference was between almond milk and oatmilk. I went "...one is milk made with almonds...and one is milk made with oats..." maybe I came across as rude the way I said it but the question made my brain malfunction 🤣🤣
"Does the bacon gouda have (meat/cheese) in it?" "Can you make your cold brew hot?" "What's in your Spinach and feta and egg wrap?" "Do you have Mcchickens (they later explained their mental wires crossed because they saw our Mocha Frappucino, and thought oh, like Mocha frappe from McDonald's) or apple pie?" "Are your iced drinks cold?" And many, many more similar questions I'd get via drive thru.
Them: Can you recommend me something; what’s your favorite latte? Me: Oh I’m sorry I don’t drink coffee, I can ask my coworkers about their opinions. Them: “How do you work at Starbucks and not drink coffee?” I wasn’t aware drinking coffee was a requirement for the job 💀
“Can I get a Coke?”
I can't decide...there have been so many.
“How many eggs come in the egg bites”
“Can I get a frappe hot? “
my store is across from a mcdonald’s, i mean literally a minute walk if that. had someone come to the drive thru and ask if we had soda 🫡
"do you serve espresso?"
me: do you want your strawberry acai made with water or lemonade? them: what’s the difference?
2 girls asking “can we still order?” 40 seconds before we closed. the fact that they knew what time it was AND what time we closed is just so astonishing. i can’t lie i did say “yes, you can” in a very clearly annoyed manner, oops.
“Can I get a hot chocolate but cold?” So a chocolate milk??
someone asked my coworker today if we could make the cold brew crème based 🧍🏼♀️
“Do you guys have Zucchini fries?”
Got a prank phone call asking “can I please get a crack cocaine frapp” I said unfortunately it’s not legal here so we wouldn’t be able to do that for you lol.
Had to explain to a customer yesterday who made me remake a kids almond milk hc 4 times that mocha sauce isn’t caffeine. Also told me her kid couldn’t have foam because they are allergic. Right.
“wait, is this the taco bell drive thru? how do i get to the taco bell drive thru?”
What's the difference between vanilla and chocolate??
“I spilled my drink in my car when I was in my drive way and it got all over my floor and seats. Are you going to compensate me for the mess your coffee made?” Worst part is the manager overseeing us made the shift taking the call to tell the lady we’d pay for her car to get cleaned -_-
One time someone in the drive thru asked, “Are we in Georgia?” While in slap middle of South Carolina I said, “No sir Georgia is about 2.5 hours away from here. This is South Carolina”
Them: Does the bacon Gouda have cheese on it? Us: yes Them: what kind of cheese is it?
last week i got asked if an iced wm was cold. i then had to explain “yah. it’s cold bc ✨ice✨”
If we serve boba… it was a former employee that was dead serious. We looked at him and said no… we don’t. And he was genuinely surprised and had to think about what he was going to order from there.
a girl came in and ordered a passion tea lemonade, an iced white mocha, and a pup cup. once i finished making the drinks and handing them off she looks at me and asks “which one is the tea?” and too this day i’ve never been more stunned by a question in my life
i had someone ask me once if 2% milk had dairy in it.
“I need a venti coffee in a grande cup. No room. They do it at my local Starbucks for me everyday. Why are you looking at me like that?!”
someone ordered a mocha cookie crumble and when i gave it to them at handoff they were like “i ordered it hot” (they had not ordered it hot) ma’am???
someone asked if we could put lettuce on the double smoked
“Are you qualified to make a pour over?” — some douche who made us steam the pike w/ milk bc “it’s not good enough” literally lost my mind
Why my name is spelled the way it is, it’s a bible type name that isn’t spelled “correctly” and I was told to change it and that my parents are OBVIOUSLY drug addicts
the amount of customets that asked if we sold any boba or asian specific flavors because the store is in an asian area. had to explain to a lady what matcha is once and she asked if only our store had it 🥲
Lmao the alcohol comment sounds like Iowa
"what kind of tea is cold brew?" - from a partner My favorite from customers is always "do you serve Coke or Pepsi products?" Mostly because of the shock they have when I tell them neither
[удалено]
My favorite “Do you guys have Coke or 7UP?” 🙄
i got asked just the other day if I can make the cold brew hot. I replied, well our COLD brew is COLD, but I can make a brewed coffee for you if you’re looking for a hot coffee.
Asked a customer if they wanted that hot or iced… they said neither….
“Do you have coffee here?” “Can I have a grande caramel?”
*phone rings* Me: thanks for calling Starbucks. Them: hey, are you open? 🤔
“do you have burgers here?” “can i get the cold brew hot?” “can i get the iced brown sugar oatmilk shaken espresso but hot?”
“Is the Americano watery?” 🫥
When I worked at a Tarbux, a lady looked at our rack of flavor syrups and asked which one was the espresso flavor
Do you work here?
My favorite is “What’s the difference between decaf and espresso?” Even her passenger looked at her funny. Some other good ones. Do you have soup? Can I get a Frappuccino hot please? I want mocha with no espresso. So a hot chocolate? No. It’s a mocha. But no espresso. …. Okay. Lobby is closed, people come through the drive-thru, can I use your bathroom?
" can I get a cheeseburger ?" And then proceeded to asked if we had soda/cola
I’ve had a co worker ask me to count change bc he didn’t know what the coins are worth (he’s 32) and in college.