This weekend's OPEN THREAD conversation-starter: Have you put "secret" messages on cup bottoms?

I question whether a Starbucks barista actually wrote this message, but I suspect there have been mash notes penned on the bottom of cups before. Do you have a story to tell? Discuss this, or anything else Starbucks-related in this weekend's OPEN THREAD.

Comments

I've never done it, but I think it would be a good system, if a customer warrants getting "D'd up" (Decaf) shots in place of regular! A simple mark would do. Too bad we can't do the opposite too, due to medical conditions... if we could ppl that wanted to sleep could stay up all night and think about how rude they were... jk, or am I?

um, oh yeah, to clarify... the Reg partner could mark it to communicate secretly to the bar partner...

[MPLS Barista]

Most baristas mark notes on the top of lids, usually to well liked favorites. I've never heard of marking the bottom of cups. If baristas used this say something rude or weird to customers, most wouldn't even notice it, they just chug their drink and through their cup away

[Hirayuki]

They'd get some weird looks from other people as they tried to tease out the last few drops, though.

i draw random faces on them, never heard from anyone even noticing

I wrote my number and what I would like to do to them.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

VOICEMAIL TEXT: A HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM HOWARD SCHULTZ
19Nov2007

Hello partners, this is Howard calling - and calling for an important reason and that is to express to you my deep appreciation and respect for all the work that you do. And, as Thanksgiving approaches this week, to make sure that you understand how thankful I am for everything that all our partners do throughout the year, especially the people who are behind the scenes doing heroic things.

I think for 25 plus years I've left messages like this just to make sure that despite how hard we work and sometimes the results are not as strong as we would like and that does not, in any way, dilute the fact that I am extremely cognizant of how hard everyone is working and really the contribution everybody is making is so vitally important. I do want to make sure that you really take the time with your loved ones, your family, your friends those people most closest to you and I think we have so much to be thankful for and I ope you an express that and take the time to really be in the moment and be present during what I think is one of the most important holidays of the year when we really sit with people who are most important to us and express our deep thanks and I do think we have a lot to be thankful for.

I know it ahs been a tough eyar where some people have looked at the stock price and perhaps the business itsel and maybe questioned if we''re on the right track and I can promise you that Fiscal '08 will be a better year and whatever concerns or problems we've had I can assure you that we will turn them around and get back to doing the things we've always done and get back to winning the way we always have won. But it doesn't in any way detract from the quality of the work that has been done throughout the year and how proud I am of all of you and I wish there was a way that I could stand in front of all two hundred thousand people who work for Starbucks and say thank you but unfortunately I can't and this is the best wa I can do it, so wherever you are in the company; a retail store, the support center, a distribution center, the roasting facility, whatever department you're in, every single person, please understand how thankful I am for what you do and the contribution you make to Starbucks and I can assure you, as I said before, whether you've been with the company 1 month or many, many years the best is yet to come, I promise you that.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving as we begin the holiday Christmas year and the holiday season and I hope each and everyone of you and your families have a wonderful holiday season. Thank you very much. All my best from my family to yours, take care, bye.

Anybody care to comment? I did omit the ummmmmmmm's from the text. I think at least Uncle Howie is in touch enough to realize that all is not well, and that the company is spiraling downward but he offers hope that there is a brighter future.

BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL
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[Cal]

we serve ice cream at Tully's - I always want to write a rude message at the bottom the the ice cream dishes so that when people finish eating it they will see what we all think about them.

[Emily]

I draw happy faces when I'm bored.

HAHAHA

I've totally done this before to a customer I found particularly attractive. I think it went something like: You're gorgeous. Come back in and see me sometime.

I've never told anyone about that, now I've told all of starbucksgossip.

[Pat Nerr]

That Uncle Howie and his holiday droning... I'm surprised you made it all the way through dude...

Happy Holidays to you and yours

[valenciabarista]

for a while the cups delivered to our store had no black ink on them, so the sirens eye wasnt in the green starbucks circle... so we decided to draw portraits of people in our store. Some people noticed it and thought it was rather creative, most just got a good laugh out of it.

[valenciabarista]

for a while the cups delivered to our store had no black ink on them, so the sirens eye wasnt in the green starbucks circle... so we decided to draw portraits of people in our store. Some people noticed it and thought it was rather creative, most just got a good laugh out of it.

[valenciabarista]

for a while the cups delivered to our store had no black ink on them, so the sirens eye wasnt in the green starbucks circle... so we decided to draw portraits of people in our store. Some people noticed it and thought it was rather creative, most just got a good laugh out of it.

[Carol]

Hey Boston Starbucks Rebel, I just figured out who you are.
The brighter future would be to get rid of the attitudes like yours that seem to infiltrate Starbucks form time to time and thus drag people's great attitudes at the workplace down. Nothing worse when that happens. I've seen yours in action and I am not impressed. Not one bit.

Carol, the Americano lady.

[Stacy]

We've written notes to some of our regular and favorite customers but never anything that could get us in trouble.

[FLASM]

I think voicemails are like messages on the bottoms of cups. Does anyone find them?

[ex-sbuxmanager]

And you say that I only post here to insult people...Sheesh

[atownsbuxrules]

I love writing personalized messages on cups. "Get well soon!" "Have an awesome weekend!" "See ya tomorrow!" Always with a smiley, a heart or a little drawing. Even during a rush, a simple smiley lets my people know I care about them.

[lushed]

i wrote "CUTE!" on the side of a cup once, when a particularly cute boy got a drink... i don't think he noticed while in the store, but i like the thought that he saw it later and maybe felt good about himself.

re: the boss's voicemail -- any sort of 'heartful message' is kind of questionable when you know that thousands of people doing the same job as you are listening in too. however, i think it's kind of cool he takes the time; i would never have known about that memo incident last year if he hadn't sent out a voicemail letting us know he appreciates all the money we make for him. any information is information well received.

[Patti]

Carol, i think maybe you have way too much time on your hands if you are trying to figure out who's who. Just tell yourself it's only coffee.

[OCStarbucksLegend]

One time I wrote "Pretty Girl" as the name on a cup. When the barista on bar called it out he said "I have a tall white mocha for pretty girl" well another customer went to grab it and he said "This one is for the pretty girl, your drink is coming up".

Clean those steam wands so well, that the Virgin Mary would be proud to get a drink from your bar, NOW!

wrote my number, worked out well i mite say

I agree, Carol needs to straighten out her own attitude before she goes slamming someone else's.We're not impressed, not one bit.

And you say that I only post here to insult people...Sheesh

Ya think there may be more than ONE Carol on here? Give it a rest.....

[zipy]

Thats great! I have a regular around 30 ish who came to my house on Halloween dressed as red riding hood. So the next day when she came into our work I wrote red riding hood on her drink. She got a kick out of it!

a lot of baristas seem to be in art school or just graduated art school. one likes to doodle on the bottom when it's slow. one customer picked up a coffee frap and was like eww is there something on the bottome of this?!

some of the baristas like to draw hearts or smiley faces on the cups for their favorite customers.

[seventysix [76]]

I'm in art school! I've been drawing snowmen on cups when we're slow, and sometimes a wreath around the siren. :)

seventysix [76]

i've written "take it easy" on the bottoms of some cups, my friend has drawn cleavage on the siren, and i kind of like the idea of a secret mark to mean decaf, but we've never done anything too serious that would cause trouble. i don't really expect people to notice, as they don't seem to notice me yelling out their drinks.

[refusnik]

My fellow partners often draw faces on the bottom but I have yet to see writing. Sadly the best non-offensive thing I would think to write is something cheesy like "I hope you didn't spill your drink trying to read this because it doesn't say anything worth reading."

"One time I wrote "Pretty Girl" as the name on a cup. When the barista on bar called it out he said "I have a tall white mocha for pretty girl" well another customer went to grab it and he said "This one is for the pretty girl, your drink is coming up"."

Haha, BURN!

We have a guy who comes to our store who gets a 17 shot, 8 honey espresso...

Know the 6 little marking area's on the cup? Well, in each box we write a letter of his name. (George) And when we call it, it's a Heart Attack in a cup.

[Curious George]

"a 17 shot, 8 honey espresso..."

How do you charge for that?

"Pretty girl."

LOL! I wish I had the nerve...

[Westside Barista]

"How do you charge for that?"

I would just hit the add shot button 17 times...

Comes to 9.35 w/o tax at $0.55 a shot...

durn, thats alot..

[ristretto caramel macchiato]

"How do you charge for that?"

I would just hit the add shot button 17 times...

You know, you could just hit "quantity" "17" "add shot" and save yourself 14 steps...

[ex-sbuxmanager]

It's possible that more than one "Carol" posts here. But more than one "Carol" who posts obnoxious insults about other posters for no apparent reason other than s/he disagrees with what someone says? That's a pretty big coincidence. I also like how someone named "Carol" posted on another unrelated thread right after your post. Nice touch.

[Stacy]

"How do you charge for that?"

It should be rung up as Venti (quad) Espresso, add 13 shots. The add shot button is to be used only after someone has purchased a main beverage. Hence why there are buttons for solo, doppio, triple, and quad espresso.

But anywho, the drink itself is beyond disgusting and definitely worthy of being called Heart Attack in a cup. Just like the lady who used to frequent our store and ordered a Triple Venti 25pVanilla Breve Latte. We haven't seen her almost a year. I'm guessing a doctor finally told her to drink drinking that crap or she'll have a coronary.

[Westside Barista]

25 pumps of vanilla?! Holy shnizzy. Thats insane.

[lushed]

'But anywho, the drink itself is beyond disgusting and definitely worthy of being called Heart Attack in a cup. Just like the lady who used to frequent our store and ordered a Triple Venti 25pVanilla Breve Latte. We haven't seen her almost a year. I'm guessing a doctor finally told her to drink drinking that crap or she'll have a coronary.'

or maybe she had one... i would feel so guilty if i enabled her demise like that -- but what can you do?

once this kid got his mom to order him a venti vanilla latte -- he was like... 10 or so. anyhow, the mom looked so harassed i discreetly asked the barista to make it decaf but call it as a regular latte... i felt bad for her for having to deal with the demanding child, and figured she could avoid having him be hyped up on caffeine.

was that wrong of me?

[Stacy]

I thought about that. One day I finally was just "what if it finally happened??" She would tell us that all she would drink is alcohol, Dr Pepper, and her "coffee." She was skinny as could be but definitely not healthy.

We've done the decaf but call it regular to help out parents. Most of them thank us for doing it lol

[matthew]

I'd probably have a heart attack if any of the Baristas I went to wrote that... haha.

[camdeeman]

One of our shift leaders allways puts smiley faces or flowers on cups when we are slow. I thought it was cute. Here is a question for you though...

Anyone request drizzle inside the cup?

I thought we were being nice doing it occasionally when people asked for extra drizzle, Now it is a common request. It is frustrating when you have 4 vanilla bean's with caramel drizzle inside the cup during a rush in drive through.
I love being attentive and anticipating needs of people. But is this really a need?

[Alex]

I have done it once- At my store there was a *ridiculously* attractive regular with whom I flirted on a daily basis. Once I was sure the feeling was mutual, I wrote my phone number on the side of the cup, below his name in small numbers. In case you're wondering, it works- he called. =)

[bucksguy]

re : Drizzle on the cup- we call it Caramel on the walls! Is it a need? No! Wonder why your husband doesn't like touching you anymore? It's the daily Venti extra extra caramel on the walls Frappuccinno! (blended coffee)

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

So I just read an interesting story, that Starbucks is opening another coffee farmer support center in Rwanda. I think this is a great way to help a small country, rebuild itself into a premier coffee producer in the world. The African coffees I believe are some of the most exotic and fundamental for Starbucks to return to its core. Right now, sipping some great coffee, ZAMBIA TERRANOVA ESTATE.

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[burnt bean]

where did you find this article? i'd love to read it.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Just go and check the latest news stories released by Starbucks. I just look at the Yahoo! Finance website and typed in SBUX.

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[Kevin]

I guess I'm gonna have to start looking at the bottom of my cups. :-)

[Joe O.]

Lushed....

Yes, that was completely wrong of you.

[Jim Romenesko]

Here's the story....

Starbucks Plans 2nd Farm Support Center in Rwanda