Starbucks Gossip

Starbucks employees create a shrine to a homeless customer who died

The chair at the Nyack, NY Starbucks where Fleming Taylor sat is cordoned off with black ribbon and filled with bouquets and notes announcing his death. Every day, the 62-year-old Taylor would walk into the Starbucks as the doors opened, sit in the same purple velvet chair, read and discuss what was in The Wall Street Journal with other regulars, and would leave only when the store closed in the evening. I suspect almost every Starbucks has a similar customer. || Read "Shrine created at Nyack Starbucks in honor of homeless customer"

Woman's age discrimination suit against Starbucks is going to trial

A federal judge has denied a request by Starbucks to dismiss an age discrimination lawsuit filed last year by a 56-year-old Portland, Maine woman who says she submitted multiple applications, but was never hired as a barista. The order clears the way for a civil trial in February unless a settlement is reached earlier. Deborah Boyajian wants over $300,000 from Starbucks || Read "Suit against Starbucks going to trial" || Earlier coverage of this case

How's Thanksgiving going at your Starbucks?

I'm thankful there will be stores open when I make my Illinois-to-Wisconsin drive this afternoon. Do other customers seem as pleased that you're working on the holiday? Tell your Thanksgiving tales here.

Starbucks sees sales declining in 2009

Starbucks says in a filing: "Management expects the company to continue to face a very difficult economic environment throughout fiscal 2009," in the United States and internationally, including in the two largest company-operated markets, Canada and the United Kingdom. || Read "Starbucks sees 2009 same-store sales dropping"

[Note that comments now JUMP to other pages, and that they are NOT ON ONE PAGE as they were previously.]

Somebody please post the full text of the message that Starbucks is sending out about the missing laptop

UPDATE: It's now posted in the first comment. Starbucks employees say in the open thread below that a laptop with 97,000 employees' social security numbers, names and addresses was stolen, and that a message about this theft was sent to the partners. Somebody please post THE FULL TEXT OF THE MESSAGE in the comments below to verify this. 

OPEN THREAD conversation-starter: Kudos to Starbucks for holding off on the Christmas music

I complained four years ago after hearing Christmas music being played in Chicago-area Starbucks stores on November 8! I'm pleased to read that the company is now waiting until after Thanksgiving to put on the holiday tunes. Share your thoughts on Christmas music -- or anything else Starbucks-related -- in the open thread.

What have you said to a customer that you immediately regretted?

"How many months pregnant are you? Oh....you're not!" And customers -- what kind of exchanges with baristas do you wish you could take back? (Ugly name-calling after getting an unsatisfactory drink? An awkward date-proposal to a barista who you later  discovered was married/dating?) Tell your stories!

What's the posting policy for Starbucks community bulletin boards?

Debbie e-mails STARBUCKS GOSSIP: "What's the posting policy is for what goes on the Community Boards? I ask because I volunteer for non-profits that host fundraisers such as 10K walk/runs, a ballet show, etc. Some Starbucks stores say "yes, go ahead and post your flyer, brochure, etc." But, one Starbucks manager told me, "only non-profits advertising FREE events to the community", while her store's board had posts advertising fee-charged profit events. She wouldn't let me post my non-profit flier (to a children's Nutcracker ballet down the street), and when I pointed out the posters had fee-charged events, she said she hadn't gone through them to pull them down. Yet when I went back days later to buy coffee, and take a flyer to a business nearby that agreed to post the event, the same fee-charged events were STILL on the Starbucks community board. So, what is the deal?"

Can anyone spell out the policy -- if there is one -- for Debbie?

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Here's one coffee-drinker cheering for a Starbucks turnaround

Rex Huppke writes in his "humor" piece: "Clearly, this is a time for citizens to rally for a cause greater than themselves. To come to the aid of a once-great corporation that simplified our morning coffee choice by thanklessly driving thousands of locally owned cafes out of business. Every American, the rich (Where did they go?) and the poor (Oh, that's where) should donate money this year to Starbucks. In exchange for coffee. I have already gone the extra mile by halting my routine theft of Splenda packets." || Read "Brother, can you spare (buying) a double latte?"