Have any interesting things happened in your Starbucks drive-thru?

A jeep somehow landed on top of a car in the Cheektowaga, NY Starbucks drive-thru lane. (There are three photos with the linked story.) If anyone from that store reads Starbucks Gossip, please give us details. As for others, can you top that drive-thru drama? Read "Jeep ends up on top of car at Starbucks"

Comments

[Lisa]

Nothing topping that, but I've had a woman have a mental breakdown in drive-thru before, screaming at the top of her lungs so loudly and gesticulating so violently that people in the lobby asked if they should call the police. All over a small dispute about whether when she said "breve" she meant half-and-half. (Apparently she thought it was something else.) She must have been having a very bad day, poor woman.

We've also had someone get into a long drive-thru line only to realize too late that he was going to be late to work. He got out, walked up to the window and asked if we could have everybody in front of him (about 8 cars) drive through and back around so he could get out. When the barista told him he wouldn't ask that of the customers and that we'd try and hurry, the customer got livid and started yelling, further holding up the line. When he got back to his car, he kept honking the horn, as if that would help.

I can't tell you how often something like that has happened. Hey, customers... Don't stop by Starbucks if you're already late to work and then take your frustration out on us because the reasonable amount of time we're taking to make your drink is making you later. Be a big boy or girl, be professional, and hurry your butt to work because your boss doesn't care that you need your morning latte... And while I may try to go faster to get you out the door quicker, I sure am not going to put your drink at the front of the line before people who waited their turn, just because you request it.

[JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR]

Nothing this crazy has ever happened anywhere near my store, aside from the usual: "what? no chocolate doughnuts? okay, well nevermind" and then reverse into that yellow pole, up-and-over the curb(s), drag-race through the empty lane, etc.

However, occasionally, when I'm high as heck, cruising up to work, pulling into my parking spot, I wonder if I am ACTUALLY just tripping ... and ACTUALLY pulling some action movie stunt in our drive-through. But NOPE, no reality tricks, so far. I just get out of the car and get into gear. Time to close the store, baby.

[Tired of This]

Cops have pulled someone over in my DT and taken them to jail. That was definitely different.

[gmreat]

we had one semi-regular dt customer who would always pull up to the speaker box, then back up, then pull forward, back up again, and pull in front of the speaker box a 3rd time before ordering. It's pretty comical to listen to the DT partner "hi, thanks for choosing...hi, thanks for...thanks for choosing starbucks (pause to make sure they are sticking around) would you like to try a peppermint mocha today?"

[Herman M.]

One snowy night we had a minivan come through our drive through. Then back out when she realized we had no drive through and she was driving on the patio. Good times.

[Jen]

Nothing as crazy as that has ever happened at our Drive-Thru. However, i have seen people drive past our drive thru down the alley past our dumpster, and then back up to get back in the drive-thru, when they realize they didn't go up to our window, but to our dumpster/

[Barstaintheraw]

I used to work at a DT store that is next to a hollywood video and people would drive up trying to return their movies idk what that is about. Or they would order at our trash can that was past our order speaker. Hahaha.

Once our sprinkler was broken by the DT window and a lady refused to drive thru it. Not sure what she expected us to do I just let the window shut and watched her wait. Starbucks has some of the most pansy-est, sissy, bratty customers.

[Cinnamon Dolce Sprinkles]

I used to work in a DT and I noticed that when customers are in their car, they are typically a lot more rude and annoying to the DTR at the window. Maybe it's the fact that they're in their own car and have a bubble. I don't know.

As far as craziness goes, we had a regular that used to always drive straight pass the menu board and speaker box claiming "Oh I didn't see it" every time even though we would inform her the location of said speaker box.

We also were located in a high homeless populated area, so we used to have this one guy stand in the DT lane heckling customers and asking for change. We called the police on him but by the time they would arrive he would be gone.

Last one, one night, we were slow and have no cars in DT, except for the one that pulled in the wrong way (as in pulling in through the exit) and drove past the window to the menu board, the realized it and still tried to order!

[PArtner]

One time I answered the DT and took a man's order and said "thank you, your total is $4.98 when you get to the window"...then he wasn't pulling around and I didn't know why, then I heard another man's voice. It turns out that a police officer followed the guy into the starbucks drive-through to give him a ticket. The guy got a ticket ordering at Starbucks!!

[Bean Counter]

One morning during a freak snowstorm moved through, a minivan roared up to the drive-thru, hit the brakes, and slammed into the car at the order box in front, causing a chain reaction crash. The middle-aged female driver of the minivan then accused the store of being at fault for not properly salting and sanding the driveway and parking lot, even though our security cameras and other witnesses verified she was going way too fast, not to mention on her cellphone as well!

As one of the few locations being totally corporate owned (land, building, etc), phoning a call centre somewhere in Tennessee requesting snow removal is incredibly expedient when you're located in CANADA!!

[chi chis]

Well, this wasn't at Starbucks, but in the Drive Thru at a place I worked before a guy pulled up to the window with a big grin on his face with his topless girlfriend sitting in the passenger seat next to him. I remember giving a heads up on the headsets and everyone made there way to the second window to give them extra special customer service. However, by the time they pulled up there she had pulled on a t-shirt.

[Coffee Soldier]

Almost every Sunday this guy comes through DT in a hoodie or t-shirt and PJ bottoms or boxers to get coffee for him and his wife...every once in a while the button is not snapped on his boxers and one of the PJ bottoms will be wide open and we get a good view of his "package"....I wonder if he does it on purpose! I've got an eyefull about 5 times over the past year!

[s]

We had a customer who used to come into the store in his PJ's for his first cup of coffee. One morning, when he stepped over the curb, he stepped on the cuff and his pants came down showing it all.
The patio people cracked up.
The guy looked pretty embarrased as he pulled his pants up. Then he took a bow. We haven't seen him since.

[erstwhile]

Nothing too peculiar happens in our drive except people running over the "Exit Only" sign while entering from the wrong direction.

We also have people ticketed by police fairly often because they speed through our parking lot to circumvent a traffic light since we're on a busy intersection.

And I just want to share my disdain for diesel trucks, jet airplanes and emergency vehicle sirens. But especially diesel trucks. Please, don't come through my drive. I value my hearing.

[huh?]

1. I like the drive thru because people HAVE to leave after a little while, unfortunately they're also in a rush and I've seen a dozen or so accidents because people rush out of the drivethru and "have to get to work cause they're late". Isn't stopping to get food or a drink in the morning... what makes you more late? Just wake up a bit earlier and DON'T cause a 7 car pile up over a tall latte. plz

2. headsets are fun

[Barista]

Thank you all for posting your own DT stories. It's not often that Starbucks Gossip makes me laugh out loud.

[Peepingsiren]

At my old dt store we had a monitor to see people ordering or whatever. We've seen it all. From getting freaky in the car with eachother to nose picking, parents disciplining their bratty kids to people smoking pot out of their pipes. Entertainment at it's best

[sheesh]

We had a camera at the DT ordering area, and it was great to see what people did. Get in their trunks, flip us off, etc...and even more fun when we revealed that we have a camera, and that we did see what they did.
We had a woman reach back to swat at her kid who was assumedly being a brat, and the woman in the car behind her called the police for the "child abuse" she was witnessing. She flipped on us for not doing it ourselves.
The other best thing, is trying to get the customer NOT to pick up the coffee by the lid. No matter how you hold the cup. They just ask for a spill.
Once, we had a lady freaking out because her car was overheating while waiting in line. She went nuts on us as her car filled the whole DT area with steam and smoke. It was the dead of summer and she was driving a POS. Classic.
Finally, a woman dumped her venti cappuccino on herself and the interior of her SUV. I felt bad, she had some redness on her legs, so I helped her get cleaned up, sent her on her way. 30 minutes later, her husband calls and flips out, not because his wife (who had toted her infant with her instead of leaving her home with the d-bag dad) had been burned, but because she dirtied the inside of the new car.

[Coffee Mistress]

It is a little odd to log on here and see a store that I've worked in featured. Make that, a lot odd. It was never a home store for me but, I did fill in a couple of times. I can't figure out what the driver of the Jeep was doing. The drive-thru turn is pretty obvious.

[PJ]

So today I was working DT. Our Shift went somewhere (we had no idea where...she just left) and there was a girl doing front, another doing bar, and me. Today was prob just the worst day ever! So with three people, we got a drive through rush and house rush...crazy packed and rude drive through customers...I had one lady yell at me because she had been in line for ten minutes...she said she'd never had such a horrible experience here before...I explained to her what was going on (and it didn't help that people got to the window and ordered extra drinks). When she got to the window she informed me I should have told the customer who added to the order to F*ck off and I shouldn't have allowed it cuz she was late to work. Really?

At my old store, we had this lady come through DT with her kid in the front seat unbuckled...One of our regulars was a cop inside and decided to give her a ticket :-) not going to lie...it totally made my day!

Last story...at my old store, my friend and I were in DT working...when all of a sudden a car hits another car, flies over the curb, breaks the light post, hits my friends car with his car, and the light pole breaks and crashes on his car...yeah it was completely totaled. To make matters worse, even though he bought the car from his parents, tag was still in their name. They took the money and he was left without a car...yeah that sucked

[ericiidx]

Nothing exciting, however, we have a largely Middle Eastern customer base due to our location near a very popular tech school, and just about all of them will pull up to the speaker and immediately shout "EXCUSE ME!" as if we have no way of knowing anyone is currently at the speaker.

[Truck Rental]

You just gotta keep on driving and not drive-thru :) drink your coffee in your own home!

[Barista]

Wow! Its amazing that everyone here finds the most mundane things so amusing!

"And I just want to share my disdain for diesel trucks, jet airplanes and emergency vehicle sirens. But especially diesel trucks. Please, don't come through my drive. I value my hearing."

Whoever said this complains about what kind of vehicle comes thru? You should be glad your store has business no matter what kind of car comes through. Customers are where our paychecks essentially come from.
You all sound like a bunch immature little highschool kids. Yes people are rude at our DTs and some are really nice, but coming on here and finding something negative to say about every situation that happens at a drive thru is lame. Also you may find it amusing to switch back and forth from channel to channel and say rude things about DT customers or other employess but one day you might not be so smooth and get caught, then you wont have a job to come on here and "GOSSIP" about ha. Im so sick of rude people, employees and customers...its apparent its not only customers who are the rude ones...makes me ashamed to work for this company. Bottom line, grow up...you couldnt act like this anywhere else.