Discuss "Frappy Hour" or anything else Starbucks-related in the weekend OPEN THREAD

Drinks, customers, store policies and even Starbucks Popcorn -- they're all up for discussion on the weekend OPEN THREAD. Let's get the chatter going. || Jump to the second page of comments.

Comments

[Melody]

@ Christinschu - Totally agree with you.

I have yet to buy a half off Frappuccino. It wasn't until this promotion that I realized that there are 2 hours in the day where I'm almost never in a Starbucks - Just awkward hours to get to a Starbucks. That's not to say I'm not buying Frappuccino: I actually do like the new Frappuccinos (not the light version though) and have been buying them: Just not between 3 and 5!

[Barista Ben]

Man I love it. This is a promo I can really get behind. People love frapps and you can't beat half off. Plus with our goals being units sold not money it makes our goals so much easier. No need to upsell.

[Coffee Soldier]

Javagirl666...I'm assuming you are a SM since you commented about having your partners leave you a little note because you sometimes forget the vacation time... your comment to Fox and his/her store's terrible customer service attitude toward happy hour is disgusting. SM are the pillar of each store and should be leading their partners to embrace the company's goals in accordance to our AOP. You attitude is very poor and I'm sad you are representing one of our stores.

[isitoveryet]

we have a customer that is always trying to scam us. Cheap as heck. Five people in her party. Orders FOUR frapps. They are $2 something!!! So, after they are made, and it's mad busy she tries to say one of them was supposed to be another kind and since we messed up she would just keep it too. Yea no, we didn't comply. How cheap and entitled can you get????

[Crema_the_crop]

I apply the 10-minute rule for Happy Hour. If someone asks ten mins. before, sure, what the heck. 10 mins after I give it, too. After that, I'm sorry, but I'd be glad to have you back tomorrow for happy hour!

Also, all this "extra labor" we're earning for blended units will soon go the way of that 3% we lost before Christmas last year. I promise you. They are teaching us these "better ways" so they can justify less man hours and less people on the floor. And, they are right, to an extent. It is more efficient for two to work CBS than three. One making DT and one making cafe beverages. This is the new standard. I hope you are all executing it this way in stores now so it's not a shock when we lose more labor down the line.

[shift.misto]

uh.. fox.
not cool man, i really hope you're joking. what is your blended average for frappy hour that you are getting so behind?

[jeclasse]

All told I will have worked 7 of the ten frappy hours...today was my last. It is definitely the most stressful and sticky two hours I've ever experienced, but it is totally fun. As for telling the line frappy hour is over-I've most certainly wished I could do that, but that is why we have the discount code, so when the computers stop automatically doing it, we can still ring people through. Most people are really nice, they can tell we're busy and are willing to wait. The people that aren't-well...we have unpleasant people everyday, frappy hour or not. It's so worth the money for an awesome staff party though.

[(former) FLA SM]

"Yes it is indocumented (sic) illegal dehumanizes them"

If someone breaks the law (say by crossing the border into the USA illegally), then the word "illegal" does not dehumanize them; it correctly describes them. You can try all the PC-style phrasing you like, but if you have broken the law, then the word "illegal" is perfectly appropriate. That's what "illegal" means: something not legal.
Next thing you know, we'll be calling gang-bangers "fraternal organization members" or drug dealers will become "undocumented pharmacists." If there are people in the USA who do not like to be classified as "illegal" (regardless of race, color or creed), then they should not break the law.

[PunkIsNotDead]

I check this site often but rarely comment, as I usually don't have anything constructive to say, but I do believe that Frappy Hour is legitimately one of the better ideas I've seen come from corporate in a long time.

[javagirl666]

Oh, please..just because I comment on something doesn't mean that should be any indication of how my store is run. Top transactions in the city, lowest turnover, high qasa as well as customer voice..etc. Get a life!

[Darth Discontined.]

I hope thats not really what you say because customers have really good memories. Maybe your store is a good location and that has a lot to do with the top transactions. Doesnt matter. If one store leaves a customer feeling sour they feel the same about the others. Most will come back or go to a different store. Still isnt right.

We are a team afterall. I hope my good customer service at times makes customers feel they can walk in to any store and be treated well. As far as the frap hour thing I have been told that after it turns 5 then its game off. Problem is if you do it to ONE person then the other ten in line deserve the same discount. Its a matter of fairness.

This is similar to the customers that are actually angry at us when they are late for work. If you are running late then do not stop to get coffee. If I am running late to an airport to catch a flight I do not stop to buy groceries on the way. Get in line early enough to still get the happy hour discount.

I know this post contradicts itself in a way, I dont agree with someone treating a customer like that. They are a person and not just 4 dollars worth of sales for you. However I have to side with the barista because we are partners and maybe there are some unforseen factors in the story that were not described.

[javagirl666]

I didn't say that to anyone..I was just commenting on an earlier post. To my knowledge, we didn't turn anyone away..but, yeah..if you give the discount to people at 5:05, when does it stop..they're are always customers in line. And being in a good location has nothing to do with our transactions..there are several stores w/in a mile of mine and people come there because they are treated so well. You people need to lighten up.

[shift.misto]

666/fox
i suppose it depends on the attitude and the moment. but from the description given, if that was done on my shift, it would have been a sent home/write up, without even blinking. its not acceptable to treat customers like begging dogs (even if they do try awfully hard to appear that way sometimes). If you've got a line to the door at five, have you R1 person put a sticker on the last couple people in line. call them lucky frap happy hour customers or something silly for making it just in time. then its clear that it is over without being rude, or disappointing those who would have already been gone and on their way had it not been for the line at 5 anyway.

[miguel (former) undocumented imigrant]

So fired fla manager do you call everyone who breaks the law illegals? No the fact that they crossed the border is illegal but the act is illegal not the person, do you call a shoplifter an illegal? The use of that word show your racisms and ignorance.

[dcstateofmind]

Uh...if you immigrated to this country illegally, then you are in fact and "illegal" immigrant.

Not a value judgment - just a fact.

[Cheapredapron]

No Miguel you wouldn't call a shoplifter an illegal but you would call him or her a criminal by definition. I can't understand why some people from other nations feel entitled to BREAK our LAWS and are shocked when they are penalized for it. They are illegal and they are breaking the law. Your statement about it being the act that is illegal not the person is correct. The term illegal is differentiate those people who have enough respect for their adoptive country to abide by the rules from those who feel they are exempt from such rules. The former we label as legal immigrants and the later as illegal. Would you rather the illegal immigrants be identified as criminals? For all those who had 3 person deployment for cbs consider yourselves extremely lucky. My store's goal was 344. Imagine doing that on cbs by yourself with only one working blender.Its been fun though.

[Overcaffeinated]

Perhaps if we hadn't spent most of the 80's overthrowing democratically elected govt's in Latin and South America,and the 90's destroying what was left of their economies with policies like NAFTA, there would not be so many people who are so desperate they'll do just about anything to help their families. The lives of undocumented workers here are pretty brutal. Perhaps you should stop and think about they're so desperately trying to get away from. Have some compassion people, it's not like the US doesn't have some complicity here.

[miguel]

They don't break the law because they want to, we are lucky to be in this great country and most latin american countries are 3rd world countries, I have seen it first hand how people barely have anything to eat, and live in horrible conditions, the last thing in these peoples mind is the politics behind this argument they basically just don't want to starve to death, legal immigritation is not an option because of the time and money it cost, were talking about thousands of dollars for people who make roughly 5 dollars a day, I don't endorse illegal imigration but I think it is important to see things from both persective, me having been an undocumented imigrant for many years, now a citizen, this topic hits home to me.

[disappointed]

Flavored coffees have been announced.

[javagirl666]

They sure have.

[dcstateofmind]

Flavored coffees? Starbucks has become what it once decried. Sad really....

[formermanager]

I am sure they will call them "flavor infused".....

[Melody]

Flavored Via can't be far behind.

Wow so Starbucks introduces Vanilla, Caramel, and Cinnamon coffees. They said "never" to this. I'd be interested in knowing more why they think now it can be done or is now a good idea ...

Big sigh.

[Fox]

Ok, this is the big bad 'Fox' reporting back. the promotion is from 3-5. not 3-5:05. I was understaffed (two people on the shift for an hour) and yes, I let everyone in line by 5:00 get their deal, but they had to be in the line. Jeez. We did on average about 150 Fraps per day during happy hour, it's nuts at our store. HATE it and glad its gone. If they wanna bring it back, I recommend giving the store extra labor for that week, because that must have been terrible for customer voice to have two - three people all week long and the weekend 5-6 people. Anyhow, I appreciate the criticism but we run a very very strict store, no exceptions. Exceptions quickly turn into discrimination.

[BAYAREABUX]

Why is this a good idea?

As Howard says, look at the size of the prize!!

Money talks: that's the new Starbucks for you in a nutshell.

[Faded Coffee Master]

Any one know more about the "re-org" in IT last week? I heard that people were "asked to leave."

[(former) FLA SM]

So Miguel,

First of all, I don't see how I can be called racist since I never made any mention of race... you did.

Second, I wasn't fired. I accepted a severance package, as did thousands of others who weren't fired when hundreds of stores were closed. I guess that shows your ignorance.

Third, it seems you are saying it's acceptable to break the law if you have a good reason. So by your logic, it's acceptable for drug dealers to sell heroin because they don't want to starve to death. It's OK to steal food if you're hungry. WRONG! If you do something that's illegal, you are a criminal. Period. That's the definition of a criminal: someone who breaks the law. You say you don't support illegal immigration, yet you admit to having once been an illegal immigrant, i.e. breaking the law. You try to justify breaking the law by giving conditions under which (in your opinion) doing something illegal is acceptable.
You say "they don't break the law because they want to"? Whaaaa? Ummm, obviously they wanted to because they did. Nobody put a gun to their heads. It's funny how thousands upon thousands of other people can make their way into this country legally, but you couldn't.
If things are so bad where the illegal immigrants are coming from, then maybe they should try to change things instead of running away from the problem. In the USA, we did that once and we celebrate it every July 4th. If you have no respect for the laws of this country, then how can you expect us to have any respect for those who break our laws?

On an unrelated note, why do they call it "Latin" America if they don't speak Latin?

Unrelated note number two: if the US is a "first world" country, and there are also "third world" countries, which ones are the "second world" countries?

[shift.misto]

so i get this maybe once every two weeks or so:

Customer:Do you have cherry coffee?
Me: no, sorry, all of our beans are roasted to enhance their own natural flavors and characteristics, but we don't have any artifical flavors. just the good stuff nature provided!
Customer:oh. do you have maple then?
Me: nope, just the natural flavors. at starbucks we don't add artificial flavors to our coffee.
Customer: so its all the same flavor?
~and so begins the coffee education process.

thank you starbucks for once again making me a liar when i boasted about your commitment to coffee in its rawest and truest forms. for supporting my love for the french press and the excitement of bold statement blends. thank you for polluting your beans with flavor additives, and turning your knowledgeable baristas into walking contradictions, yet again. so much for consistent consistency eh?

[Fox]

I've had nearly identical experiences. haha. If it makes you feel any better, according to the SBUX website, the new 'Natural Fusion' Coffee Blends are only going to be in grocery stores and are supposedly 'all natural.' Although, these days that isn't saying much. I'm a Coffee Master and think this the worst thing the company could do to it's coffee, but we shall see...

[miguel]

Fired fla sm,
I didn't say it was ok I said you need to look at it from both perspectives,yes I was an undocumented imigrant when I was 2!!!!! Till I was 10 not my choice at all! Because I would have starved to death if my parents didn't bring me here, yes many people come here legally but if you knew about imigration you would know that there is a quota and if say you apply today you won't have a chance to enter until 2025, there a backed up 15 years, so because of illegal imigration I am alive, working at starbucks and attending the university of california, can you please explain what role YOu had in that july 4th thing? By the way you can't just change things because not every country is lucky like the usa to have so many natural resources to make it possible to become the most poweful nation on the face of the planet.

[looong time shift]

Amazingly the frappy hour went smooth(ish). We had some extra labor which was way more than I really expected. I'm really only confused by two things in all this. Our FR pump has a seal that is defective. It was a problem that still hasnt been solved, our DM's were supposed to supply replacements. In the meantime the part you actually pump has to be lubricated with the serve safe grease, and it doesn't last so the pump is not pumping out enough FR. Our new cold cups are in short supply. We were sent the older two line cups at least one order after we soft launched. I am not sure if this is midwest or more regions. I know most things don't go as smoothly as expected but this 1) was supposed to be the most important launch (besides VIA) 2) It was supposed to provide us a way to ensure consistency for all stores blending. So far this has proven a bit difficult in execution. I feel bad for some of the new customers we lured out with 50% off that might not be impressed with our new blending system...

[SPORK]

HAHAHAHAAHHA Am I the only one DYING over FLA ASM?

so happy I'm not from America where ignorance like that exists...

[Cafe Nervosa]

@(f)FLASMThe second world countries were the communist/USSR-associated countries... Hasn't been used much since the wall came down.

[anonemoose]

Lol, I can't believe there's so much argument about when to stop giving Frappy Hour discounts. Was it really so hard to just make a mental note of the last few people in line at 5 so they could get the deal without a fuss, maybe go up to them and ask them to tell anyone who walked in afterward that they were too late for the half-off deal? Jeezus. You'd think that people in a customer service industry would try to adapt with some customer service skills.

[miguel]

Just goes to show you what kind of managers sbux hires (and fires in the case of fla sm) uneducated know it allls.

[Duh]

Dryback Dude - Just because this is a forum and you can say whatever, doesn't justify using hate speech. And you are wrong, obviously people do care, hence the mass amount of people protesting it. Anyhow, at the end of the day, these kind of discussions belong in an ENTIRELY different forum. NOT a Frappy Hour, Starbucks forum.

[miguel]

Lol at dry back dude, I didn't start this conversation I was attacked and am defending myself nice language by the way, good to see that you are a logical person that can disagree with some one and make good arguments with solid premises and not resort to name calling, that was sarcasm by the way.

[adoubleshotofclarity]

The only thing I don't understand is why Jim was so proactive in deleting the anti-Mexican comments earlier (didn't see them, assuming that's what they were), but has happily left up BSR's anti-semitic tirades in the past. I'm all for free speech, but I'd just as soon not listen to what you have to say if you're being blatantly inflammatory.

Honestly a little surprised this conversation is even going on still... This is a Starbucks blog, and last I checked the thread says "anything *Starbucks-related*". Go argue immigration politics on Huffington Post.

[Alex R]

So, I heard this thing called Happy Hour is going on in Starbucks stores...

[(former) FLA SM]

"Just goes to show you what kind of managers sbux hires (and fires in the case of fla sm) uneducated know it allls."

At least I'm educated enough to know how to use proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. Additionally, I can comprehend what I read, which you obviously can't since you still contend I was fired. Wrong again, amigo!

[adoubleshotofclarity]

It was, Alex. It's over now.

[Bryan H.]

I am a graduate student at UC Berkeley, currently working on an academic research project on the restaurant industry. I'm looking for current and former Starbucks store managers and district managers who would be willing to be interviewed (anonymously) about their time at Starbucks. In return for complete interviews, a $20 gift certificate for Amazon.com will be provided. I can be reached at bryanh (at) berkeley.edu Thanks!

[Allison]

Regarding the 5:00 deadline - even the Post Office lets everyone in line at the scheduled closing time get served. They post someone at the back of the line to tell anyone who arrives afterwards that they are closed. Seems to me that anyone in line at 5:00 should get the discount.

It would probably be impractical to have someone whose job is "end-of-line marker", but perhaps announcing that happy hour is over and everyone in line will get the discount?

[miguel]

@ adoubleshot the post he deleted were not comments they were hate slurs towards me, he used the name dryback dude which gives you a clue to what he said, he started it and also he was posing as the webmaster, he has been banned thanks jim, he also called our good friend juan valdez names.
@fla sm , you were fired, trust me I know fellow managers who had their stores closed and were kept, you obviously wasn't valuable enough to keep.

[sample cup]

Hey thanks in general to the person/people who "discovered" the "Key Lime" Frappuccino... While I want to keep my sanity and will not actually recommend it to a customer (because the people who liked it when we sampled it didn't seem to have a memory for ingredients and it's non official so I wouldn't want them to confuse/frustrate an uninformed barista) we've been playing with it all weekend at my store. Pretty tasty!

Anyone know about the [lack of?] BN.com discount for partners? Did it go silently into the night or am I not checking the right resources to take advantage of it?

[Radu Prisacaru]

I really enjoyed this post. I have read over a few other posts you have up and I will say you do a great job of blogging. I will be looking for new post daily...Keep up the good work! I invite you to see my post, I hope you will find interesting too.

[current manager]

(former) FLA SM - you still haven't figured out that you were targeted and Starbucks didn't want you anymore? they moved favored managers to successful stores RIGHT BEFORE the cuts to save their jobs. did this happen anywhere else besides the Northeast? they could have done the same for you if you were "that amazing". we lost 3 ASMs out of 4 in my district. they even moved 2 ASMs and an SM in my state within my region months prior to make sure they were in the "sadly closed stores". convenient!!! sooooo happy to get rid of them! we lost 1 manager... the 8 of us who are still here clearly see why there was so much movement within the region immediately before the cuts.

[believe what you want... you got axed!]

We had 2 additional managers from a neighboring district for months who had no stores of their own and gave them specialty jobs. All they did was teach classes and help other stores when managers went on vacations. Trust me, if they wanted you to stay, they would have done the same for you.

[Erik]

Yea, sidestepping the whole immigration thing (I guess I am not surprised it has made it to here, given that it seems to be the topic of the moment!)...
As a customer, I bought a frappachino during the first day happy hour. I rarely order them, but there seemed to be a lot of larger ice chunks. But a)it was a drive through, and b) I assumed that if someone was that quick to blend and pour it, they must be swamped due to the happy hour thing. I love discounts and all, but as I have said here before, I would rather pay regular price for something than get a discount and face a crowd of ill-mannered bargain hunters. I am glad it went well for some, and feel bad for those who got swamped.

[Paul]

Frappy Hour was completely miserable. I worked all but one of the days of it, and I can truly say, it was terrible. I am so thankful that it is over.