Let loose in the Starbucks Gossip weekend OPEN THREAD!

Post your praises, gripes, observations and questions here; anything Starbucks-related is up for discussion. || Jump to the second page of comments.

Comments

[Will]

Also re: ghetto lattes -- the price is already worked into the price of drinks. Starbucks is aware of this problem and has already adjusted accordingly years before you, or anyone on this board began working with the company.

However, as aggravating as it is, try to make it a game. Shame the person while they stand at the condiment bar. Saying "Hey, real classy there, bruh" or "I'd be happy to make you a latte next time if that's what you want." or "Hey, if you can't afford starbucks, don't bother coming," or my personal favorite "Hey, you beat the system, you must have gone to a real good school. MIT? Harvard?"

They usually just walk away with a head hung low. It's awesome.

[Coffee Drinker]

@Will! I"ve used my own cup plenty of times for refill and never gotten a credit as you say. I see the till go from .52, then .42, then 0. I may have the tax wrong, maybe it's 54/44; regardless, are you actually seeing a credit on your till?

Tonight I went up for my refill 20-min before closing. They'd run out of Anniversary and didn't want to make more (depends on the barista, you know.) The place was mostly empty but for what I know they'd been slammed all day and wanted to get outta there...anyway. The barista saw my disdain of Pike, and offered me a shot "to make it stronger" which I gladly took. And I tipped her a buck for my refill, just because I so appreciate her "making it right" attitude.

[Hipsterdufus]

Will, while dairy variances for certain things are worked in to the price of drinks, I hardly thing that the cost of a "ghetto" latte is built in to the price of drinks.

Please give me specific numbers and details if you insist that it is.

I do like to poke fun at the Ghetto Latte customers.

[Spider Jerusalem]

Atlanta Barista fired for cutting off wi-fi to discourage people openly watching porn at his store after numerous customer complaints. Thoughts?

[Alex]

You mean SBUX doesn't have a content filter? Brilliant.

[hearbutloud]

Take the cream off the condiment bar and make everyone's coffees as you would for a drive-thru. No ghetto lattes. (Man I wish we could do this.)

[MS88]

Any recommendations or tips for SM interview with a DM?

[otterinthewater]

@Jason Coffee

While severely out of practice, I can do latte art. We don't have pitchers of the ideal type for it- the small ones with a pokey spout work much better. Also, the milk steaming method is a touch different from standard to get the proper latte art consistency.

I hear that some of the new remodels will be teaching it to baristas, though....

[Waltie]

If customers are complaining about somebody watching porn in the lobby, you don't go in back and turn off the internet, you go and tell that customer to turn off their computer and leave the store. If you can't handle that, you shouldn't be running a shift. I find it hard to believe that any of this actually happened, of course, but if so, it doesn't sound like wrongful termination to me, so much as removing a stupid barista who did the wrong thing.

And why do so many baristas get so mad about "ghetto" lattes? The milk is there for customers to use. What do I care how they use it?

[name]

@ waltie
We get mad for a couple reasons
Condiment bar milk is meant to be used as a condiment
It is not fair for the customers who pay full price

[Darth Sidamo]

The story of the ghetto latte is similar to the story of the Chai price adjustment of years past. Those of you far back enough will remember that a Chai Latte was actually one of the cheaper drinks on the menu. The cost of just a regular unflavored caffe latte in fact. Abuse of many people making it no water with an insane amount of pumps of chai made the stores cost of the beverage go up. This in turn caused the price of the Chai Latte to go up as well.

Those 14oz of cream you steal comes from somewhere. Those countless free drink coupons come from somewhere. That complaining about taste of beverage to get a free drink comes from somewhere. A business in general will not take a financial hit for these reasons. They will just increase the price of beverages for the rest of the people.

It cannot be expected that the free $5 drink for every 15 visits is in fact totally free. The cost of that drink has been made up from the increased profit made from the previous 15 you purchased.

[ncsm]

I love how upset so many partners seem to get over ghetto lattes because they claim that it negatively impacts their store's dairy variance when in fact there are other actions that impact variance to a far greater extent. How about: giving away free drinks to family and friends, not paying attention to orders and having to throw away incorrectly made beverages, presteaming too much milk and having to throw it away once it drops below temp, failing to properly rotate dairy and having to throw away expired cartons, not taking accurate dairy counts and failing to get credit for delivery shortages, etc, etc, etc. The truth of the matter is that it bugs the living shit out of some partners to see customers "abuse" the condiment carafes. If that's the case, fine--let's just be upfront about it and stop crying about variance!

[Waltie]

If something is put out for the customers to use it, it isn't stealing when the customers use it.

[baristamclane]

I'm going to side with Waltie on this one. It does annoy me, but not enough to call out a customer on it. Besides, their ghetto latte is not going to taste like the real deal. If they're okay with that, and the fact that they are using milk that has been sitting on that condiment bar anywhere from 1-3 hours, and being touched by multiple (and most likely unwashed) hands, then I guess you get what you pay for :/

[adoubleshotofclarity]

5yearvet -- That SBC is operated by Borders, and subject to their standards (in conjunction with whichever standards SBUX imposes through the licensing agreement). The lid thing is likely just a Borders decision.

[shellbob]

I would like to think that the barista dealing with the whole 'porn' problem at his store has tried to talk to the customers about it...something tells me that they were pretty darn persistent.
Isn't there some sort of law about watching porn in public places...or is it honestly not a problem, at least legally speaking.

[A Non eMoose]

Why am I annoyed by ghetto lattes? Because it's people playing the system that pays me. That sucks. I'm sure many of those people who think they're getting some kind sweet deal would be unhappy if I utilized such shady tactics at their respective places of business.

[Will]

"@Will! I"ve used my own cup plenty of times for refill and never gotten a credit as you say. I see the till go from .52, then .42, then 0. I may have the tax wrong, maybe it's 54/44; regardless, are you actually seeing a credit on your till?"

You're right. My mistake. Still works with iced water, though. Ringing up ice water with a personal cup still triggers a refund.

[ex-flbarista]

I'm personally annoyed by the dirty looks I sometimes get from baristas when I order my "Grande Americano in a tall cup." When I was a partner I knew that Americanos were to be ringed by the # of shots, NOT cup size. I guess that's left out of the training these days...

[baristamclane]

@ex-flbarista, I'm blown away by the number of partners I've worked with in California (Central and Southern) who don't know of that ringing policy. I actually get annoyed that customers here have to specify "grande in a tall cup" instead of a "triple tall" to avoid being accidentally charged for a tall +add shot.

[Common Sense]

For whoever is giving a cup discount of 10 cents off the the refill price, your not very smart. The refill price is because you are refilling a cup. It is an already discounted price. They only get their 10 cents off when they purchase their drink. If your logic works then you should be giving the person who brings back their paper cup a 10 cent discount which would make it 40 cents. So why wouldn't the price just be that because everyone is refilling something. Think about it!!

[slaw275]

@ncsm...

you pre-steam milk? I was under the impression that beverage quality standards dictate FRESHLY steamed milk for each individual beverage. In fact, my partners know that if they steam more milk than needed for ONE beverage in ONE steaming pitcher, they run the risk of being written up.

[gc]

RE:

Also re: ghetto lattes -- the price is already worked into the price of drinks. Starbucks is aware of this problem and has already adjusted accordingly years before you, or anyone on this board began working with the company.

However, as aggravating as it is, try to make it a game. Shame the person while they stand at the condiment bar. Saying "Hey, real classy there, bruh" or "I'd be happy to make you a latte next time if that's what you want." or "Hey, if you can't afford starbucks, don't bother coming," or my personal favorite "Hey, you beat the system, you must have gone to a real good school. MIT? Harvard?"

They usually just walk away with a head hung low. It's awesome.

Posted by: Will | September 26, 2010 at 06:13 PM

--------------------------------------

Ha! I don't think that'd work out too well. Not only would the employee probably be fired (or at least written up) but Starbucks would then probably give the customer a discount coupon and a free coffee for their trouble.

You know that'd be the ramifications.

Customers always win, whether they deserve to or not.

[Waltie]

In the situation mentioned above, the customer would most definitely be right and deserve to "win." If you feel the need to insult or berate a customer for helping themselves to milk and sweetener at the condiment bar, please, do the rest of us partners a favor and find a new job. You're making us all look bad.

[spence]

"Common Sense" is right. Customers do not get an additional 10cents off for a personal cup discount. A refill is 50cents in part due to the fact that they already have a cup.

[spence]

A vent: I'm still trying to wrap my head around flavored instant coffee. Our store has a goal of over a $100 a day. 100 dollars. Gee. I hate to be a downer as I am only being realistic here. Are they effing crazy? What hat did they pull this number from?
We are not a transient store. We get the same customers day after day. They already hate us for pushing Via.

[I.Heart.Spirit]

The reasoning for goal is because when VIA launched the first time around, 35% of the sales happened the first week.

This added with the fact we will be handing out a coupon for customers to receive a free tall beverage with the purchase of flavoured VIA.

I feel this is attainable in my previous store and shouldn't be *too* difficult in my current store.

---

As for ghetto lattes, I don't get too upset with it. It is slightly annoying when people have that 'haha, I'm being tricky attitude'. Just as steaming extra milk slowly adds up in waste in the day; customers ordering doppio espressos in iced grande cups that fill them up with milk from the bar is slowly adding up profits lost for the day. Eh.

[Darth Sidamo]

The condiments are a built in cost for the beverage. 20 oz of cream however are not. Its not stealing getting ketchup for your fries at a McDonalds. It is stealing however when you get your 44oz cup from McDonalds and intentionally fill it up with ketchup to take home.

Theft is all in the intention. What if somebody intended to steal 30% of your paycheck every pay period to be put in a personal bank account for their leisure. Now what if that 30% went to pay taxes.

[erstwhile]

Spence, the Fall 2 VIA goals are ridiculous for everyone. It's not going to happen. We've always had goals for as long as I can remember, and rarely hit them (unless it's PSL or something to do with Frappuccinos). VIA is no different; the higher ups are just focusing on it because it's the newest thing we have to worry about. Baristas shouldn't stress over unrealistic VIA goals -- nobody is going to get fired.

[Jason Coffee]

@Will something seems wrong with that equation... lol.

@5yearveteran weird, do they put lids on ANY of the drinks for the customer before hand off?

@crema_the_crop I wonder who's fault it would be if the customer burned themselves... Also how does that work in the Drive Thru?

@yukonluvr I want to try @aged sulawesi kalosi maybe you can pick me up some while your there? ;)

[spence]

@Erstwhile, You are right, of course. I just get annoyed when I'm asked to do the impossible. Seriously, give me a DDR and goals that are achievable if I work hard. I don't like failing. And I don't have a prayer in the world of actually completing everything in the DDR or selling that volume of failing.
@Corporate: You set us up to fail on a daily basis. Our store doesn't have time management issues. We just don't have enough time.
Lastly, I've been studying the last several schedules (personal time) and I think they are reducing labor. And don't tell me it's because it's not frappucino season. It's still summer where I'm at.

[Kandi]

@ Will; yeah, it is now considered a health standard across Canada due to the issue from Toronto. We are held to QASA standards as well but they may differ slightly. I actually like the "handle your own lid thing" for the plastic lids and personal lids. We cannot even touch the personal lids unless it is to rinse them and even then they go right back to the customer. My only complaint about it would be the lid waste (hmm..I have a Tall but I think I need this Short lid..nope...)

[ncsm]

@slaw275, I'm fully aware that we are not supposed to presteam our milk, but I have been to several stores in the past few weeks where I've personally witnessed the barista presteaming. It's happening--ALOT!

[erstwhile]

@Spence: I'm pretty sure they set the goals ridiculously high so that, when stores only achive 50-75%, it's still very successful for the company. It's just not rewarding for the baristas to feel as if they're constantly failing.

@ncsm - BR2 didn't officially launch until this week. I'd be more worried about seeing batch steaming going forward than in the past few weeks.

[Glenn]

I guess I will repeat my problem here and see if Starbucks still avoids me. I have contacted Starbucks by e-mail and phone 4x and have gotten nowhere!! I even cotacted corporate. I purchased one of their 20 oz. plastic cups about 4 months ago since then I have been charged for both grande and venti drinks all this because I did not realize until recently that it was a 20 oz.cup and I should have been paying for a grande. The barristas should have known this. Lets say I was charged at least 10 (alot more)at venti prices. Now times that by the # of people who purchased that cup. You can see where I am going with this that a whole lot of money overcharged or 4 oz. at a time paid for and not received. Well I gave them ample time to address this issue. One time they even told me the barristas are trained to put less ice in the 20 Oz. cup. Can you beleive how stupid they think we are. Glenn

[shiftinspokane]

i'm pretty sure the lines on the 20oz cold cups are adjusted so you do get the same amount of liquid that there is in a plastic cup, and less ice.