Weekend OPEN THREAD conversation-starter: What are your Halloween plans?

Does your store go all-out for Halloween, or is it just another day at the factory? (Will anyone be dressing up as a VIA package that constantly bothers customers? BUY ME!! BUY ME!!) Discuss this or anything else Starbucks-related in the weekend OPEN THREAD. || Jump to the second page of comments.

Comments

[Noah]

I'm want to be something really scary that will terrify little kids so much they will run home crying to their mother so I'm go Trick or Treating as Nancy Pelosi.

[baristamclane]

I'm either going to throw water balloons at the neighborhood kids from the safety of my rooftop. If I don't post anything on the November 1st, then I either fell or got arrested...

[ncsm]

@Noah: try going as yourself--that'll probably be scarier.

[The Ghost of Summers Past]

You know whats really scary, the fact that all the Frap-addicts thought Starbucks was "going down" when the Frappuccino recipe changed. They vowed never to come in again... they are ALL back at my store drinking the new Fraps like they were ambrosia.

Sorry chicken littles, the sky is not falling.

Why do we all forget how hyped up we were two months ago? How many other things at Starbucks did customers and baristas get all worked up about for no reason?

[TCOFFEE]

This year's Thanksgiving Blend...delicious. A special thanks to my store's manager who treated me to an early taste.

[Doppio Con Karma]

@ Thanksgiving Blend
True that its a post roast blend of sumatra and guatemala?

[Legendarily Lean]

At my store, many miss the old frappuccinos...

[Crateish]

I'm want to be something really scary that will terrify little kids so much they will run home crying to their mother so I'm go Trick or Treating as John Boehner.

I mean The Great Pumpkin.

[yukonluvr]

thanksgiving blend is good. and so is christmas blend. i don't think it's as bold as it has been in the past, but it definitely has some spice!. can't wait to try the christmas espresso roast.

as for halloween, i'm not sure how i'll dress. i'm thinkin' mummy this year or something stupid&tacky! i'm also torn between doing it sat the 30th or sun the 31st. i live in the bible belt so whenever halloween is on sunday, people usiually celebrate it on sat. i'm tempted to dress on su! however, to make a statement :)

[mr.real]

@ doppio con karma

Thanksgiving is a post roast blend of AGED Sumatra and Guatemala. Since Anniversary was so phenomenal this year with this batch of aged Sumatra... I'm sure Thanksgiving will be the best yet :)

[shift.misto]

i don't know how you do it. I guess i'm just not that hardcore, I really can't stand t-blend.. its the only french press that gives me whiskey face. ugh.

as for Halloween, i'm going super original. can you guess?

[crema_the_crop]

TGB is does not contain aged coffee. It's simply a blend of Sumatran and Guatemalan coffees. And in my opinion, it is much more herbaceous and vegetative than in years past...more than I can say I prefer in the blend. Same goes for all of our Indonesian coffees this year...all very strong herbal and vegetative notes. Sumatra smelled just like marijuana. Dead ringer.

The past 2 years of TGB were a perfect harmony of sweet savory and roasted nuttiness...a pecan pie in a cup. This year tastes like green beans (the vegetable, not coffee) to me.

[baristamclane]

^as Uncle Howie?

[Latte]

Has anyone out there had a ecosure audit yet and received below a 90? Wondering what are they doing to managers who score below???

[Latte]

Does anyone know what the salary cap is for Managers? How about pay range for DM's?

[Presto!]

Man, you're a curious latte.

Haven't tried te new TGB or Xmas, but I'm excited to. I almost never care for TGB though. As for my halloween plans, I'm going to a corn maze.

[Guat.my.mala]

I am going to take all of our expired VIA samples/packages and make a VIA "Gaga" dress. And I don't even work Halloween.

[AgedSumatra]

I'm so glad that I don't work this Halloween, though two years ago I served coffee as a unicorn. The two customers who came in during that 8-hour shift were thrilled.

[Hipsterdufus]

every store in my district except for two got below a 90 on qasa and 2 failed and had to be reaudited. the sm's are still around and doing just fine. they had to have action plans for their stores to improve.

[Jim Romenesko]

Regular readers will remember Juan Valdez, our beloved sbux store reviewer. He's making a return visit this Wednesday with a special review. Watch for it!

[mr.real]

@ Latte: an Ecosure score below an 80 just got a manager in my district a write-up, as well as the shift who was in charge during the audit.

[waitingforqasa]

Latte.. I think it depends on your region. In our region, if the store gets below a 90% the whole store is put on an action plan and writes ups are given for the SM and for partners. Not sure if that's a company standard or just our region though.

[Hipsterdufus]

how do we all know who is getting write ups? IS the person who gets the write up telling everyone they were written up? Is the person who gave the write up telling everyone they wrote some one up?

[Hipsterdufus]

It is definantly NOT company standard to give a write up just for getting under a 90! Maybe an 80, maybe, but not a 90.

It is situational. I'm sure not even everyone who gets under a 80 gets a write up. And the most effective DM's wouldn't be giving write ups just because the score, they would be giving write ups for the reasons the score was so slow. Were partners trained properly, was the store staffed, are there systems in place to keep the store clean, that sort of thing, and most importantly, are they ongoing problems.

[mr.real]

@ Latte: U.S. store managers generally fall between 34k and 58k. there is an overlap with the ASM salary range of 27k to 40k. I personally know 2 ASMs in the Boston area who started at 37k.

district managers make between 64k and 90k, depending on a # of factors.

[CD]

Great news Jim re Juan Valdez. Looking forward to Wednesday

[usorthem3]

@mr. real & @Hipsterdufus is it in your experience that all the employees of the store get written up even if they weren't working? Just asking because the last audit started 30mins after I clocked in after having the two days off before. I don't think that would quite be fair to a person being handed a bad turn over that got caught in the cross hairs at that moment just because they came to work.

[Hipsterdufus]

USorthem3, I wouldn't write you up in that situation.

Example: If there was expired product, I would write up that day's opener and the previous days closer, verbal or written depending on if I have had the problem with them before.

If the store was dirty I'd have conversations with those who were responsible for what wasn't clean.

LIke I said before, for me, and with my DM and area, it really depends on the situation.

[Mr Vic Via]

dm's make 90k for what plezzz tell

[Hipsterdufus]

57,000 and 109k is actually the DM pay range.
the ranges depend on your georaphic pay:

b: 57k-85k
c: 63k-95k
d: 73k- 109k
this can all be found on the lifeat.sbux.com website.

[SBUX Customer]

Got a question.
Is the salted caramel hot chocolate with a shot of espresso added the exact same thing as the salted caramel mocha? Are they made the exact same way?

[anonym]

does anyone know how to play your ipod on the sound system?

[Guat.my.mala]

sbux customer... yes. That is correct. A tall has one espresso shot. A grande and a venti has two.

[Doppio Con Karma]

All you'd need is a pretty standard minijack to rca/red white Y cable. But I wouldn't do it personally, the stock cabling is pretty fragile and I know of a few stores that broke the cabling and then had to explain why they had unplugged the amp. Awkward.

[SBUX Customer]

Thanks Guat.my.mala. Now I understand the confusion when I tried to order a salted caramel hot chocolate with an espresso shot and the barista said something about a salted caramel mocha.

[Waltie]

"does anyone know how to play your ipod on the sound system?"

Does anybody know a quick way to get fired?

[12345678]

well the salted caramel mocha doesn't get any vanilla syrup, the hot chocolate does. other than that it's the same thing with shots.

[Latte]

Is everyone out there getting two eco-sure audits? In my area we now get 2 of them even if you score 90 or above on your first, you may not get that high on your second and they everage out the score between the 2 of them. I have nevergotten below an 80 or even close to it.

[baristamclane]

I vaguely remember my old SM freaking out about an email stating that some stores would be selected "at random" for a second audit. My last two DMs have done multiple mock audits to keep us on our toes though.

[hipsterdufus]

a certain percentage of stores are getting two official audits at random, even if you pass the first.

A few stores in my district got two last year, including mine, but not all of them.

This is to prevent the "ok i got my audit now I can relax (read slack off on qasa) till october effect.

[Waltie]

Here's qasa in a nutshell: If you're worried about it, you shouldn't be a manager, because you're probably not doing your job very well. No offense, but that's the way it is.

If your store is clean and if your shift team and bariatas are doing their jobs correctly, you'll pass qasa. If your team isn't up to that level, and if you are ineffective at keeping your store prepared, step down and let somebody else manage your store. Being cleaning should be the easiest thing you do. Passing qasa isn't hard. Failing it, however, is pathetic. End of story.

[QASAWhat?!]

All stores receive one audit, and some of those stores will receive a second audit no matter what your original score was. I was managing two stores last year, and both of those store received 2 audits, all of which ranged from 90.4 - 97.3. Only 4 stores in my district received the second audit, and they were all stores who had their first audit very early in the fiscal year.

[Latte]

@Waltie, I agree, I was just wondering if anyone who received well above 80, but below 90 were given corrctive actions. I believe in my area below 90 is considered not passing. Is this true for all? My store got theres and was only 1/2point from a 90, so was just wondering how it was going to be handled.

[mr.real]

@ Latte: 80 or below = write up for the manager (at least in my district). It is at the discretion of the manager as to whether they "trickle" that write up down to the shift who was working.... for any # of competencies, creating the environment (dirty environment in this case), puts the customer first (a dirty environment = unsafe for customer), achieves results (clearly wasn't achieving results on his/her shift).

80-90 means your managers will NOT meet expectations on his/her review for that metric. a write-up would not occur in this case but it will be a little harder to get a 3 or 4 on your review with a "not achieves"

[mr.real]

@ Latte: wow. half a point away from a 90 :( no repercussions except if I were the manager, I would be really upset/angry since my raise % is better with a 90 than an 89.5 at the end of the year.

[Latte]

@mr.real: yes, the manager was upset to be soo close and yet so far! The only sabing grace now is to wait for the second ecosure audit and hope that averages out to 90 or above.

[Waltie]

It's not a question of 89.5 or 90. It's a question of passing or not passing. Numbers don't really matter.

[Barista Man]

Are baristas allowed to be in costume on Halloween????

Also, regarding the iPod on sound system....I've heard it's possible and I've been in stores that are obviously doing it, and I know it's a fireable offense.....is it still considered fireable if it's only done during closing after the doors are locked and there are no customers???

[Waltie]

"is it still considered fireable if it's only done during closing after the doors are locked and there are no customers???"

Sure. Why wouldn't it be? Spend that time doing dishes or getting the store ready for the openers, not fiddling with the sound system.

[baristamclane]

Barista Man, Dressing up for Halloween is usually at the discretion of the DM. In past years we've always been allowed to dress up in costumes, so long as they aren't vulgar and don't violate health codes or any major Starbucks safety policies. Check with your DM and SM for specifics.

It's pretty easy to plug in an iPod to the system, but I'm with Waltie. When I'm closing, I'm more concerned with getting the Hell out of there as quickly as I can. Plus, do you want to be the partner who has to answer to your SM if something does get broken? I have heard of a partner shorting out the speakers before...