Here's the perfect story to start a discussion on Starbucks customer horror stories

From the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal: A man walked into Salem Starbucks and sat down without buying anything. When asked to leave, he threw ice on an employee. The man then took out a hammer and slammed it against a table, damaging it, and yelled profanities at employees and customers before leaving. A familiar episode? Can you top it? || Read "Man arrested after incident at Starbucks"

Comments

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

One time, it took three Starbucks partner to chase an unruly homeless street urchin out of the store. It was like something out the Jackie Chan movie.

[Wellington Grey]

I can't possibly top that, but there's a crazy lady at my local Starbucks who comes in and just takes the milk and drinks it all straight from the thermos.

I don't add milk to my coffee when I'm there.

[Latteguzler]

We have a relativly nice crowd most of the time. But early one morning one of our customers came in a bit drunk and went into the bathroom. After he left we checked it to find he had pooped in the sink. I told the manager we sould either lable the sink and toilet so customers could tell the difference or move the soap dispencer down a bit lower so they could wash their hands in the toilet.

[irish.lemon]

had a good one a few months back. a customer had come in, and it wasn't incredibly busy, so he asked my cashier if we'd make him a grande latte, and that he would be back after running out to his car. i was told to wait because a car full of kids came in before he returned.

so, there was a frappuchino rush...this guy was sitting in the cafe. all of a sudden, he rushes up to me at the handoff and asks where the hell his latte is, to which i said "i'll have that up for you, so and so will take your order at the register".

fine, great...well he went to the bathroom and came back and did the same thing again; i didn't make it because he didn't pay for it yet. long story short, a shouting match ensues between one of my shifts who was working that we wrongfully accused him of trying to steal a latte when all that was addressed was that he hadn't paid for his latte.

he tried to tell us he DID pay so we asked what kind of bill he used to pay...first he said $5 then he said $10 when asked again. we offered to give him his stolen drink anyway, but he refused and demanded to speak to the manager...she looked around and said, "hi, i'm the manager on duty".

he claimed he'd call the cops, but eventually was satisfied causing a scene and refused his free drink...no arrest was made, but it was fairly heated for no good reason.

never saw him again, ha.

[SE_SM]

Black Friday 2 years ago...

I was the opening shift supervisor. I got called up to the POS to handle a customer. It was the busiest part of our morning and we apparently "missed his drink" (but not really.) I asked him what he had and he started yelling at me to ask the person at the register. He told me he wanted his money back but still wouldn't tell me what he had. I pulled a 5 out of my drawer and handed it to him. He was causing a scene screaming at me and everyone in the store was staring. He stormed out but before I could make it to the back room came right back in. He pointed at me and told me he wanted the number to corporate. I took him to the condiment bar and gave him one of the "We love to hear from you" brochures along with the 180023latte. I told him again that if he would tell me what he wanted to drink I would walk back and make it for him in less than a minute so he wouldnt leave without his coffee. That apparently set him off. He took the $5 I gave him out of his pocket and threw it in the trash and started yelling at me. "I dont want your f***ing money! I dont want your f***ing coffee!" When I told him he needed to calm down and not use that kind of language he told me he wanted to take me outside and was going to kick my f***ing ass while poking me in the chest with his finger. I told him I would love to go outside with him when the cops showed up to escort him off the property. He stormed out and almost hit two people in his corvette flying out of our parking lot.

[Court]

The store I work for is in an area that busy with traffic, tourists, and transients. We've had a share of stories.
A couple homeless people have in fact, showered in our bathrooms.

We had two leather chairs once and a homeless guy fell asleep in one and when we had tried to wake him and yelled at us attempted to go back to sleep in an anger. We found out he had urinated in his sleep and also on the chair.

Our store partners always have the debate on whether to give refills or to charge for a new drink, when the cup is dirtier than their hands. Your thoughts?

[lattewizard]

here's a good one for you all:

the ASM and a barista were closing one evening. a homeless man comes in and asks a customer sitting inside for money. the customer comes up to the counter and buys a cup of coffee for the homeless man. the homeless man comes up to the counter and tells the ASM he doesn't want the coffee, he wants the money. The ASM apologizes and says she couldn't do that for him. he becomes angry and yells. the ASM runs to the back room to call the cops because the wonderful telephone in the front doesn't dial out. The homeless man then comes behind the counter and corners the barista and attacks her. she has no where to go and can't get away from him. so he continues to punch her in the face until the customer gets him off of her and then the police arrive. after that day we made the store manager schedule 3 closers every night. our DM had facilities come and build a wall with a locking door so you had to have a key to come behind the counter. sweet.

and then there was the time a guy was bothering customers , asking them for money. when i politely asked him to leave, he called me a "stupid white b#$ch." on another occasion, it was probably the same man, when asked to leave for the above reason, he grabbed a mug from the wall bay and threw it across the store.

i could go on and on with that store. it was fun. but not really.

[BaristaBen]

Lets see. Well, we had one of those ever so fun people come in claiming they are supposed to pick up free stuff.

This guy was special, though. He came in and was whispering. I couldn't hear him so he had me come around. Said he was supposed to come pick up some free drink coupons, some pounds of coffee, and some free drinks. We've had these before. We now have a strict policy at my store -- if someone calls in and you actually do give them the go ahead for free crap -- leave a note or less it's assumed its not true. We've had to do this because it's happened so many times. Anyways the guy was obviously lieing but I told him I would go in the back and check. I went in the back and called my manager, told him the situation, and he said tell the guy we can't give him all that free stuff but if he calls our corp. help line they can direct him.

So I go back out, and say "sorry we have no notes back there and I am not allowed to give you all that free stuff."

He then starts getting angry. Tells me "well someone named (he used my managers name here) told me to come get free stuff!" and he was pretty irate. At this point I notice my buddy who also works at sbux sitting in the corner, trying not to laugh. He tells me to call my manager and I say "ok!" and I go in the back and call my friend sitting in the corner. He laughs on the phone and tells me the guy had come in a few nights ago and done the same thing. They actually gave him stuff, though.

So just my luck I am now 100% sure this guys a giant liar. So I go back out and say "sorry I can't give you anything! I am so sorry, but if you want I can give you our corp. helpline number!" and he just starts yelling. Telling me Starbucks is going down the tube! How rude we are! What a son of a #($* I am; and I just stand there looking at him.

Eventually he leaves, angry, and yells at me "I am going to call your corporate!" I laugh and yell back "That's the number I keep trying to give you!"

I then called the local stores to let them know some loud angry thief might be heading their way.

[Sheik]

And before anyone starts with the whole "YOU PEOPLE COMING ON HERE AND COMPLAINING ABOUT CUSTOMERS OUGHT TO QUIT YOUR JOBS IF YOU'RE SO MISERABLE..." thing... please... just let us VENT in this thread!

Thank you....

[sniffer]

that's the thing, sheik. these people usually aren't customers. they are translucent scammers that become insane when their tricks no longer work. isn't it amazing the level of bullsheet sniffing we inevitably develop?

[Will]

I cant tell you how many times at my old store homeless people would wipe after using the bathroom and smear it on the wall.

Ah, good ol 290 and 34th.

[NorCalBlend]

We have a regular...um...customer isn't quite the right word. Regular pain in the butt. (Customers buy things. If you don't buy something, it doesn't matter if you show up every day. That just makes you a Consistent annoyance.) We call her 'sample lady' because she'll come in at least 3 times a day for free samples of coffee. Homeless, tries to smoke her bummed cigarettes right in front of our door. Anyways, greatest moment - after occupying our restroom for 15 minutes she walks out and shouts across the bar to our manager(loud enough for all customers to hear) "I wasn't smoking crack in the bathroom!" Answering a question that nobody asked, but was now on all our minds.

[Me]

Until the return policy got changed we had quite a few people walking into the store, grabbing a bag or two of coffee or a cd, walking to the register and trying to return it for cash. If it is busy you can not always say for sure if they brought it or took it of the shelf, so sometimes it worked. But they got really annoyed we would only issue store credit. So next step was to get a return receipt with that store credit. Then they tampered the receipt so it almost looked like a real one and tried the same but demanding cash (since they had their receipt) and a new receipt with that.
Ever since then I started writing some useless info on the receipt, circling the amounts and all kind of stuff, so they can't reuse it.
I hate these people.
Everyone who starts yelling right away is suspected to be a scammer. if you want to scam starbucks, please, there are thousands of ways to do this in a very polite manner. You don;t need to yell at us. If you do it nice and smart enough, someone might even help you carrying your loot to your car or table......

[lemonpound]

I actually have 2 and they are pretty good!
1. a customer threatened to beat up a register partner for flirting with her husband even there was no flirting (the SM was standing next to her calling the line)I guess she took legendary service as flirting
2.About 2 years ago I was on register and had a man come in and asked me to call the police because he was ready to kill himself.

[The Tick]

We had a regular customer at my old store that came in every morning for his cup of coffee. Never could make small talk with him was very private. One morning he placed his usual order with the shift lead for his cup of brewed coffee and left in his truck as normal.

A few hours later his wife came to the store very frantic because he had not shown up for work and was worried about him and checked with us because this was his regular stop. She soon leaves when we don't have anymore information to give her.

Probably within 15 minutes is when things went crazy. Police cars with sirens and lights blazing and an ambulance fly through the parking lot around to the back of the strip center we are in. The wife found her husband had parked his truck, finished his coffee, and then blew his head off with a shotgun. It was pretty crazy the rest of the day. I finally asked some of the cops that were regular customers about it. Turns out the guy and his wife were under investigation for child pornography and that they looked like they were going to be charged.

I never heard anything else about it after that.

[TheNicestGuyYou'llNeverMeet]

I dont know if id call it a horror story as much as id call it hilarious... At a store in New Mexico that I shall not specify...I knocked on the mens room door with no reply... decided to walk in and make sure it was well stocked before taking a break and there right in front of my eyes a man was giving himself an enema. I stormed out of the restroom and put an out of order sign up so no one else would interrupt the dude. It was so funny i couldnt help but laugh during my 10 minute break. And what do ya know 10 minutes later the guy was still doing his business. Gross but funny at the same time...It must have been the red or green chili.

[Joe]

Any partners in the Boston area remember the "honey man"?

[takes all kinds. . .]

We had a man who was mentally damaged but harmless. He loved coffee (all the bolds) and thought our store coffee master was "God". He would come in and pray next to the espresso bar. He would follow the coffee master around the store and she did a lobby check. He did this on his hands and knees.

[lattegal]

lattewizard -

Might have been nice if your DM had your front phone fixed so you wouldn't have to run to the back to call out.

[cactusmush]

London Ontario Sbux (Richmond St.) summer of 2006. I was a morning regular while I did a Consulting gig in London. I am sitting in the comfy chair.

This guy walks in. Doesn’t order a coffee or anything but walks up to the counter with a bag of flavoured beans he just bought at the grocery store (non-Sbux beans to boot). He opens the bag (wherein I can smell the “French almond” or whatever it was “flavour” from 20 feet away) and insists the Barista grind these beans for him. The Barista (maintaining polite but firm composure) tells the guy..."we have explained this to you before...we cannot grind these beans for two reasons...they are not Sbux bought beans and they are flavoured."

The guys then starts to get really upset and progressively less stable as he argues (from the viewpoint of a text-book sociopath) how unjust Sbux is being to deny him right have the local Sbux grind his raunchy flavoured store-bought beans...and such injustice not for the 1st time.

The guy was starting to go completely unhinged when the barista finally reaches for the phone to call the cops (not for the 1st time she reminds him as she motions to dial 9-1-1)...then the guy shut-up and boogied outta there quick.

After the guy split I chatted with the barista (who was just faking the phone call to the police) and she tells me that the guy never buys anything from that Sbux…but every month or so walks in and insists to whomever is behind the counter that they grind his store-bought flavoured beans.

[Richard]

Why did my comment get deleted? :/

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Yes, I know the honey man. Totally disturbing. Let's just there was some manual stimulation and gave a completely knew meaning to honey latte.

[JenBop]

When I was a shift supervisor, at my previous store, we had a homeless man that came in almost every afternoon. He'd always order a short brewed... in a venti cup, then go to the condiment bar, to use up all the cream, and fill the rest of his brewed up with it. It got to the point, where we had to take all the crafes to the back, so he wouldn't waste all our cream! He'd also walk around, bothering customers asking for spare change, lock himself in the mens room for hours at a time.... doing Lord knows what, and would get pissed off at management, when we tried to ask him to come out of the restroom, when other customers were waiting to use it. One time, I had to call the cops, cause he was schizophrenic... and started banging his head on the wall, in the lobby... and was scaring the daylights out of a little girl sitting at the table next to his. Oh, lets not forget how often he set the garbage can outside on fire as well =]

FUN TIMES!!! hehe*

[Sneaky]

The "Honey Man", yes I've heard the stories.

One of my stores, in a real ghetto neighborhood, has a women who is a bit nuts, but not harmful, come in regularly. This particular day she went straight to the restroom door and it was locked as some other crazy was taking a bum shower in there (there is only one in this store).

So, after a while of waiting and partners banging on the door for him to come out she starts hoping from one leg to the other. My Shift Sup suggests she goes next door to the fast food place. She says no and keeps waiting. As my Shift starts to walk away this women lifts up her dress, squats down . . horrible liquid all over the floor. Then she bolts.

Store closed. Police called. Local Haz Mat team called to clean up. Had to eventually transfer the Shift has she couldn't get the small out of her nose.

Ugh.

[Jen]

Makes me thankful I don't work in some of these stores. The worst I've got is a customer who decided that after filling their cup of coffee up halfway with cold half and half from the condiment bar was not hot enough and it was the register barista's fault. He came up to the counter to tell her this and she offered to get him a new coffee. He suddenly got irate and tried to throw the coffee at her. First and only time I've had to kick anyone out of my store. Since then I've been transferred to a new store and he's a regular there now since he can't go back to my old one. So far no craziness, but I'm just waiting for the day he snaps again.

[Ryan (SS)]

We had a local organization that had set up a table outside of our door. One of the girls at the table came in a little bit later and told me that there was a drunk man harassing them. When a barista went outside to see what was up the man threw beer on him and the girls, and then fled. As the shift I called the police, and they arrived shortly after. A customer who witnessed it pointed in the direction the man had fled, and the police left to go find him. After that I brought everyone from the outdoor cafe inside (for safety) and was in the process of explaining to a customer what happened when the man appeared outside the window that was right next to me. He kicked the window twice and then punched it, the final blow broke the outer pane of the window (thank god that Starbucks invested in double-paned windows!) The police came back and tackled the man behind a convenience store near us. A month later a cop came to my door at home to issue me a court summons to appear as a witness to the case. The man got 7 days in jail and was told to stay away from our store. Haven't seen him since (though I transferred to another store), even though I hear he leaves down the block from my old store!

We also had a man that defecated in our cafe while waiting in line (on purpose). He was escorted out by the police. Guess he didn't like his drink.

[sosadthatstoreisclosed]

The one I remember most was more messed up and amusing than anything. During the morning rush in our urban store, a man comes in in a huge cloth diaper, a bonnet, carrying a big baby bottle and that was it. He went to the handoff and ask the partner working bar (who was also the shift) and said "baby wants milk!" really loud in baby talk. The shift looked at him like WTF? and said, sorry, you need to go. The guy pulls out his cell phone and calls somebody up and says, really loud, "MOMMY, the MEAN man won't give me milk!". He made a bit of a scene throwing a temper tantrum about wanting milk, and as the shift started to go around the counter, the man took off running. We didn't call anybody about it, we just had a good laugh and talked about it for like four days. Our customers even kept brining it up.

[eleanor abernathy]

How about the guy who stumbled out of the bathroom and began vomiting blood all over the walls? Then he sat down and continued to spew blood on the floor. Good times.

I think my favorite though was the guy who walked in, walked right over to the merchandise wall, calmly removed the display model of the $1000 espresso machine from the top shelf, and walked right out with the machine in his arms and into a waiting cab.

[hmmm]

We had a crazy lady (but you wouldn't know it looking at her) who came in one evening and ordered a drink. She told the guy at the register our Starbucks was the most diverse in town. The partner said "Yea! Diversity is cool!" with a smile. She then became somewhat irritated and mumbled something about how she hates diversity. She picked up her drink and walked out the door.

She returned about 30 seconds later and walked up to the hand off counter and said to the register partner, in a very low, creepy voice, "You got something in your mouth." The partner says, "I'm sorry, huh?" She repeats, "You got something in your mouth..."

The two partners look at each other as she then states quite loudly, "It's a D*#K!!" And then turned around and left!

[Ali Cat]

hey guys and girls the one by lattewid is in chicago at roosevelt and wabash and nobody should have to go through what that store had to. from the drugs and throwing hot coffee on the barista's i will tell you nobody in the u.s could top that store.

[Hay Hay Hay]

Ok... So I must agree that I cannot top that story, but it seems like our store tends to attract the weird and deranged.
On one specific occasion it was a slower mid and my baristas and I heard yelling coming from behind our store. Not more then 2 seconds later we receive a call in DT and the woman begins to explain that a couple is beating the crap out of each other in the middle of the road directly behind the store. So I jump on the phone and proceed to call the cops. As I begin to walk outside I notice the couple walking down the road, and yes, they were beating the living crap out of each other. So I finish their descriptions and hang up the phone, trusting that our local police will take care of this. Putting it in the back of my mind, I hand off my shift and hour later and begin to leave. As I drive away I look up and see the couple on the other road still beating the crap out of each other! Gotta love our local law enforcement!
On another occasion, back in the day when brownie bites still exsisted, we had a lady come in around 9:45pm (mind you we close our doors at 10pm), and she insists that her brownie bites MUST be warmed. I kindly explain to her that the oven has been shut off for the night and that I can try, but it might not turn out well. So I sit there for, I kid you not, 10 mins trying to warm these brownie bites! I hand them to her and again explain they may not be warm, yada, yada, yada. Well during this warming period another barista came in on her own time and was asking me if I was ok. I explained the brownie bite fiasco, and the customer overheard me and thought I was "talking sh**" so she begins yelling at me and telling me that Im terrible and calling me every name under the sun. She leaves and I cant tell you how happy I was. We begin to lock up, and she comes back into the store in a tirade telling me that shes going to have my job and that I'll never work for this company again. She tells me specifically to "watch my back" and that she'll be waiting for me when I got off work. Sure enough she was hiding out in DT for me. I had to have a police escort home that night. Want to know the sad part? It was my co-workers aunt!

[Lisa]

We had someone take a very messy poo in the men's bathroom sink. Never knew who it was. We also had a woman customer scream at a couple partners at the drive-thru window so loudly that customers in the lobby stood up to watch and make sure we were alright. The person in the car behind her called the police because she saw her gesturing wildly towards us and screaming at the top of her lungs until she was hoarse.

[sniffer]

jen, if you know the guy is crazy enough to throw drinks at people you should ban him now--not wait until he blows a fuse.

[brings back memories]

one customer dragged a partner over the counter and started to beat her ass b/c the partner was sleeping with the customer's boyfriend. store was super busy too. couple of guys pulled em apart while we called the cops.

there was the homeless woman who had anal bleeding and announced it to the store as she walked out of the bathroom with her pants around her ankles, bleeding.

there were several meth pipe/syringe bathroom incidents.

there was the father of one barista attacking the boyfriend of another barista outside the store one day--one had a mag light, the other a hammer.

there was the suicide attempt.

there were several fecal matter incidents.

there was the woman who screamed at the top of her lungs and wouldn't stop until her friend dragged her away---b/c we were out of gift card holders.

there was more than one coffee throwing incident over the years.

there was the guy getting shot dead in the parking lot for robbing the store next store.

there was the guy who parked his car in front of the store, said hi to our openers and walked into the path of an oncoming train on the tracks right behind the store.

there have been several passed out, we called 911 type incidents.

there was the drunk homeless dude in the electric wheel chair who knocked over a display table and broke 200$ in merch before ramming into the condiment bar over and and over again until the cops walked in.

there was that period of time when the cops were always asking us if we'd seen this person or that person, mostly in connection with drug dealing---turned out our asm was running a racket out of the store after hours. the cops had already staked out his house and apartment.

there was the massage and acupuncture place two doors down that was raided on vice charges.

there was the creepy exterminator that we all complained about getting a bad vibe from who assaulted the exterminator office secretary.

there was the overly friendly super forced flirty guy who was arrested for molesting teen age boys.

there was the guy we called the cops on and banned from the store for trying to follow one of the female baristas home. he disappeared after that but a couple years later showed up and started harassing female customers--called the cops and had him banned from the shopping center property this time.

[Eli]

I have a Starbucks stalker that those at my store call 'Venti Mild'. This man would make you explain every drink on the board, but then order just a venti mild. However, this man also sits in the cafe, I kid you not, from 8 AM to 530 PM, only to take a break to walk up and down every single isle at the safeway next door every hour. He takes a trip to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so, but at a length of only 30 seconds. In and out.

This is also the same man that, during the fall, had followed me onto the bus nearly all the way home. He began to ask questions, such as 'what do you think about the world in the past hundred years and what do you hope for in the next?' Well, I answered honestly and spoke to him like a barista would to an engaged guest. Although, when he began to tell me of his multiple personality disorder, and the need to cater to each one every few days or one gets mad, I lost me words.

From that day on, if I was there, he would try to talk to me, constantly, for hours on end, yelling from across the cafe random things. In particular, screaming 'THEY GOING TO SHOVEL YOUR SNOW!' It hadn't snowed in days.

Other guests had began to avoid him, one poor woman having to intrude on a couple, pretending they knew one another, in order for him to leave her be. And, a husband and wife that our store adores, would not stay in cafe if he were there. Rough stone in a sea of gems I think.

[CamSpi]

We had a lady locked inside a bathroom for a while. it was during an after school rush period, and we heard from a customer, "a lady keeps pounding on the womens bathroom from the inside yelling, 'she's locked inside!" we finally got her out by taking the hinges off the door. gave her a free drink for the incvonvenience. my sm also gave her a gold card because she ended up know her from outside of work. she was in there for a good 20-30 minutes.

[Paco Loco]

I once had a customer give me a very nice "gesture" in the bathroom, Umm Umm good!! :)~

[chris]

I can top that. I went into a starbucks in hamburg, germany today and paid €4,30 for a venti hot chocolate. turned out they had given me a premium (I had asked for a hot chocolate but was told in no uncertain terms I should have asked for a classic, which wasn't on the menu) but still - that's nearly $6 when my credit card bill comes due. ouch!

[maggiemunkee]

we had the guy break throw a garbage can through our front door because he was angry we weren't open -- it was 3am in a tiny suburb, hellz no we aren't open to serve coffee to your drunk and underage ass -- and threw every bottled beverage against a wall. he cut himself on the broken glass, and stole our mr. potatohead doll from the kids' toybox. the police found him passed out and bloody in the parking lot.

my sm, her fiance, and their good friend who is sm of another store cleaned up. this happened about three weeks before my sm's wedding. joy!

[KAT]

We have had one particular man destroy 2 of our comfy chairs by urinating in them!!! The crazy thing is that he still comes in the store! Add his child running crazy around the store and fear of urination and you have one stressful time...

[Kitty]

@ chris:

That's because the Premium Hot Chocolate is the "standard" hot chocolate in Germany. The regular ("Classic") Hot Chocolate was replaced by the Premium some time ago.

I'm not sure if it helps - the Classic would still have been 4,- €. ; ) Didn't they at least offer to remake it and charge you for a Classic?

[eleanor abernathy]

Two words...UPPER DECKER!

[right]

We had a guy "Desert Storm" who would sit in the lobby every single day ALL DAY and talk on a phone that didn't work. Sometimes, with head phones on.

[Killer Kona]

Reguarding the "Honey Man," he is still around unfortunately. He will attempt to come into our store from time to time,but a long time SS always recognizes him and throws him out. When I first heard about him and his masturbating with our honey packets, I almost pissed my pants laughing so hard. I bet no one else can top that type of disturbing,fetish-like behavior.

[Orange Mocha Frappucino]

As a former (and probably future once summer rolls around) Boston barista, I'd be interested in hearing a bit more about this "Honey Man", particularly what he looks like, which stores he seems to frequent, etc.

[lattewizard]

ALI CAT!
did you work there too?? i don't miss that store one bit. except the other baristas of course.

[energybolt]

Working in a store surrounded by drifters & junkies is not fun! Partners are always on guard and we try our best to protect our customers & ourselves! Then your store becomes "that store" and others feel relieved they don't work there! We do our jobs and those that appreciate our efforts make it easier! We just keep the peace and try to treat each situation with respect!

[curious1]

My favorite was the (former) cancer patient (and semi-regular customer) who came in asking for a free drink because someone told her all cancer patients get free drinks the first time they come in. Right? I explained that we give samples, but a drink needed to be purchased. She practically came over the counter at me and asked for my supervisors number. She claimed that she was going to get everyone who has ever had cancer to boycott Starbucks for going back on their word and that she personally would bring us down.
My DM never heard from her and I am pretty sure SBUX actually gives a lot toward cancer research...

[AliCat]

Hey, AliCat -

I'm also a Chicago barista and I've been using the name 'AliCat' for almost two years now... could you please distinguish yourself from me somehow? Thanks.

... And the Roosevelt/Wabash store is horrible - the customer service is awful and the management is miserable. After being screamed at that berry blossom white tea was discontinued (it wasn't) by the manager (I won't include her name) when I tried to order it and then being denied a cup of water after I ordered a Venti latte, I won't be visiting... actually, it wasn't even the response, but the ATTITUDE problem the baristas have... They act as if you're bothering them when you are standing in line and they treat you like crap once you get to the register. That being said, nobody deserves anything thrown at them -

I've seen a customer throw a hot tea at a partner on bar because he spilled water on his dry cleaning at the condo bar. Crazy.

[gmreat]

not really a horror story, but more than a bit weird...
we have a regular drip customer who comes in and always ties up the register partner in 10 minutes of conversation (not unusual at my store, but usually the partners are active participants) afterwards we are all relieved to see him go so we can tell everyone the bizarre things he has said or done this time.
last week he spilled a sample cup of coffee and when i told him not to worry, that i'll clean it he said "no, wait. i take a picture of every mess i make." he then pulled out him camera to take a picture of his spill, them took a picture of me wiping it up.