"From the Comfy Chair": Treat every customer like he might be Juan -- just in case!

Starbucks
19220 Alderwood Mall Parkway
Lynnwood, Wa.

BY JUAN VALDEZ

Since the subject of the LEAN program has just come up, I thought we'd view my visit from earlier in the week through that lens.

I don't know if it's been rolled out to all stores and perhaps it hasn't hit this particular store yet.

But I have to wonder about the wisdom of trying to shave micro seconds from macro behavior.  For instance, how much good does it do to not bend over to scoop something when the partners at this store leaned up against the back counter, gabbing when there were no customers in line as they did during my visit?

What difference does jiggering the placement of the syrups on the bar make when the bar partner doesn't call drinks to ANYONE but just puts them on the counter and lets the poor, unsuspecting customers figure it all out including if their drink is even ready yet.  And when a drink hasn't been picked up, not bothering to see why?

It seems to me that, when it's slow, rather than standing around yacking, the partners could zip out into the lobby and give it a quick clean in anticipation of the next rush when they just might not have time to do so.  Wouldn't that be considered LEAN type behaviors?

I mean, the lobby wasn't that bad but there were spills on the condiment bar and there was some debris on the floor and none of it was touched while I was there. There were just three partners on the floor in this cafe store however they had all the time in the world to address this before the next bunch of customers came in and, for the life of me, I don't see how the manager on duty didn't understand this.

But, clearly they didn't because there was absolutely no direction at all. The register partner was friendly enough but that's where it ended.  They had plenty of time to connect, discover and respond with the customers who were coming in but, instead, they chose to talk amongst themselves.  I suppose it was too much to expect of them since they couldn't even get basics such as drink calling and lobby sweeps right. And it's not surprising the bathroom was dirty with debris on the floor.

The pastry and cold cases were clean and stocked. My bold coffee was fine. This was not the worst SBUX experience I've had; not by a long shot. Yet, I left with a distinct bad taste in my mouth and it had nothing to do with the coffee.

Grade: C
Time of day: morning



# of partners on the floor: 3

Service time: 9 minutes




Business level: slow
Was the bathroom cleaner than a gas station bathroom?: No

Legendary service: No
Would I recommend to a friend: No

COLUMN STATS






* # of stores reviewed where a partner has tried to connect with a customer – 15 out of 34

* # of stores where they've offered samples of anything – 3 out of 34

* # of stores that could have been considered "understaffed" - 0 out of 34

* # of stores with a clean bathroom – 18 out of 34

"Juan Valdez" is the nom de cyber of a former Starbucks manager who became disenchanted with the increasingly bitter taste of the Starbucks experience and fled to the mountains of Colombia where he now rides his burro and ponders the glittering sunsets. On a crisp clear day, when atmospheric conditions are just right and the moon is in the seventh house, Juan can be reached at [email protected]

Comments

[JD]

Honestly, you are pretty much the embodiment of everything I dislike about Starbucks customers. Baristas are only trying to do their job, and that entails a lot. If you really think giving great service, get your ass out of your comfy chair and try working here for a day.

[NOT JUAN]

New to the column JD? Go back and read Juan's history. But then, you're probably not interested in him any more than you are in any of the customers who come into your store, right?

Not to sound like JD, though, sometimes young people have a hard time connecting with anyone not their age. It's an acquired skill. The SM can do a lot to help young staff members learn to communicate and to look for the jobs that need to be done on the downtime between rushes. It goes back to the passion shown by such SMs as the one mentioned not long ago in Juan's glowing review.

[spence]

Juan is right, you know.
On a typical shift, I don't have time to offer a french press or go to a customer scratching their head looking at beans.
Yet, I've been to my store at night and see a lot of relaxing. Is it fair? NO! Has the SM writting them up and coached? YES! Can she fire them? NO. Because so many long termed and great baristas have left.

[SPORK]

To be straight up honest, there are days when I don't rush out to do a bus and chit chat. Is that the right thing to do? Absolutely not. Does it happen? Absolutely. The truth is, those 4 minutes of no customers are kind of what I need after making 300 free vivannos in a row.

[coffee in exile]

@ JD: I do know what it's like to work behind the counter, and juan is not being an entitled customer or asking too much of anybody. You get paid to do work, even if you're tired and just made a bazillion whatever drinks. It takes hardly any time at all to quickly clean the cafe, wipe and restock the mixing station, and get yourself set up for the next rush. Nobody is saying you never get to take a break ever, but frankly, you have designated break times when you can sit down and have a breather. When you aren't on those times you should be making a good faith effort to do your actual job.

Which is not to say that there are some days where you just need to take a minute and get set up behind the counter before you rush out front. That's fine. But integrating good habits along the lines of doing a quick once over in the lobby during a customer break will go a long way towards making you and your store legendary. Don't try and feed anyone here crap about how we just don't get it and work is hard.

[spence]

I'm going to toss out some words which DO NOT apply to everyone here. In my store, the hardiest workers are over 40 years old. The youngest tire easier because they arrived tired. They also haven't realized that the world doesn't care if they are tired, have personal problems or really care about them at all. They just want great service.
The older ones (me included) have long since realized that we are balancing home and work and home isn't a picnic. It's cooking, cleaning, yard work, caring and worrying about children, etc. We are simply more accustomed to working hard. And most important, we are used to working hard even when we are drop dead tired.
This is my personal observation. It does not apply to you all but it does apply to many.

[Juan Valdez]

@JD

It always amazes me that whenever I suggest that some partners are needlessly standing around doing nothing, there is always someone, if not several, who come on and talk about how they WISH they could have the time to stand around or if they are they are just catching their breath after just going through the worst rush since God knows when.

Ive never criticized partners for grabbing a breather and my observations about their behavior are usually based on at least an hour long visit which is usually closer to 2 hours.

In this case, these partners hadn't had any kind of rush. And if they had prior to my arrival they certainly didnt have one while I was there. They literally were standing around with their thumbs up their butts. Now I admitted that the place wasnt totally trashed unlike some SBUX where the partners stood around doing nothing in the midst of a wreck of a store. Still there was no reason for the spills on the condiment bar to be left alone or for the debris on the lobby floor not to be picked up.

And its highly likely that if they did get slammed and someone came in and complained about the mess, their excuse would be they were too busy as if they didnt have all that time prior to take care of these issues.

[Aces of Eight]

@ Spence, please don't do that. I feel like it goes to the whole "my generation works harder thing" I see so many boomers and gen x'er's saying that gen y is lazy and doesn't know hard work. The majority of gen y is not lazy, they are just different, and do things differently. And when you think about it, I am sure the generation before the boomers that are still alive would tell you the boomers and etc. aren't doing a very good job, and they don't work as hard as they did etc. Every generation does this.

The fact is, gen y is different, first of all though, some are too young yet too be all that mature, and some of it is just immaturity. But most of my store is gen y, younger people, we only have one person over 40, and all but one person in the store works very very hard (the one person is like 18 years old). I guess my point is, I don't like the whole "the new generation is lazy thing". It may be true in your store, but in general I don't think see. What I see with my generation is overscheduled, they are balancing work/school/social life, and not doing too bad with it I might add. And they do work hard. An example of how hard working my generation can be, people will come into work hungover and you might think that is irresponsible. But do they treat customers or other employees badly because of of it? No. And they still work just as hard. In other words, they do their work, and balance everything.

Anyway, when people sit around and don't work when their work isn't done, I think that is more a sign of immaturity rather than their age or generation (and usually a product of raisin ya know?).

[CamSpi]

Right on, AcesOfEight. Ageism works both ways. Not all younger employees are lazy, as not all older employees are slow. :D (And to my fellow coworker who reads this site... the slow comment was definitely not directed toward you, speedy! :)

[spence]

Aces of Eight,
YOU are clearly a hard worker and deep thinker. So, clearly my little post does not apply to all young people.
However, at my store it does.

[greenbean]

Brista are tried of working at Starbucks, they took our personal day away, they took our stock away, they are giving moore to customer than the employee. I use to love working at Starbucks, partners are not rewarded any moore. When the company was giving to the partners in turn the partner gave to the customers. THe customer does not give back to the partners. Half of the customers have attuide problems before they even walk in the store. Too many people thinks it is all about them. That is coming from a 10 year partner.

[Aaron]

Greenbean has it. Starbucks far exceeded all analyst expectations last quarter. Yet they STILL continued with cuts affecting workers, this time going after our health care. Is it any surprise that "legendary service" is not as common as it once was at Starbucks? You would think that "a former Starbucks manager who became disenchanted with the increasingly bitter taste of the Starbucks experience" would understand this, but he seems more interested in telling others what they're doing wrong than anything else. You'd think he was still on Starbucks payroll...

[Phil]

Weren't you layed off Senior Valdez!

[hk]

I have to say I have been to this location many times. What is great is that the partners create the relaxing atmosphere. I too am a SM and work in quite the opposite of stores and realize that often in the slower store much of the training and learning is done on the floor. Could that have been the case? Does that excuse the condiment bar..no but it could be that they are learning the LEAN. Mechanics. What you don't get to see is all the process's that we have to go thru to do it. We do have to remember that starbucks doesn't teach passion anymore it teachs process.

[Martha in NC]

Here I thought LEAN mechanics had something to do with what angle partners leaned against the counter while they were busy acting like the "entitled" store workers they seem to think they are.

Its a low wage service job, not concierge at the 4 Seasons. Customers expect basic pleasant service and a superior product...that's the value equation. Its not an "experience." That was 1995. Its time to move on.

[El Burro]

Honestly I can't stand the notion that we now have to worry about whether or not the customer in line will run home and blog about their one trip to one store as if they are the ultimate authority. One "bad" visit doesn't mean a store in general is bad, just like one bad customer doesn't mean that that person is bad... or does it.

The thing that really gets me though is the fact that Juan here is parading around like an expert in all things related to Starbucks. For someone claiming to be a "former Starbucks manager who became disenchanted with the increasingly bitter taste of the Starbucks experience" it seems to me that there's only one thing bitter here (aka Juan). And to think this individual is even attempting to weigh in on a company that is changing on a nearly daily basis as if s/he knows anything is absolutely absurd.

Want my advice: It's a coffee shop so ENJOY IT! The last thing that any of needs is to worry about something else. Health department, district managers, random tours, QASA. and the occasional "presents" left behind by customers. Attention everyone, you can forget all that because Juan Valdez has now told us that he is the most important thing to worry about. Drop that overwhelming sense of entitlement and just take a moment to relax. Afterall, THAT'S THE POINT!

[Nicole]

<>
This just blows me away. Are you SURE partners aren't calling drinks out? At my store, we always call drinks out, even multiple times. But what are we supposed to do, walk around with the Grande No Whip Mocha in-hand, singing a song about it to each human in sight, trying to identify the rightful owner? Customers order and then zip to their car or the bathroom all the time and act angry that they couldn't figure out what drink is theirs when they get back. How hard is it to stand by until your drink is done? As a former store manager I assume you must never, ever have been on bar or else you'd be fully aware of this. Were you an outside hire?

[me.yahoo.com/a/m.K3aKgHjPX2tfpijNoAdX9McA--]

Juan is a hack and it seems most people don't really care "what Juan" says.... How can we have his useless banter removed?

[Juan Valdez]

@nicole

During my visit, the bar partner didn't call a single drink, much less mine. The drinks were placed on the handoff plane and that was it. It was so strange that I couldn't help but notice it even if I had missed my own.

[Juan Valdez]

@el burro

It's not me you have to worry about. It's each and every customer who walks in your door that you should be concerned with. I am just one of them and if something bad is happening to me, it's most certainly happening to them.

If you and your partners consistently do the right thing on a daily basis, you have nothing to worry about.

[HAHA]

Hey Bill-

It's time to get a real job.

Sincerely,

The Barista that gave you decaf and you didn't even realize it

[Air Jordans]

The man who has made up his mind to win will never say "impossible".