When good/sweet/nice things happen in Starbucks stores. (Share your story)

There've been a lot of stories about ugly behavior posted here over the years -- tales about customers tossing hot coffee at baristas, wiping feces on bathroom walls, etc. -- but now it's time to get a bit sweet and syrupy. What's the cutest thing you've seen at the store you frequent or work in? || Regarding the photo on the left (click on it for a larger image), this was at the Dempster St. Starbucks in Skokie, IL. The little boy waited patiently for well over an hour while his dad worked on the computer. Finally, the kid had had it, got on the table and started singing, then begging his dad to leave. He charmed the customers. And your stories?

Comments

[expired shot]

Last night a large group of customers came in 30 min before close. They rearranged the outdoor furniture and sat there until 6 min after posted closing time. Since they were paying customers, I didn't try to close down that half of the patio until the ten min time had elapsed. As I was preparing to give the 4 min warning I looked outside, and noticed they had just finished stacking up all of my furniture, moving the umbrellas in, and were walking to their car. --- and this isn't three or four chairs we are talking about 15 chairs 1 large and 3 small tables and 2 umbrellas-- I had to run out the door to wish them a good night and send them off with a huge THANK YOU! for doing something I would never expect or ask a customer to do. It may be a small gesture, but it certainly brightened my evening.

[Bejammin']

One day someone left their baby in my store. I couldn't help but think "My! What a sweet lady, to think that one of us might like a baby! :)"

[spence]

In the last two years, we have had at least a dozen laptops, handbags, cell phones and wallets left behind. ALL OF THEM were brought to the counter by strangers.

[foxy]

I often get asked to watch other people's computers and stuff even though I haven't worked at any Starbucks for over a year. And I haven't ever snooped!

[oops]

a few years ago one of our frequent couples got in engaged in our comfy chairs, on the day of their wedding we re-arranged of chairs so the comfy chairs would be in the same place....the couple stopped by for their drinks on the way to their reception...but first they did take photos in their wedding attire in our comfy chairs and thanked us for re-arranging the furniture so the store was set up as it was when they got engaged.

[Tanner]

I'm a barista in a mall, so our clients are slightly different. I was frustrated about the number of tacky and rude people I had served with a smile, and was just getting down when the next customer, a regular, brought me some Godiva chocolate. I hardly know her name. That really made my day...thinking of her little barista boy. Thank you to every customer who has ever had good thoughts or wanted to act like that woman did towards your barista. We really enjoy and *need* it sometimes.

[Cordelia]

An older couple came in for coffee and sat down, when a Sinatra song came on they got up and danced. It was really sweet and not corny.

[CamSpi]

@Cordelia,
I love the older couples that come in to get drinks. We have two regulars (Momi and I want to say Richard) and they are the cutest thing since the creation of puppies. Occasionally the older gentleman will fall asleep, and Momi just sits there smiling smiling smiling, watching the world.

There was a baseball team of 7-9 year olds recently. A woman was walking by our shelf which was full of tumblers. She accidentally knocked a ton over, and here comes a kid from the baseball team from the other side of the cafe who rushes to help her set it back up. I was with a barista in the cafe, and they rewarded the young dude with a Starbucks card. I thought that was pretty neat.

... and Gloria, green tea Gloria, gave me sushi one time. That was awesome.

During really tough days I have to remember these moments. When people ask me how I'm doing before I get a chance to ask them, and they genuinely mean it! When little kids are exceptionally polite. People can be surprising, good and bad... but when it's a surprisingly nice moment, it can turn my day around!

[Schmidt, Jingle Heimer]

I told a customer that they can say small, medium, or large. He told me some employees turn their heads up and correct him like snobs. "Tell them to get over themselves & earn their tip." was my suggestion as a future response to crap like that.
He thanked me and commended me for being on a true level.

[green_cup]

"... and Gloria, green tea Gloria, gave me sushi one time. That was awesome."

@CamSpi

You would accept food from some random customer? Wow. If I worked at Starbucks, I'd never do that.

------------------------------------
@Posted by: Schmidt, Jingle Heimer | September 18, 2009 at 12:15 AM

Awesome.

[drive]

At Christmastime, The Nutcracker Suite was at the concert hall across the street. One of the little ballerinas in the cast danced a few bars for me.

[me myself and I]

We get food, cookies, chocolate etc. all the time. Depending on the customer we really enjoy it (or occasionally just discard it...).

[seventysix [76]]

One of my favorite regular customers is a middle-aged woman named Nancy. Whenever I work in the morning, I try to be extra energized and friendly to get people a little more peppy for their day.

When Nancy first laid eyes on me she fell in love with my spirit! At the time I was working 6 opens a week, and she came in every day I did. Over those few months we became close friends -- her son passed away a few years ago and I think she saw me as someone who could help her fill that hole in her life.

When it was time for me to go back to college, she came in with a card that expressed her gratitude to have someone like me in her life. It was the nicest thing any regular has ever done for me!

So to Nancy, and to all my other regulars who have given me free ice cream, free yoga classes, free massages, and all other kinds of nice things, thank you. You make this job worth it.

seventysix [76]

[whatwhat]

There was a regular in my store that knew I didn't have a car. One day she saw me walking to work from the train station on a hot hot day and gave me a ride to Starbucks. Ever since that she she'd always ask me if I needed a ride to the train. I thought that was so sweet.

[Cordelia]

@ Cam Spi those are nice stories, My Starbucks career has just been a series of (mostly) great stories. My beloved store of 6 yrs closed in may and we had a party the day before for customers and former baristas and managers. It really felt like a family was being broken up and all the kids being sent to (new stores) foster homes. Things are better now. i stupidly left the company for a month and defected to Peets.What a snobby, negative atmosphere that was(yes the drink standards are really high, it is a good product)sooo different than starbucks. Plus 8 hrs of non stop classical music left me longing for Amy Wine house singing Rehab!I'm so thankfull Starbucks hired me back.

[Jenn]

There is the cutest little boy (5-8 yrs old) that comes in with his dad and sister almost every week. He is very bright, polite, and orders his banana loaƒ and his ƒather's latte every time they come in.
He is so adorable, has the cutest smile and the curliest hair!
He sometimes comes around onto the ƒloor and one time he asked us all what our names were, since then we always greet him by his name when they come visit. =]

[mini french press]

one of our regulars brings us in delectable treats from a local bakery whenever we look especially harried, especially happy, or you know, it's Tuesday. sometimes he'll bring us fresh fruit as well, and it's lovely to get a free little snack while we work.

[big tree]

I've been going through some really hard things lately. And on top of it, have had an unexpected string of large bills. As a shift supervisor, I try to not let my mood show through on my shift, but my manager, such a sweetheart, thought that my life was getting in the way and demoted me! I love that I work for a place where not only can I make 3 dollars less at any given moment, but can do absolutely nothing about it! Thanks Starbucks!

[Moe Szyslak]

I wish we had customers like that in our store...we get rock-bottom tips far below the district average (despite rising CV scores), and most of our customers come in hanging their heads down and don't want to chat. We've even gotten complaints on CV about baristas speaking to customers, who say they do not want to be spoken to while waiting for their beverage. We try to connect with them but they don't want the connection, they just want their latte and then get out as fast as possible.

We have three or four regulars whom I enjoy talking to though. They make the job worthwhile.

[@usorthem3]

green_cup again U show why you should just stay in your house and never make the public at large "DEAL" with U. Don't worry about anyone doing something nice for you because U usually have 2 B nice 2 sum1 first, which I would say never happens in Ur private little world.
Green Tea Gloria is in our store five times a week for hours at a time while she writes a book, so she is no stranger. In fact she used to work for the company some time ago. Thank God U don't work at a Starbucks since U think we are all menials anyway, not worthy of your highly intelligent self.

There are many of our regulars that brighten our days just as much as we involve ourselves in theirs. I for one receive a kiss on the cheek daily from one of my friend/customers. We treat each other with a mutual respect and true interest in each other's lives. There are those that it has taken me a year or so to even smile but you keep trying.
I must agree w/ @CamSpi that some days when you feel beat down from the shift you just worked a random visit from a person you haven't seen in awhile can bring a smile all around.
To the customers and partners of the closing stores, I feel bad that this part of your life will change and connections daily will fade to another venue.
I can say last week a 93yr old man came in w/ his son fro his 1st ever @SBUX experience. He was so cute when saying "$5 for two cups of coffee, well I never heard of such". They sat & watched the world outside go by and enjoyed their time together. These are the good times for us all.

[adoubleshotofclarity]

Webmaster Jim, thank you for this thread. It's rare I log into this site and find solicitations of the positive - after all the negative is much more juicy - but I hope the comment count will come to show that those of us who love our jobs, our customers, and the experience that is Starbucks are just as numerous as those who seek only for validation in the misery of their daily lives.

At the first store I ever worked at, we had a sinkhole open up in our parking lot out of the clear blue sky (retail center, not a Starbucks-owned property for those hoping to find one more thing to fault us for). It happened under a regular who was walking to her car with a tray of drinks for her office, and in the process her shoe fell about 4 feet into the small hole, not to mention the spilled drinks now adorning her outfit.

Two other customers and the supervisor on duty rushed outside to help her. One of the customers happened to have a tool in his car that he spent the next 10 minutes using to fish her lost shoe out of the hole, while the other customer brought her inside to get cleaned up and the SS called the property manager to report the incident while we remade her order.

Both of those customers who rushed to help wound up late getting back to work, but neither seemed to care - they were more concerned for the wellbeing of a stranger (fortunately she was ok, if a little flustered). I remember offering the one who'd fished her shoe out of the hole a free drink the next time he was in, and he declined it because he "wouldn't feel right taking a reward for doing what anyone else would do in the same situation".

We often see the worst in others, and it's easy to let that stick with us. I choose to remember the good, and that experience was one that I often look back to as an example of how, when we take care of each other, we're all at our best.

[Garchy]

@ Big Tree

Be happy it was just a demotion. My region doesn't demote anymore, they only "separate".

[Mike]

Try this one. I work at a Starbucks part time and have been for the last 3 years. I prefer the main cafe register vs DT because people seem to be in less of a rush. Anyway, I have several regulars who come in and I will have their drink for them before they even walk in the door. There is this one group of ladies who I will come out and sit with on my break for a few minutes that are a part of those regulars. We were talking about some of the car issues I was having and that I had just spent several hundred dollars to fix my car and I would not be able to go on a rafting trip I had organized for Starbucks and a group from my full time job. I was ok with it though, I would just go up with everyone else and enjoy the scenery, kick back, and read a book. Anyway, my birthday rolled around and they brought me in my usual birthday card and some cupcakes which was very sweet of them. However, when I opened the card it said "Enjoy your rafting trip!". There was the rafting trip payed in full (120 dollars). Now that type of Third Place environment you can only find at Starbucks!

[say it ain't SO!]

I get "sexual" favors in the restroom from my favorite customers, you ladies LOVE your LEGENDARY SERVICE ;)

[Dave]

There have been a few times where Starbucks employees have come shopping in my store Aeropostale. We often have coupons like 25-30% off the whole purchase, or $10 off $50, even if they don't have a coupon I always ring one of the ones we have laying around for them(we are allowed to do that if a customer asks!). And return I've gotten a few complimentary drinks when I go get something on my break. Everyone that works in that mall location is super nice, I love'em. From the managers that will sit there and discuss their disdain of not brewing Pike to the regular employees who always recognize me as soon as I come in. Just being recognized and greeted with a genuine smile is nice when I've had a hectic day

[shifty]

I had a middle aged woman and what I presumed to be her son (maybe age 9-11). The boy was outstandingly polite for his age and left me taken aback. I was on bar at the time and he had ordered a tall vanilla bean frapp. After he ordered he promptly scurried over to the hand off station before his mother had even finished ordering. I made him a grande and told him that the upgrade was because of his politeness. He had the most awestruck smile on his face and gushed a million thank you's and took it to the condiment bar. His mother finished paying and came to the hand off station for her drink and proceeded to thank me for what I had done. I told her it was no problem at all. She then discretely explained to me that her son was autistic and they had been working with him on his manners and that my mother must have raised me well. I told her she was doing and amazing job and she was unbelievably grateful. I almost started crying. best shift ever.

[finding a way]

in the last 5 years I have been invited to and attended 5 customers weddings, 3 thanksgiving dinners, a bachelor party, at least 15 parties and many more. Only at Sbux do you make such a long lasting friendship with so many.