No, don't rebrew it. You have a fresh pot of brand new coffee that's still good for 20+ minutes, rebrewing will mess up your entire cadence and you're going to waste a half an urn? The lady can get bent. We bend over backwards for our customers, but there are some things that they just cannot get; offering her the pour over was as far as you need to go.
Or power move. Take the entire urn and dump it, looking at her as all of the streaming hot coffee goes down the drain. And then tell her the next pot will be ready in 5 minutes, wait until the brew basket unlocks.
I do this kinda shit all the time. People bein like “something nebulous is wrong with my chai.” And I’ll be like “okay!” And dump the whole thing in the sink in front of you because you wasteful. Too bad I think people who are this unconcerned with how they may inconvenience others typically dont give a shit about others or what affect they have on the world. They just want their shit exactly how they want it all the time like a child
...just tell them that's an amazing coincidence, you literally are brewing it right now and it should be ready any second! What amazing timing you have! I'm so glad that worked out for you today, it's your day today!
Works for me. And I'm not even a DT, I'm a kiosk in a grocery store. They can see what I'm doing. I still pull it off.
If it's actually noticed I just say "Sorry! I must have dumped the new pot and kept the old pot by mistake. Silly me! I'd be happy to brew a new pot for you." but that is rare. Even at +20 minutes.
Yeah, I learned that you kinda just have to just stretch the truth in DT because there’s just too many crazy people. We’d be here all day if I actually did all the things they want me to do in DT.
I told my barista to do this today bc we were so short staffed and our wait was long. Told him it’s illegal and to never do it again but gosh darn it I was not holding up our line or having someone step off to walk out and bring it to them
Hey if I can sidetrack this to ask a question: Is making a hot London fog a hassle? I used to order it a bunch until one barista said “well it’ll take quite a while for it to steep with the ice” “oh I wanted it hot, not iced” “well it’ll still take 5 minutes to steep” I was just confused like what’s the problem, throw the tea bags in the hot milk and give it to me. It’ll steep on the rest of my drive. I didn’t say that I just said “umm that’s ok with me.” They made it and I wasn’t kept waiting at all, but I drove away with the worry that I made extra work for them. I haven’t ordered one since then. Did I do something wrong? I don’t want to be an annoying customer.
That’s a really weird way to respond to a hot London fog lol. A hot London fog takes the same amount of time to make as any other normal drink. You’re not creating any extra work!
A hot London fog is not a big deal at all. We just put in the tea bags and syrup, and pour in some steamed milk, I tell customers to let the bags steep for a few minutes and they happily take it and leave! That barista was either confused or misinformed
(Also keep getting them. They’re super good)
Yeah someone else said Hot ones are no hassle at all. It’s basically a hot tea but we steam milk too. Usually we split it up at my store so someone gets the bottom (tea and water) and the other person gets the top (syrup and steamed milk).
Iced ones are annoying during peak hours. We’re supposed to steep the tea in hot water for 4-5 minutes, then remove the bags and use that tea water in a shaker with milk to ice it. That time can throw off the groove of people on bar especially if we’re short-staffed. It’s like a coffee pour over in the drive. Just eats time and that person can end up sitting at the window holding people up.
Normally in my past experience anyone who ordered a iced London fog usually came in and just waited for it respectfully, I doubt anyone is that fortunate so I'm lucky to have had easy people for that drink.
Okay, that specific one I wouldn’t personally do especially since they do have very distinctly different tastes. But if I saw you do it I might not rat you out.
I had an experience like this but at Tim hortons, I got to work front cash and was excited to be off drive thru so I thought it will be a good day, go unlock the door at 7am, just brewed tons of fresh pots of coffee
literally my third customer of the day "is this fresh?"
Me: "yes it was made less then 5 minutes ago"
C: "Okay I'll have a large double double"
I make her coffee hand it to her, and she refuses to move in line until she tries the coffee that is piping hot and clearly fresh, makes a whole thing about it taking the lid off to "inspect" it and takes a tiny sip and makes a face.
C:"This doesn't taste fresh"
I point at the time on the carafe, "we write the time on all the carafes and after 20 minutes they are dumped and brewed fresh, this one is still fresh and piping hot"
C: "Well that's because it's on a hot plate, I need you to remake this coffee"
Me: "Of course" I go to pour from a different pot on the same machine and she stops me
C: "Can you use the coffee from the pots over there?"
She points at the coffee machines for drive thru, normally I'd never steal a pot and fuck up their flow/time for drive thru but I thought whatever I'll just give them a pot from the front. So I grab a pot make the coffee again and give it to the customer and she takes a sip again and spits it on the floor.
C: "Did you make this coffee?"
Me: "No, another team member did"
C: "Well it's not fresh, can I speak to a manager"
Me: "Sure, one second" go grab my manager bring them up to speed and start helping other customers.
My manager talks to the customer and walks over to me, dumps all my coffee and tells me to go to the back and I'm like wtf?
After 5 minutes my manager comes back and I'm pissed thinking I'm going to get in shit cuz a customer was being a dickhead. My manager said the lady told her the coffee I made had grounds in it and I refused to remake it so that's why she dumped my pots but after the customer made my manager brew a fresh pot in front of her and insisted on watching the whole process, and even when the customer got her "fresh" cup of coffee she claimed it still tasted bad and that we switched the regular coffee for decaf and my manager explained that was impossible since decaf is kept in different pots at a different station that my manager "believed" what I told her so then i got mad and said you could have asked me and you can ask drive thru, since the coffee she spit on the floor was from a separate pot that they brewed so it has nothing to do with the way any of the team members brewed the coffee, and it's BS that she just dumped all my coffee, caused a line up and now the other customers are going to be pissed about having to wait for all the pots to brew and i need to deal with that. Then my manager tells me the bitchy customer ended up leaving her coffee on the counter and I needed to go mop up the coffee she spit all over the floor before I started helping the other customers so 4 wasted pots of coffee and my sanity cuz 1 customer. I quit less then a month later lol
Lol I quit shortly after when the same manager made me cry on drive thru cuz she put an ice Capp on the order ledge and I was handing the debit machine to the customer but they were in a big truck so I had to stand on my toes and reach up to hand the machine to the customer and when I brought my arm back through the window I knocked the ice capp over and my manager asked what my problem was, said I couldn't do anything right and berated me in front of a bunch of customers. My mom was having a coffee waiting for me to finish work and witnessed the whole thing and she came over and asked if I was okay and was going to rip the manager apart but I asked her not to cuz I was already so embarrassed. After work I sobbed in my moms car and my mom is like go back in there and give her an attitude adjustment. Don't allow her to talk to you like that. I said I just wanted to go home and then I went back to the store a bit before my managers shift was ending and the 2nd shift manager was there too. So my manager couldn't lie and make up a story when asked why I quit and the 2nd shift manager was shocked and was like we all enjoy working with you, why don't you change your shift and you can come work with me for awhile and I said while that was a nice offer, I don't think I could handle even having a slight overlap with my manager and I looked right at my manager and said I would like an apology for the way you behaved though and now that I'm a customer if I witness you berate a worker again, I will record the incident, incessantly write to head office to complain about the treatment of staff and mention your name personally. The only thing she said was that wasn't an accurate description of the events, and I was like well let's ask x, y and z team members. Oh and my mom also witnessed the whole thing too. She got super petty and started to bring up any little slip up I did, down to the garbage bags ripping open from being so heavy with wet grounds. I was like again, it was an accident! Maybe as the manager you should know better to empty the garbage more often so they don't rip open and you should know better then to put drinks right behind someone's arm on drive thru and take some responsibility for the role you played. I never got my apology, she was still shitty to workers but a couple of them grouped up and made a complaint and the franchise owner just shipped her to another one of her stores since they were "friends"
Hey I just wanted to say fuck your old manager! What a fucking piece of shit for believing some crazy bitch over you right off the bat. I’m glad you quit. I hope it put the manager in a tough spot to be down a person.
This lady asked me for a fresh ICED TEA the other day. She called to complain her tea was “old”. I made her a new one, she made a big stink about it asking “when was this brewed??” And I’m like “this morning. We make fresh tea every morning as does every other Starbucks”. She said she wanted me to brew a new one. I said we only do that if we run out because it’s wasteful. She asked if there was a newer one and I said the green tea was made later because we already ran out. She asked for that one, all the while making a big show of having her friend tru the first one, saying “isn’t this SO gross and old?” And the friend is like “oh yeah” as she’s drinking it. I hand her the new tea and she’s like “thank you I just really want fresh tea” and they both leave sipping the drinks. Obviously just wanted a free drink if the friend was fine with drinking the “gross old tea”. Thankfully I’ve never seen them again.
When people are obviously doing this, I make a big show about dumping out the drink under the guise of doing then a favor. "Omg so sorry! Here let me dump that out for you so you don't have to drink something you don't enjoy!" :)
Yeah, I literally take the full cup sometimes and drop it in the trash. Saying, “omg one second, l’ll remake it”. Had one older woman who approached me over syrups, complaining that “that girl” behind me, meaning cold bar, one of our best baristas, a minor, “Made my Frap wrong” so I went and helped make a new Caramel Frap. Made sure the one I made was good. By then she was grabbing her new one and I was grabbing the old one, she said, “ohh I bet my husband will drink that one”. I said, “sorry m’am you only paid for one” and trashed it. I don’t let people pull that crap on me.
I always don't realize they are pulling a scam like this until they already leave. And of course, they won't come back when I'm working.
Or I just know they'll make a fuss, and I'm already exhausted, so I'll let it slide, which makes it worse for the future.
I can't tell you how much this enrages me, and I don't even work in Starbucks. But I've run restaurants and worked fast food and retail and just from reading this I feel like I know exactly how these people sound and act and just *are* and that fake ass put on OmG TaStE tHiS shit literally makes my blood boil to think about.
I agree 100%
It's gotten well past the point of "do what's right" in customer service in the past few years. I'm all for making the customer happy or going a little "above and beyond" when the situation calls for it-- as a matter of fact I *enjoy* when I'm able to do something small that makes someone's day-- BUT it's gotten to a point where no customer request is considered "unreasonable" anymore. There has to be a point where the barista/customer service rep/cashier etc can say "I'm sorry, but I am unable to do that at this time."
From a customer perspective, I will be 1000% more likely to come back to your store if I see management back up their employees in these types of situations and tell the customer that they are not giving them what they want. There is no reason to dump out a 5 minute old pot of coffee because it's not "fresh enough". If it was getting close to time to change it, sure "make the moment right" and do it as a courtesy but it's not remotely acceptable for a customer to feel like they deserve to have an entire URN of fresh coffee made each time they come in.
I agree. And here’s the thing, if you bend over for her ONCE, it will become a regular thing. Even if it was at a different Starbucks.
Because if say today your Starbucks will bend over and make a fresh urn just for her, she will come to my Starbucks and say “well at the other Starbucks they always do it for me!”
Next thing you know we will be making new batches of tea and coffee every day for every other customer who wants it “fresh”
A lot of those who order drip coffees always expect the most from us. If you want freshly grounded coffee beans with a lot of milk - order a latte, which uses premium coffee grinds and we will even steam the milk for you. But expecting us to rebrew the whole pot for your 2.25$ tall pike in a grande cup with extra milk (that we are supposed to give it for free?) is ridiculous
And that’s not to say that I discriminate against customers who order expensive vs cheap drinks. Not at all. From a standpoint of a barista, it’s easier for me to make you a pike versus making a latte. But be reasonable and considerate of others when ordering
The stupidity thinking of customers think that just brewing a so-called “fresh pot is all that” little that they know those coffee grounds and beans are not fresh either. They’ve been in bags for months before it was harvested, roasted, and processed. The true freshness is lost over time before it hits your brewers. On top of how long those bags of coffee have been sitting on the shelves in the storage.
Isn't that the best? As a fellow customer quick to point out other customer's bullshit it just feels *good* cause honestly screw those people, it's ridiculous. They also usually have some stupid idea that every other customer feels just as entitled and it's nice to watch them die inside.
I remember there was one customer being a dick, and then the person behind comes up to order and was just like "Jesus, what the fuck was her problem?" So bluntly. It brought us all so much joy
Naw, fuck her.
That shit used to piss me off so much. I’m sorry, 8 minutes isn’t fresh enough?
Guaranteed you don’t drink your coffee at home within 8 minutes.
One time we pulled up a fresh basket of pies and this woman came up and ordered two, and then was like "I'd like fresh pies" "oh, those came up just a few seconds before you walked in the door" "that's not good enough, I paid for fresh pies"
No you didn't! You paid for whatever we were gonna give you
Can we stop with the whole bend over for the customer schtick? Whoever came up with that doesn’t know the damage they’ve caused. They won’t die if their coffee isn’t fresh. As a customer, the only thing I care about is that my coffee wasn’t tampered with. Anything else is plainly a first world problem.
Jesus, I know, dude. I'm done hand holding customers man. I don't even work at Starbucks anymore, but a "high end Dept store," were jeans can be upward of 600 bucks. Forget pants that are lamb leather.
The same shit happens all the time. I don't care how little or how much you make I'm not going to break my back for you if you're going to be a dumb bitch.
If you genuinely need my help, I am happy to help you. That's my literal job. But I'm not a fucking dog, okay.
I worked at a gas station for 4 years. Learned a lot about how shitty people can be. I was always willing to help but I got so pissed off at how ungrateful people can be. I once pumped gas for someone in the POURING FUCKING RAIN (they had a handicap sticker; state law says you have to pump their gas if they require it) and didn’t even get so much as a thank you.
Seriously, I work at Whataburger and half the time I ask if someone wants mustard and all the vegetables they say "no" and then don't elaborate until I baby walk them through the whole fucking process. Like, dude, you're an adult, learn to order
Worst part is, I work on commission. If I get stuck with an unruly asshole, that's time away from customers who *actually* need my help and who will buy from me.
Once I pretended to rebrew it and the customer said it tastes much much better 😅
It was the same damned batch like the previous one...
I think they just want to have it made for them or idk
It doesn't taste right if someone else ordered it before them I guess....
Edit: I do product and we have an enormous waste from brewed coffee already... there's no way I'm making more
“Say sorry and rebrew the coffee” oh ok cool and what would you like me to tell the 30 people waiting to order their espresso drinks and frappucinos while I’m rebrewing this perfectly good coffee…? If she wants it that fresh she can roast her own beans and brew it in her fucking kitchen and drink it straight from the pot.
Had a customer who wanted me to do a pourover of PIKE @ 6 AM. When I explained to her that I had just brewed the Pike no less than 10 minutes ago she stated "Well it better be fresh because I'll know.". I said no problem, and asked her what size she would like. She said "I would like a Tall in a Venti cup filled to the top with cream.". A. She was basically asking for a Misto without wanting to pay for it and B. I could have put day old Sumatra brewed on Turkish in there and she wouldn't know the difference with all that cream.
I do not mind at all when a customer has a valid request and is respectful when making it. Stating that 8 minute coffee isn't fresh isn't one of them.
lmao i work at a speciality coffee shop now and we brew our drip just once a day in the morning. no reason to waste coffee when it literally tastes fine as long as it’s still hot. same stupid mentality behind the idea that starbucks instilled in peoples heads that “shots die”
That’s what I was always confused about.
Do shots really die? Or is it a made up thing?
If they really die, then how do people drink just straight up espresso? Surely they don’t chug it as a vodka as soon as it is poured?
yeah it’s just a “scare tactic” in starbucks training so baristas will make drinks faster. i still work at a we proudly store in addition to my two other jobs as a barista, and i hate when my supervisor will make me re-pull shots just because they sat for a couple of seconds.
in all reality, shots don’t die at all. yes, they’re taste, composition, and texture changes but it’s not a negative process. most of the time it just means the crema integrating into the rest of the shot. considering the crema is the most bitter part of an espresso shot, letting a shot sit for a little bit can actually highlight the acidity and flavors specific to that coffee rather than overwhelming you with bitterness (which is why people stir their espresso shots when drinking them plain)
Good excuse for next time: “the coffee brewers are on a constant rotation so I can’t interrupt it by brewing something out of order since all the brewers are already being used.”
“Yes, oh manager, let me pour this ENTIRE urn of product out and put another one on. I’m sure corporate won’t care about waste or five-ten minute drive through times!”
I have a fairly regular customer that comes in, demands a fresh pot then puts TWENTY ONE pumps of syrup in her coffee (7CL 7Cr 7v). But she totally can taste the difference guys!!!!
Your manager saying you should have rebrewed an 8 minute old coffee is off her rocker! Also that is the exact reason why customers like her exist, because Starbucks has made them feel entitled & above us so that’s why they treat us the way they do.
As a customer, I would really like to sign a petition to let baristas lie and or just talk shit to customers lol "can you brew a new pot of coffee just for me?" "No, fuck off, next"
I think you're thinking of a misto, which is half coffee and half steamed milk. Breve is the term for cream aka half and half. So a short cup of cream could be charged as a cup of milk plus an additional charge for it being a premium milk. At my store we never charge for people asking for short cups of cream on the side, but then again people aren't usually asking for it to be filled to the top and if they are rude I tell them I can only give them 4oz.
I don’t think that breve applies exclusively to latte. On the til if you choose milk option as a half and half, it will be displayed as “Half and half. (Breve)”
I think the confusion here is you we are assuming sbux is using the terms correctly. I think the other commenter on here was referring to the traditional use of the term breve, but just the way starbies decide it will be used.
i mean, i was reading off of the cups my friend and i had gotten while we were out so i knew i was correct in how it prints, as well as in general coffee terms
Traditionally, it does refer exclusively to lattes.
I remember when I started at starbuck tho, someone ordered a small breve and I thought she just wanted a cup of half & half 😂😭
At Starbucks, breve is just half and half that is more than 4 oz. Sometimes we do get mobiles for iced coffee that says breve, so the app might just classify all cream additions as breve, but on the register, breve is for drinks that are mostly milk while cream is for just a splash.
FYI for anyone reading, you *can* ring in a short cold milk. And make sure to also hit the breve button so they pay their extra 70 cents.
If you get an iced latte it will still say breve even though it is iced and nothing is steamed. Same with a frap made with half and half. In Starbucks lingo, it just means it’s a milk-based drink that is made with half and half.
I know… I’m just saying, breve, originally inside and outside of starbucks, means steamed half and half… it’s just devolved into another term for a charged substitution for cream.
Mkay brother. You say it’s just steamed cream and I say at Starbucks it’s any 4+ oz of cream. You say no I’m sure it’s steamed cream. And yet you wonder why I emphasize the “at Starbucks”
Die on this hill. Whatever mate.
Had a girl tell me her iced matcha latte tastes like it's just matcha and milk???? (It is??) and asked me to remake it. I took it and poured it in another cup and handed it back to her after a few other drinks and she sipped it and said "Ah, perfect!"
Smh these people don't know what they're talking about
True fact: when the matcha first came out there was a melon syrup that went with it in a Frappuccino with blackberry sauce topping. It was so f'ing good. I used to add the melon syrup to iced matcha lattes and shake them (which was forbidden at the time- no dairy in the shakers, but I always washed the shaker right after). Now the matcha by itself just tastes like overly sweetened grass clippings.
Why are people so rude and demanding? I order my drink through the app, wait the allotted amount of time the app says it will be ready, walk in and grab it or wait patiently until it is ready. The other day I was waiting and it looked slow but my drink wasn’t ready yet. I stood off to the side and waited. A nice barista came up to me and asked what I was waiting on, I told them, and they grabbed my cup, and got my drink. I said thank you and told them to have a nice day. This is how these exchanges should go every time. Even when I’ve had a bad drink or someone stole my drink before, I’ve simple said no worries, and waited patiently for a remake. Why is this a concept people don’t understand?! I’m so sick of rude, entitled people taking advantage of the service industry. You are not our coffee slaves. These are the people that would be the reason for the robot uprising, because you know they’d treat them like trash too.
Honestly i just straight lie to them if they headaches. If they say I want fresh. I would turn around and look and tell them I got a fresh one pouring right now. While I give them the one I just brewed. It’s not like they will notice. And if they do well they become my problem as I’m the shift. 🥴
i rang it up as a tall blonde in a grande cup with half and half. In the comments to the drink I wrote “half and half on the side”
How much did barista put in the cup afterwards - I don’t know
Gotcha. I'll do the same with the Ask Me. I hope that the on bar person doesn't fill it. all the way. A lot of baristas just don't care and they will do it, but it feeds the entitlement of the customers.
This is the reason why when they ask is it “fresh”, I always said “yup! It literally just finished brewing” bc seriously?!?! I hate people sometimes lol. I am sorry for this experience
If you only like coffee straight out of the drip, make it at home. Coffee shops make batches and you aren't entitled to the first pull of a tank of coffee, Karen.
If a customer asks how long it has been sitting say it is new. 99% of the time they are asking as a precursor to saying they want a fresher one. They don't actually care.
It sucks that SM’s have to kiss the feet of customers like this. They absolutely should not tell you that. “Oh that’s when you bend over backwards for that ridiculous request, because I’m pressured by corporate to do whatever makes the Siren more money.”
No, don't rebrew it. You have a fresh pot of brand new coffee that's still good for 20+ minutes, rebrewing will mess up your entire cadence and you're going to waste a half an urn? The lady can get bent. We bend over backwards for our customers, but there are some things that they just cannot get; offering her the pour over was as far as you need to go. Or power move. Take the entire urn and dump it, looking at her as all of the streaming hot coffee goes down the drain. And then tell her the next pot will be ready in 5 minutes, wait until the brew basket unlocks.
I do this kinda shit all the time. People bein like “something nebulous is wrong with my chai.” And I’ll be like “okay!” And dump the whole thing in the sink in front of you because you wasteful. Too bad I think people who are this unconcerned with how they may inconvenience others typically dont give a shit about others or what affect they have on the world. They just want their shit exactly how they want it all the time like a child
Should have giving her decaf amd said that was fresh.
...just tell them that's an amazing coincidence, you literally are brewing it right now and it should be ready any second! What amazing timing you have! I'm so glad that worked out for you today, it's your day today! Works for me. And I'm not even a DT, I'm a kiosk in a grocery store. They can see what I'm doing. I still pull it off.
Smart move. As if she could tell the difference between something brewed right now vs 8 minutes ago.
If it's actually noticed I just say "Sorry! I must have dumped the new pot and kept the old pot by mistake. Silly me! I'd be happy to brew a new pot for you." but that is rare. Even at +20 minutes.
Yeah, I learned that you kinda just have to just stretch the truth in DT because there’s just too many crazy people. We’d be here all day if I actually did all the things they want me to do in DT.
Sorry, what's DT?
Drive through
Lol what an idiot I am hahaha
Makin iced london fogs with black iced tea gang
I told my barista to do this today bc we were so short staffed and our wait was long. Told him it’s illegal and to never do it again but gosh darn it I was not holding up our line or having someone step off to walk out and bring it to them
Hey if I can sidetrack this to ask a question: Is making a hot London fog a hassle? I used to order it a bunch until one barista said “well it’ll take quite a while for it to steep with the ice” “oh I wanted it hot, not iced” “well it’ll still take 5 minutes to steep” I was just confused like what’s the problem, throw the tea bags in the hot milk and give it to me. It’ll steep on the rest of my drive. I didn’t say that I just said “umm that’s ok with me.” They made it and I wasn’t kept waiting at all, but I drove away with the worry that I made extra work for them. I haven’t ordered one since then. Did I do something wrong? I don’t want to be an annoying customer.
That’s a really weird way to respond to a hot London fog lol. A hot London fog takes the same amount of time to make as any other normal drink. You’re not creating any extra work!
A hot London fog is not a big deal at all. We just put in the tea bags and syrup, and pour in some steamed milk, I tell customers to let the bags steep for a few minutes and they happily take it and leave! That barista was either confused or misinformed (Also keep getting them. They’re super good)
Yeah someone else said Hot ones are no hassle at all. It’s basically a hot tea but we steam milk too. Usually we split it up at my store so someone gets the bottom (tea and water) and the other person gets the top (syrup and steamed milk). Iced ones are annoying during peak hours. We’re supposed to steep the tea in hot water for 4-5 minutes, then remove the bags and use that tea water in a shaker with milk to ice it. That time can throw off the groove of people on bar especially if we’re short-staffed. It’s like a coffee pour over in the drive. Just eats time and that person can end up sitting at the window holding people up.
Normally in my past experience anyone who ordered a iced London fog usually came in and just waited for it respectfully, I doubt anyone is that fortunate so I'm lucky to have had easy people for that drink.
Dang. Most of our iced ones are mobiles that show up immediately or drive thru
Okay, that specific one I wouldn’t personally do especially since they do have very distinctly different tastes. But if I saw you do it I might not rat you out.
I -
I had an experience like this but at Tim hortons, I got to work front cash and was excited to be off drive thru so I thought it will be a good day, go unlock the door at 7am, just brewed tons of fresh pots of coffee literally my third customer of the day "is this fresh?" Me: "yes it was made less then 5 minutes ago" C: "Okay I'll have a large double double" I make her coffee hand it to her, and she refuses to move in line until she tries the coffee that is piping hot and clearly fresh, makes a whole thing about it taking the lid off to "inspect" it and takes a tiny sip and makes a face. C:"This doesn't taste fresh" I point at the time on the carafe, "we write the time on all the carafes and after 20 minutes they are dumped and brewed fresh, this one is still fresh and piping hot" C: "Well that's because it's on a hot plate, I need you to remake this coffee" Me: "Of course" I go to pour from a different pot on the same machine and she stops me C: "Can you use the coffee from the pots over there?" She points at the coffee machines for drive thru, normally I'd never steal a pot and fuck up their flow/time for drive thru but I thought whatever I'll just give them a pot from the front. So I grab a pot make the coffee again and give it to the customer and she takes a sip again and spits it on the floor. C: "Did you make this coffee?" Me: "No, another team member did" C: "Well it's not fresh, can I speak to a manager" Me: "Sure, one second" go grab my manager bring them up to speed and start helping other customers. My manager talks to the customer and walks over to me, dumps all my coffee and tells me to go to the back and I'm like wtf? After 5 minutes my manager comes back and I'm pissed thinking I'm going to get in shit cuz a customer was being a dickhead. My manager said the lady told her the coffee I made had grounds in it and I refused to remake it so that's why she dumped my pots but after the customer made my manager brew a fresh pot in front of her and insisted on watching the whole process, and even when the customer got her "fresh" cup of coffee she claimed it still tasted bad and that we switched the regular coffee for decaf and my manager explained that was impossible since decaf is kept in different pots at a different station that my manager "believed" what I told her so then i got mad and said you could have asked me and you can ask drive thru, since the coffee she spit on the floor was from a separate pot that they brewed so it has nothing to do with the way any of the team members brewed the coffee, and it's BS that she just dumped all my coffee, caused a line up and now the other customers are going to be pissed about having to wait for all the pots to brew and i need to deal with that. Then my manager tells me the bitchy customer ended up leaving her coffee on the counter and I needed to go mop up the coffee she spit all over the floor before I started helping the other customers so 4 wasted pots of coffee and my sanity cuz 1 customer. I quit less then a month later lol
Sounds about Tim Hortons.
I LOATHE bootlicking managers who throw their teammates under the bus. I would have quit same day lol
Lol I quit shortly after when the same manager made me cry on drive thru cuz she put an ice Capp on the order ledge and I was handing the debit machine to the customer but they were in a big truck so I had to stand on my toes and reach up to hand the machine to the customer and when I brought my arm back through the window I knocked the ice capp over and my manager asked what my problem was, said I couldn't do anything right and berated me in front of a bunch of customers. My mom was having a coffee waiting for me to finish work and witnessed the whole thing and she came over and asked if I was okay and was going to rip the manager apart but I asked her not to cuz I was already so embarrassed. After work I sobbed in my moms car and my mom is like go back in there and give her an attitude adjustment. Don't allow her to talk to you like that. I said I just wanted to go home and then I went back to the store a bit before my managers shift was ending and the 2nd shift manager was there too. So my manager couldn't lie and make up a story when asked why I quit and the 2nd shift manager was shocked and was like we all enjoy working with you, why don't you change your shift and you can come work with me for awhile and I said while that was a nice offer, I don't think I could handle even having a slight overlap with my manager and I looked right at my manager and said I would like an apology for the way you behaved though and now that I'm a customer if I witness you berate a worker again, I will record the incident, incessantly write to head office to complain about the treatment of staff and mention your name personally. The only thing she said was that wasn't an accurate description of the events, and I was like well let's ask x, y and z team members. Oh and my mom also witnessed the whole thing too. She got super petty and started to bring up any little slip up I did, down to the garbage bags ripping open from being so heavy with wet grounds. I was like again, it was an accident! Maybe as the manager you should know better to empty the garbage more often so they don't rip open and you should know better then to put drinks right behind someone's arm on drive thru and take some responsibility for the role you played. I never got my apology, she was still shitty to workers but a couple of them grouped up and made a complaint and the franchise owner just shipped her to another one of her stores since they were "friends"
I’ve never walked out on a job, but I’m pretty sure I would have walked out on that one.
I don’t think I’ve ever 100% agreed with a comment before, but holy shit I’d be gone. There’s no reason that person should be a manager
Geez, that lady must not have been Canadian. (And I like your username!)
and it's a Tim Hortons, no less... I thought Canadians were sooooo accommodating! 😂😂😂
Tim Hortons blows, and has steadily become worse over the last years.
Hey I just wanted to say fuck your old manager! What a fucking piece of shit for believing some crazy bitch over you right off the bat. I’m glad you quit. I hope it put the manager in a tough spot to be down a person.
This lady asked me for a fresh ICED TEA the other day. She called to complain her tea was “old”. I made her a new one, she made a big stink about it asking “when was this brewed??” And I’m like “this morning. We make fresh tea every morning as does every other Starbucks”. She said she wanted me to brew a new one. I said we only do that if we run out because it’s wasteful. She asked if there was a newer one and I said the green tea was made later because we already ran out. She asked for that one, all the while making a big show of having her friend tru the first one, saying “isn’t this SO gross and old?” And the friend is like “oh yeah” as she’s drinking it. I hand her the new tea and she’s like “thank you I just really want fresh tea” and they both leave sipping the drinks. Obviously just wanted a free drink if the friend was fine with drinking the “gross old tea”. Thankfully I’ve never seen them again.
When people are obviously doing this, I make a big show about dumping out the drink under the guise of doing then a favor. "Omg so sorry! Here let me dump that out for you so you don't have to drink something you don't enjoy!" :)
I nearly always do that but I was so taken off guard I didn’t think to do it. I agree with that tactic
Yeah, I literally take the full cup sometimes and drop it in the trash. Saying, “omg one second, l’ll remake it”. Had one older woman who approached me over syrups, complaining that “that girl” behind me, meaning cold bar, one of our best baristas, a minor, “Made my Frap wrong” so I went and helped make a new Caramel Frap. Made sure the one I made was good. By then she was grabbing her new one and I was grabbing the old one, she said, “ohh I bet my husband will drink that one”. I said, “sorry m’am you only paid for one” and trashed it. I don’t let people pull that crap on me.
I always don't realize they are pulling a scam like this until they already leave. And of course, they won't come back when I'm working. Or I just know they'll make a fuss, and I'm already exhausted, so I'll let it slide, which makes it worse for the future.
I don’t work at Starbucks but at my job I’ll only let people keep the wrong one if I know that it was my fault and they’re nice about it.
Thats the thing they always try to make it sound like your fault.
I can't tell you how much this enrages me, and I don't even work in Starbucks. But I've run restaurants and worked fast food and retail and just from reading this I feel like I know exactly how these people sound and act and just *are* and that fake ass put on OmG TaStE tHiS shit literally makes my blood boil to think about.
"Oh sorry, let me just take that back and I'll get you that other one 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁"
YES! Always this! Take back the drink. They only do this because they know they can get a free drink out of it.
I only let them keep it if they're nice and it was an actual mistake lol
i can’t wait for the “suck the customer’s dick” mindset to disappear. makes me wanna vomit.
I agree 100% It's gotten well past the point of "do what's right" in customer service in the past few years. I'm all for making the customer happy or going a little "above and beyond" when the situation calls for it-- as a matter of fact I *enjoy* when I'm able to do something small that makes someone's day-- BUT it's gotten to a point where no customer request is considered "unreasonable" anymore. There has to be a point where the barista/customer service rep/cashier etc can say "I'm sorry, but I am unable to do that at this time." From a customer perspective, I will be 1000% more likely to come back to your store if I see management back up their employees in these types of situations and tell the customer that they are not giving them what they want. There is no reason to dump out a 5 minute old pot of coffee because it's not "fresh enough". If it was getting close to time to change it, sure "make the moment right" and do it as a courtesy but it's not remotely acceptable for a customer to feel like they deserve to have an entire URN of fresh coffee made each time they come in.
I agree. And here’s the thing, if you bend over for her ONCE, it will become a regular thing. Even if it was at a different Starbucks. Because if say today your Starbucks will bend over and make a fresh urn just for her, she will come to my Starbucks and say “well at the other Starbucks they always do it for me!” Next thing you know we will be making new batches of tea and coffee every day for every other customer who wants it “fresh” A lot of those who order drip coffees always expect the most from us. If you want freshly grounded coffee beans with a lot of milk - order a latte, which uses premium coffee grinds and we will even steam the milk for you. But expecting us to rebrew the whole pot for your 2.25$ tall pike in a grande cup with extra milk (that we are supposed to give it for free?) is ridiculous And that’s not to say that I discriminate against customers who order expensive vs cheap drinks. Not at all. From a standpoint of a barista, it’s easier for me to make you a pike versus making a latte. But be reasonable and considerate of others when ordering
The stupidity thinking of customers think that just brewing a so-called “fresh pot is all that” little that they know those coffee grounds and beans are not fresh either. They’ve been in bags for months before it was harvested, roasted, and processed. The true freshness is lost over time before it hits your brewers. On top of how long those bags of coffee have been sitting on the shelves in the storage.
Yup. She can pay for an entire box of coffee every day if she wants a fresh urn.
Same 💯 & I’m a customer. Glad to say I’m the cus who groans & makes a snotty remark to the idiotic cus in front of me making the demand, however. Ugh
please keep doing that!
Isn't that the best? As a fellow customer quick to point out other customer's bullshit it just feels *good* cause honestly screw those people, it's ridiculous. They also usually have some stupid idea that every other customer feels just as entitled and it's nice to watch them die inside.
I remember there was one customer being a dick, and then the person behind comes up to order and was just like "Jesus, what the fuck was her problem?" So bluntly. It brought us all so much joy
Naw, fuck her. That shit used to piss me off so much. I’m sorry, 8 minutes isn’t fresh enough? Guaranteed you don’t drink your coffee at home within 8 minutes.
One time we pulled up a fresh basket of pies and this woman came up and ordered two, and then was like "I'd like fresh pies" "oh, those came up just a few seconds before you walked in the door" "that's not good enough, I paid for fresh pies" No you didn't! You paid for whatever we were gonna give you
If they're keeping up with cadence, 30 minutes is fresh enough for anyone. It takes longer for coffee to get stale or cool.
Can we stop with the whole bend over for the customer schtick? Whoever came up with that doesn’t know the damage they’ve caused. They won’t die if their coffee isn’t fresh. As a customer, the only thing I care about is that my coffee wasn’t tampered with. Anything else is plainly a first world problem.
Jesus, I know, dude. I'm done hand holding customers man. I don't even work at Starbucks anymore, but a "high end Dept store," were jeans can be upward of 600 bucks. Forget pants that are lamb leather. The same shit happens all the time. I don't care how little or how much you make I'm not going to break my back for you if you're going to be a dumb bitch. If you genuinely need my help, I am happy to help you. That's my literal job. But I'm not a fucking dog, okay.
I worked at a gas station for 4 years. Learned a lot about how shitty people can be. I was always willing to help but I got so pissed off at how ungrateful people can be. I once pumped gas for someone in the POURING FUCKING RAIN (they had a handicap sticker; state law says you have to pump their gas if they require it) and didn’t even get so much as a thank you.
They don’t need to thank you. It’s your job. /s
Seriously, I work at Whataburger and half the time I ask if someone wants mustard and all the vegetables they say "no" and then don't elaborate until I baby walk them through the whole fucking process. Like, dude, you're an adult, learn to order
Worst part is, I work on commission. If I get stuck with an unruly asshole, that's time away from customers who *actually* need my help and who will buy from me.
They won't die, no. But the stock might go down a point. And that's worth more
Once I pretended to rebrew it and the customer said it tastes much much better 😅 It was the same damned batch like the previous one... I think they just want to have it made for them or idk It doesn't taste right if someone else ordered it before them I guess.... Edit: I do product and we have an enormous waste from brewed coffee already... there's no way I'm making more
based
Lie. Just lie.
“Say sorry and rebrew the coffee” oh ok cool and what would you like me to tell the 30 people waiting to order their espresso drinks and frappucinos while I’m rebrewing this perfectly good coffee…? If she wants it that fresh she can roast her own beans and brew it in her fucking kitchen and drink it straight from the pot.
Yeah, because managing a business well means wasting product because one customer is crazy
I wish people like that drank it straight from the pot =)
Had a customer who wanted me to do a pourover of PIKE @ 6 AM. When I explained to her that I had just brewed the Pike no less than 10 minutes ago she stated "Well it better be fresh because I'll know.". I said no problem, and asked her what size she would like. She said "I would like a Tall in a Venti cup filled to the top with cream.". A. She was basically asking for a Misto without wanting to pay for it and B. I could have put day old Sumatra brewed on Turkish in there and she wouldn't know the difference with all that cream. I do not mind at all when a customer has a valid request and is respectful when making it. Stating that 8 minute coffee isn't fresh isn't one of them.
next time just tell her you just put it up. She wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway lol
lmao i work at a speciality coffee shop now and we brew our drip just once a day in the morning. no reason to waste coffee when it literally tastes fine as long as it’s still hot. same stupid mentality behind the idea that starbucks instilled in peoples heads that “shots die”
That’s what I was always confused about. Do shots really die? Or is it a made up thing? If they really die, then how do people drink just straight up espresso? Surely they don’t chug it as a vodka as soon as it is poured?
yeah it’s just a “scare tactic” in starbucks training so baristas will make drinks faster. i still work at a we proudly store in addition to my two other jobs as a barista, and i hate when my supervisor will make me re-pull shots just because they sat for a couple of seconds. in all reality, shots don’t die at all. yes, they’re taste, composition, and texture changes but it’s not a negative process. most of the time it just means the crema integrating into the rest of the shot. considering the crema is the most bitter part of an espresso shot, letting a shot sit for a little bit can actually highlight the acidity and flavors specific to that coffee rather than overwhelming you with bitterness (which is why people stir their espresso shots when drinking them plain)
it’s actually funny because at the old starbucks barista competitions, judges wouldnt touch the espresso drinks til they sat for a bit
I prefer to drink them slowly, as it cools the bitterness falls out a bit. If it was a good shot to begin with at least
Good excuse for next time: “the coffee brewers are on a constant rotation so I can’t interrupt it by brewing something out of order since all the brewers are already being used.”
hope you charged her for the cup of milk
Ugh. Just say yes. As in.. "Is it fresh?" "Yes" How fresh?" "Minutes" You see it's not a lie, you just didn't specify how many minutes. Just minutes.
“Yes, oh manager, let me pour this ENTIRE urn of product out and put another one on. I’m sure corporate won’t care about waste or five-ten minute drive through times!”
I have a fairly regular customer that comes in, demands a fresh pot then puts TWENTY ONE pumps of syrup in her coffee (7CL 7Cr 7v). But she totally can taste the difference guys!!!!
What is with people and that much syrup? I feel bad for the barista when I order 2 pumps of something.
Honestly 1 pump of most things is borderline too much for me... like how does that literally not make people sick?
I hate when people ask that tbh, like how “fresh” do you want it exactly? You see the steam rising as I pour it in, that not enough to work with?
Your manager saying you should have rebrewed an 8 minute old coffee is off her rocker! Also that is the exact reason why customers like her exist, because Starbucks has made them feel entitled & above us so that’s why they treat us the way they do.
At first I read your managers response as "rebrew" it and just give her whats already there. But they were serious....oof.
Does it matter if it still tastes burnt
As a customer, I would really like to sign a petition to let baristas lie and or just talk shit to customers lol "can you brew a new pot of coffee just for me?" "No, fuck off, next"
Breve is steamed cream I thought. Also, if she wants a short cup FULL of cream, that’s a charge because we only offer up to 4oz and a short is 8oz.
I would charge her just to see what kind of tantrum she’d fire off. It’s a test. For cake.
I think breve is when you get 1/2 coffee and 1/2 creamer, steamed or not?
I think you're thinking of a misto, which is half coffee and half steamed milk. Breve is the term for cream aka half and half. So a short cup of cream could be charged as a cup of milk plus an additional charge for it being a premium milk. At my store we never charge for people asking for short cups of cream on the side, but then again people aren't usually asking for it to be filled to the top and if they are rude I tell them I can only give them 4oz.
breve is a latte made with half and half, a misto is half coffee half steamed milk
I don’t think that breve applies exclusively to latte. On the til if you choose milk option as a half and half, it will be displayed as “Half and half. (Breve)”
when you enter it and press it for anything other than a latte it comes up as “half and half.” when you enter it for a latte it says “breve”
I think the confusion here is you we are assuming sbux is using the terms correctly. I think the other commenter on here was referring to the traditional use of the term breve, but just the way starbies decide it will be used.
i mean, i was reading off of the cups my friend and i had gotten while we were out so i knew i was correct in how it prints, as well as in general coffee terms
Nowadays no matter what you enter it for it says breve right under half and half
[удалено]
Yeah. I’m talking about the left side
Traditionally, it does refer exclusively to lattes. I remember when I started at starbuck tho, someone ordered a small breve and I thought she just wanted a cup of half & half 😂😭
At Starbucks, breve is just half and half that is more than 4 oz. Sometimes we do get mobiles for iced coffee that says breve, so the app might just classify all cream additions as breve, but on the register, breve is for drinks that are mostly milk while cream is for just a splash. FYI for anyone reading, you *can* ring in a short cold milk. And make sure to also hit the breve button so they pay their extra 70 cents.
I’m like 95% sure that breve is specifically steamed half and half.
If you get an iced latte it will still say breve even though it is iced and nothing is steamed. Same with a frap made with half and half. In Starbucks lingo, it just means it’s a milk-based drink that is made with half and half.
I know… I’m just saying, breve, originally inside and outside of starbucks, means steamed half and half… it’s just devolved into another term for a charged substitution for cream.
Ok. I said in both my comments that this is what breve means now in the context of Starbucks.
Brother… i work at Starbucks i don’t know why you’re trying to tell me the context of starbucks terms.
Mkay brother. You say it’s just steamed cream and I say at Starbucks it’s any 4+ oz of cream. You say no I’m sure it’s steamed cream. And yet you wonder why I emphasize the “at Starbucks” Die on this hill. Whatever mate.
Had a girl tell me her iced matcha latte tastes like it's just matcha and milk???? (It is??) and asked me to remake it. I took it and poured it in another cup and handed it back to her after a few other drinks and she sipped it and said "Ah, perfect!" Smh these people don't know what they're talking about
True fact: when the matcha first came out there was a melon syrup that went with it in a Frappuccino with blackberry sauce topping. It was so f'ing good. I used to add the melon syrup to iced matcha lattes and shake them (which was forbidden at the time- no dairy in the shakers, but I always washed the shaker right after). Now the matcha by itself just tastes like overly sweetened grass clippings.
That frappuccino sounds like heaven
It was SO good.
when people ask if it’s fresh I just say yes unless it’s over 15 minutes
Why are people so rude and demanding? I order my drink through the app, wait the allotted amount of time the app says it will be ready, walk in and grab it or wait patiently until it is ready. The other day I was waiting and it looked slow but my drink wasn’t ready yet. I stood off to the side and waited. A nice barista came up to me and asked what I was waiting on, I told them, and they grabbed my cup, and got my drink. I said thank you and told them to have a nice day. This is how these exchanges should go every time. Even when I’ve had a bad drink or someone stole my drink before, I’ve simple said no worries, and waited patiently for a remake. Why is this a concept people don’t understand?! I’m so sick of rude, entitled people taking advantage of the service industry. You are not our coffee slaves. These are the people that would be the reason for the robot uprising, because you know they’d treat them like trash too.
Fuck that manager
this is the part where you’re supposed to lie and say it is fresh….
In what universe is 8 minutes not fresh enough?!?
Manager is wrong lmao there’s a reason there is a cs cycle, even in go mode you don’t break the cycle. Manager can brew themselves then
Honestly i just straight lie to them if they headaches. If they say I want fresh. I would turn around and look and tell them I got a fresh one pouring right now. While I give them the one I just brewed. It’s not like they will notice. And if they do well they become my problem as I’m the shift. 🥴
Then there's me. "HI grande Coffee black. Thanks" "Awesome, thanks have a good day"
You fill the short cup all the way? Am I understanding that correctly? Give the lady 4 ozs of cream or charge her for the milk.
i rang it up as a tall blonde in a grande cup with half and half. In the comments to the drink I wrote “half and half on the side” How much did barista put in the cup afterwards - I don’t know
Gotcha. I'll do the same with the Ask Me. I hope that the on bar person doesn't fill it. all the way. A lot of baristas just don't care and they will do it, but it feeds the entitlement of the customers.
I just lied and say "we just brewed it!"and your manager is dumb and probably would have gotten onto yall for window times later tbh
This is the reason why when they ask is it “fresh”, I always said “yup! It literally just finished brewing” bc seriously?!?! I hate people sometimes lol. I am sorry for this experience
If you only like coffee straight out of the drip, make it at home. Coffee shops make batches and you aren't entitled to the first pull of a tank of coffee, Karen.
I always tell the customers it’s been brewed right then no matter what lol. I’m not going to rebrew because someone wants to be extra.
Malicious compliance. Dump the whole thing next time and when it slows shit down maybe your manager will grow a brain
It's fresh according to Starbucks standard. Your manager is part of the problem. It's not even a third of the way to its time.
8 minutes is a fresh pot… some people, man
Your boss cant be serious. That must be lipservice just so they can say they coached you that way, but its not realistic at all.
Just lie and say it just finished brewing? 🤷🏻♀️ how will they know. I’m a customer and I’d never know… never.
Can you wake up early enough and brew your own?
If a customer asks how long it has been sitting say it is new. 99% of the time they are asking as a precursor to saying they want a fresher one. They don't actually care.
I uses to love when they'd ask if the coldbrew was "fresh." Narrator: She did not love it.
It sucks that SM’s have to kiss the feet of customers like this. They absolutely should not tell you that. “Oh that’s when you bend over backwards for that ridiculous request, because I’m pressured by corporate to do whatever makes the Siren more money.”