The mass proliferation of Starbucks has led to a shortage of quality baristas. I want my baristas to be completely jacked up and buzzed out on coffee when they’re serving me. It makes me feel like they know what they’re doing.
Starbucks has infiltrated a local grocery store chain in my area. I swear it seems they’ve moved some of the grocery store employees over from the meat department to start serving coffee.
I’ve asked a few of these new baristas if they could recommend a coffee from those brewed for that day. Not an outrageous question for a barista. I’ve had not one, but several of the disinterested baristas tell me they don’t like coffee so they can’t really tell me what’s good.
You cannot have a non-coffee drinker working at Starbucks. It doesn’t work.
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While I admit I don’t frequent Starbucks more than a couple times year (I prefer to support local coffee shops), I agree with you. If you are going to be working anywhere, you should know about the product you are selling or supporting. I don’t believe that you necessarily have to use that product, but you should know about it. The employees you mentioned could have said something to the effect of, “Several other customers commented that the Latin American Blend was great today.”
Honestly, I’m surprised that Starbucks would let this situation happen.
As an employee of Starbucks (and a fellow coffee lover) it pisses me off to no end when managers hire some little teeny bopper who thinks the extent of coffee is the caramel frappuccino that they are used to drinking. The worst though has to be the starbucks employees that work at stores that are inside the local grocery store because as you feared they are actually employees of the grocery store and not starbucks.
Stephanie on August 6th, 2007 at 5:02 pm | Link
I am a fellow Starbucks employee and I must agree with Stephanie on the stupidity of our managers hiring teeny boppers. It’s the managers who choose to hire these people who obviously know nothing about Starbucks, it’s goals, and most of all..the coffee. I started working for Starbucks about 3 yrs. ago and I’ve seen the company go down drastically, as far as customer service and knowledge goes. What ever happened to hiring quality workers? All they do now is hire staff at hand, and this results in hiring teeny boppers who just want a job to look “responsible”. I must say that there are a lot of people who work here who are very knowledgeable, but it all stems down to the management. The management needs to pick the right workers and train them well.
kudos to everyone who is about Starbucks’s way, and a big thumbs down to the others. And you wonder why Starbucks’ stocks are plumeting.
kai on July 28th, 2008 at 4:57 pm | Link
my mother is a big fan of starbuck until a recent event happened. She was standing in line waiting to ask for a refill on her ice coffee. The two employees make a facial gesture when my mother asked for a refill on her ice coffee. The feeling my mother got was there was alot of resistance because the two barristas were having a great conversation only to be interrupted by a senior citizen.
marian low on September 15th, 2008 at 10:07 pm | Link
I’ve worked for Starbucks before & if you do not like coffee, they will not hire you. Believe me. They probably meant they do not like the brewed coffee. If you ask me Starbucks brewed coffee, all of it, has a very bitter taste. I do not care for it whatsoever. The correct response would have been to ask if you like your coffee mild or bold. All Starbucks stores will brew three different coffees until 12:00 PM. That being mild, bold & decaf. After noon they no longer brew the bold because it’s not popular enough. It’s a waste of money to be brewing it. Besides it’s a reality that most of the customers can’t tell the difference. Heck, I can’t & I worked there for so long! I just thought they all tasted terribly bitter.
Big Hampton on October 10th, 2008 at 7:27 am | Link
I’m an employee at Starbucks. First off, not all Starbucks are the same. The Starbucks where I work is in an extremely busy train station, which means the lines are virtually non-stop. It’s practically all we can do to keep the coffee brewing and get the drinks made, while not running out of supplies. We try not to be rude, but try standing at a register almost non-stop for 6 and 1/2 hours, while dealing with a non-stop stream of impatient customers who demand that their croissants be warmed with 20 people standing behind them in line. I rarely get my 1/2 hour meal break. The customers are angry (not angry enough not to wait in line for 15 minutes to buy a ridiculous egg nog frappucino), the employees are angry, and really there’s nothing to be done about it. I can quit. I’m amazed at the crap people are willing to drink and the fact that they’re willing to pay $5 for it.
Jethro on December 26th, 2009 at 11:10 am | Link
Kai: “The Starbucks Way”? Apparently the “Starbucks Way” now includes selling instant coffee. And it’s not just that - take a look at the menu for crying out loud. I love coffee, brewed coffee, not a single shot of expresso overwhelmed by 16 ounces of sugary slop, and certainly not instant coffee. Starbucks’ brewed coffee is mediocre at best, if you happen to visit just after the urns have been cleaned. Most other times the coffee is flat-out subpar. Starbucks has more in common with the Shake Shack that it does a proper coffee bar.
Jethro on December 26th, 2009 at 11:21 am | Link
Excuse me, make that 2 shots of expresso overwhelmed by 16 ounces of sugary slop.
Jethro on December 26th, 2009 at 11:23 am | Link
I am an starbucks employee and I got to say there is some screwed up crap I have seen in my store since I started over a year ago. First, there was this 17 year old drama queen who got hired on a couple months after me who got two weeks off from work all because she ran away from home because she had trouble with her mom. Second, I know a girl who had friday nights off because her family did some get together and she had a hangover and proceeded to not show up for multiple shifts and she didn’t get a freaking word said to her. On the other hand I proceed to take on a double shift one day and I was tired and was hurting real bad so my shift sent me home 3 hrs before close knowing that there is not that much activity. The next day I get glares from hell and the boss stating ” we don’t have time to talk about last nite, but we will get to this soon enough”. WHAT THE F**K! I see all these unqualified stupid brats getting chance after chance and I’m possibly getting fired because I WAS GIVEN PERMISSION TO LEAVE??!! Starbucks really needs to take a good look at their employees or potential employees and figure out what is right and what is wrong material for the company. It sucks that our managers now don’t have the sense to do this.
nicole on May 18th, 2010 at 2:47 pm | Link
Please don’t generalize. Every store is going to be a little different. I work in a grocery-store Starbucks and have had countless customers write in to our management, praising me for being patient and knowledgeable. And no, I don’t drink Starbucks coffee. It is disgusting. But I do know what to say when a customer asks “what would you reccomend”. It isn’t that hard to lie about it. I understand some employees haven’t figured that out yet, but please don’t paint us all with the same brush.
Thanks.
anonymous on July 13th, 2010 at 4:00 pm | Link
Wow…Starbucks sounds like Jiffy Lube….numbers driven…desperate for “bodies” …..long hours…no recognition….the only thing I haven’t read about is employees exposing themselves or store managers banging guys in the bathroom…Jiffy Lube # 450 Pinebrook N.J. Rt. 46 West…
Joe Lonzello on July 28th, 2010 at 8:18 am | Link