drowning in greece

If everyone could take a moment to keep him in your hearts and thoughts, William Davis, a cafe server from #2992 died suddenly this weekend. I don't have all the details yet (waiting on an email back from my old SM), but he was a great guy and a wonderful coworker.

( Weird question for mommy/baristas )

 Best moment of my day.

My DTO was taking and order and all of a sudden I heard some outbursts from the people near the monitor for the drive thru.  After the interaction was over, I went to see what had happened.  The girl had been in the passenger seat, leaning over to say her order. Apparently her shirt was rather low cut and she was practically hanging out of it. As if that wasn't absurd enough, the guy driving the car then started GROPING HER while she was talking. 

Major kudos to my DTO for keeping it together. He also wins for best possible comment in the situation. 

Me: I kind of want to tell them we have a camera. Like "um, we can see you, dude."

Him: Or: "You want me to use that milk to make your latte?"

Everyone on the floor burst into laughter at the exact same moment, and thank GOD the DT window was closed. Oh dear... what a stupid day.

Honestly, I don't know why I let these things surprise me anymore (let's blame it on all the sleep I've been not getting lately in this case).

BARISTA: Hi! What can I get for you today? *smiles*
CUSTOMER: What's your bold today?
BARISTA: Today our Bold Pick of the Day is Thanksgiving Blend, which is really g---
CUSTOMER: [interrupting] Is it bold?
BARISTA: Yes, ma'am!
CUSTOMER: Is that a new thing?
BARISTA: Well, we have it every year, but this year we've only been offering it since the beginning of this week, so I guess it's fairly new.
CUSTOMER: [long, awkward pause] Okay, I suppose I'll try it.
BARISTA: Sure thing!

No, it's not actually bold. I just gave it as an answer when you asked what our bold was today TO CONFUSE YOU, BECAUSE I'M MEAN LIKE THAT.

Mainly for the baristas who work in licensed/ 'we proudly brew' stores...
Do you brew Terraza for your iced coffee, and brew it at double strength?
It seems that every time I go to a Tarbux or other non-corporate 'bux my iced coffee is super weak, and also doesnt have the same taste as the Terraza.
Not really complaining, but just curious.

Side note: saw a button on our POS yesterday for Marble Loaf...I havent seen it in ages!! Is marble loaf coming back?!

So, on my break now but just wanted to share a story that just happened.

We opened our drive bar because we got slammed, and in the process got a little mixed up, our bar wouldn't open and pull shots.  It was a huge mess.  So, we have a bunch of cars waiting and we get a phone call.

Moi:  Mr. Observant Idiot
Me:  Me.

Me:  Hey! Thanks for calling Starbucks! I am arfinator.  How are you doing??
Moi: Hi, we are calling from your drive through and we've been waiting here for like 6 minutes, could you guys like speed it up?
Me:  Ummm, yeah.
*hangs up*

What was that?  Like seriously?  Do you really think that because you called you are going to get through faster.  I mean we were standing around and moving at the pace of snails until you called, but seriously.  I don't get customers sometimes.

I wish that I had said something like, well, because you called you actually are making yourself wait a little longer because instead of making drinks, I'm now talking to you.

So, I made an Iced Quad Venti Soy Caramel Bruleé Latte, today, for my partner beverage.

And I subsequently had a buxgasm alllllllll over the lobby.  It was soooooooooo ridiculously good.

I wanted to share and see if anyone else had any delicious holiday concoctions that they want to share.  :-))

I have four weeks at most to get "immediate and consistent" results for Member Card numbers, email captures, and gift card sales, or I'm gone at Barnes & Noble.

Yep. I may get fired in 4 weeks because no one wants to buy a Member card for $25 (um... economy still sucks) and people are paranoid about giving out email addresses (they don't want more spam!), and no one's thinking of getting gift cards yet because it's just November or they're going the cheap gift route this year (see aforementioned economy note).

Never mind that I've put in 4 years of my life into this job. This job has driven me insane (literally, there's a file somewhere), caused insomnia, mental breaks, anxiety attacks, and depressive states, but I still came back after every episode because I love my job. I love helping people find books, telling them about my favorite authors and books, and seeing the joy on a little kid's face when they get their own book in their own bag and carry it out of the store. Never mind my great customer service skills, dedication to the company, rapport with customers and fellow employees. Never mind that.

I may not have a job in 4 weeks because I can't get the insane percentage of Member card transactions corporate has declared we must get in this economic sh*tstorm. And never mind that one week were I got  .97% I was on customer services and barely touched the register.

Whatever. Fire me and the numerous other employees at my store who do their job well and get it done right, who are trustworthy and have been with the company for 1+ years. Fire them and hire people who may or may not live up to what you demand out of your employees. An interesting note: Out of the last crew we hired for the summer, I think only 4 stayed? And we had hired about 7-10? A lot of them just stopped showing up for work, or just didn't hack it for some reason. Yeah. Have fun hiring about 15 new people and keeping maybe 6? Maybe. That's a nice gamble my store, and Barnes & Noble, likes to play. I hope all those new hires work out (sense my bitter fiery sarcasm?).

So yeah. F**k you, Barnes & Noble. I'm going to hit up Target and see if they're hiring. Because I sure as hell know I can't meet those insane standards for numbers they believe we can get. No matter what new way I phrase the same old questions, I won't get that Member card. No one wants to spend extra money now. I hope my store laments firing me, and I know they will.

The majority of my experiences with LC stores have been, unfortunately, less-than-stellar. The good ones I do find seem to make up for all the shenanigans perpetuated by those pretenders to the Starbucks throne, though. So a big shout-out to the baristas in the Narita Airport in Tokyo, for making a 6+ hour layover (before a 14 hour flight) MUCH better than it could have been. Arigato gozaimasu for a great experience...and an EXCELLENT dry cappucino!

Thanks also to a store in Richmond, KY, though I don't know what the store number is. I just know that it was really fun to be able to show off my Siren and talk Sbux with a partner who really cares about their job and understands why I cling on to this place like a barnacle. My 2/3 decaf triple tall pumpkin spice Americano was HEAVENLY and I'm sad that it's the only one I'm going to get for a long, long time (my next trip to the mainland will be in July and I don't have any other trips planned for a while after that).

ETA: The "pretenders to the throne" remark specifically refers to the lousy LCs, not LCs overall. I know there's plenty of you lot here who are amazing baristas at these stores. :)

I had a strange interaction today with a customer. I came back from the restroom to find that my coworker had already rung this man up and was just finishing his drink. The guy was staring daggers at the drink being made, then when he noticed me he stared at me so intently that I was immediately uncomfortable and asked if he had been helped just to have a excuse to walk away.

So my coworker finishes the drink, which looked like he made a tall mocha with no whip, and he lids but the weird dude interrupts, "wait, where's the chocolate?" Mind you, he had watched the entire drink-making process so my coworker was a little confused and replied "oh, it's already in there, man." dude: "but i didn't see you put it on top?" barista: "oh, you want chocolate drizzle on top?" dude: "um, yeah, however mcdonald's makes it...you know, they grind it up and pour the stuff in and then put chocolate in it."

At that point we just drizzled it and sent him on his way asap. Does anyone have any idea what he was talking about? I've never gotten any of mcdonald's drinks before so I don't know how they do it but I wouldn't be surprised if this guy is just crazy or something because he was acting very odd.

BTW, I effing despise the McD ad I referenced in the title.

Ok, so I'm going to the apple store soon to and hopefully purchasing an ipod as a gift for my mummy. Is there any way to still receive my discount if i've lost my partner perks card??

.. and does anyone know exactly how much the discount is, so I can attempt to budget this?

Hello!
I have had this solo tumbler for ages!
Just recently, I dropped the lid in the parking lot and it was demolished!
I am looking for a new lid.
Anyone have a solo lid I could buy off of them?
I believe that the lids were the same among all the Aroma Solo tumblers styles.
Thanks!
_kate

A previous post just got me thinking: 

1)  Can a manager schedule you outside of your availability and expect you to work?

2)  If you are usually available to work Tuesdays, for example, but your mark one off in the request book, can you manager schedule you?

Thanks!

I came across a binder today that was labed with my store number and titled "Store Closeout (insert unreadable word). This binder was not intended for me to see, so I couldnt investigate. Any ideas?

i haven't posted anything here in a very long time, and i will probably never post anything relevant to myself here again because so much has gone on in my starbucks-related life that the only option i would have would be to channel my inner Michael Gates Gill and write a book. thats not the point of this post.

anyone here read mylifeisaverage.com ?

did anyone read this:

"Today I bought a drink from Starbucks. After taking the first sip I glance at the cup which says "Careful, the beverage you're about to enjoy is extremely hot." I ordered a caramel iced mocha. Guess who got a refund because I pointed out the false advertisement? MLIA."

my head is so close to exploding that i can't even finish this post.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_a7jkcMVp5Vg/Suz8HL7tXsI/AAAAAAAAKM8/7KsTdS5aPp8/s1600-h/shit.jpg

I am having touble getting the image in here, but it's worth checking out.


Too funny! 

There was an an action item yesterday about not using used paper/plastic cups for re-fills. We are now to give people a new cup and still give them the refill price and is being cited as a health code violation.

Is this just in Oregon or everywhere?

Hey Baristas! Holiday drink day began with our staff unable to locate any of the recipe cards. Our SM didn't even tell us these were beginning until yesterday! Ugh. Anyway, I'd love to get these committed to memory, so would y'all help me out?

Needing Recipes (and drink markings!) for:

Hot & Iced Gingerbread Latte**
Hot & Iced Eggnog Latte**
Hot & Iced Caramel Brûlée Latte (i know it didn't start today but i'd like to know in advance)

Also you guys with the Fresh-For-You Frappuccinos, did you get recipe cards for gingerbread coffee frap, gingerbread crème frap, caramel brûlée coffee frap, and caramel brûlée crème frap? Hopefully I can find someone out there with these; FFYFrap info is always a pain the ass to locate. Do you guys think we could even make an eggnog frappuccino? I wonder if there's a recipe for that.

**footnote: i'm mainly interested in number of pumps and what the toppings are - you don't need to go into super detail about # of shots, type of milk, etc.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, GUYS! Holiday cups have come too soon...

Today, a customer pulled in DT. And then had to rearrange her car for a solid minute to get to the ordering box. Always a good sign.

Customer: I WANT A MOCHA VENTI [unintelligible yammering]
Me: I'm sorry, I'm having a little trouble hearing you. Was that a Venti Mocha?
Customer: NO.
Me: I'm sorry, could you repeat that for me?
Customer: I WANT A MOCHA COFFEE [unitelligible yammering] TALL
Me: Was that a tall mocha?
Customer: NO.
Me: I'm sorry ma'am, could you pull up to the window? I'm having a lot of trouble hearing you.

So she pulls up to the window and our lovely dialogue continues.

Me: So sorry about that. What can I get for you?
Customer: A mocha venti coffee tall.
Me: Okay, was that a tall or a venti mocha?
Customer: No, a TALL. mocha. venti. coffee. tall. With mint.
Me: Ohhh, okay. You wanted a tall peppermint mocha?
Customer: A TALL mocha minty coffee. With both syrups.
Me: Okay, sorry about that. A tall peppermint mocha. I'll get that right out for you.

Throughout the whole exchange at the window, she was rolling her eyes and talking to me like I'm a moron. I love that. Despite the fact that by what she ultimately ordered, you'd think she wanted a brewed coffee with peppermint and mocha, I opted for the more likely peppermint mocha based on her total incompetence at ordering. She didn't complain at the price or the drink that was handed out, so ultimate success to me. Yay. Boooo stupid condescending customer.

Also, yesterday was like Idiot's Day or something. We had someone come through our drive thru backwards. And then they were upset that we wanted them to turn around. Really? And about 10 people magically showed up at the window without ever even setting off the li'l *gong* on our headsets, and then being pissy at us for not providing uber-prompt service when we didn't know they were there.

I head today that there have been three store closers...is that true?...and if yes, why did they close ?....