I've basically come to the end of my rope with Starbucks. What used to be the Cadillac of coffee, is now the McDonalds of convenience. With any store or service you will run into great employees, and horrible ones. People that always have a smile on their face, to people who frown at every sunny day. This consistent inconsistency of employee attitudes is not my problem with the bucks, that's the person not the company. My issue with the coffee shop is with how "non-bucks" it has become.
The hand-crafted drinks they promise to remake until they are exactly how YOU ordered it, are now just any other thing that can be mass manufactured from an assembly line. I blame this on two things. One being that us as customers can sometimes be way too impatient, and way too needy. Less compromising, less kind to the person in front or behind us, and easy to jump on any drink that hops on the counter, even though it is obvious to everyone else that yours is up about ten drinks later. The one with no foam, not extra foam. Perhaps us customers should really slow down and listen. The second thing is that I feel the philosophy of the entire company has changed. This may be a totally jaded opinion, but it feel it none the less. Starbucks almost used to be like a get away. Like a special treat. Not mass manufactured. I have used that saying twice now because to me it feels like the drinks come with no love, no care, no uniqueness, just the name. Perhaps this view is partly because we as a whole have just become an entire coffee nation. With any ol shop popping up on any open corner. Not just Starbucks. Maybe the entire coffee culture has become too regular, too much of our everyday. But then again I don't think this is entirely true because people have been drinking coffee forever, and they are still drinking it. What Starbucks did was create an atmosphere, and thing about it. They created a culture for better coffee, for the elite of coffee. They taught us to expect the best, and not settle for less with our espresso. So, because of this I feel like my complete disappointment is warranted. If they had not made a to do about it in the first place I would have no reason to be disappointed, but when you teach your customers something, then start to not believe in it or deliver it yourself, you can expect to be dropped.
I am not bashing Starbucks by any means, but this comes from trends I have seen with them in the past few years. They have closed shops for barista training. Offered incentives for customers. Tried to bump up their customer service. Closed shops for good and fired employees. I feel like they are trying to get back to their roots, but are failing. For one it starts with hiring the right people. Not just any joe blow that walks off the street. I appreciate that they are an equal opportunity employer, and that they provide benefits for part time employees, but that does not mean management should settle for less than best service. Be fair, but be right. I have ran into really great baristas and really frustrated baristas. Baristas who almost make you feel as though they are doing you a favor by getting you what you ask for. Then baristas who are so very sweet they will go over and above to make sure you have a great experience. There are people on either ends of the spectrum in every industry, everywhere. But, to a company that seems to pride itself on being the best, I would expect that they keep a better handle on who they hire to represent them.
For a long time it was hard for me to go to any place else besides Starbucks, but now I almost never want to go there. I guess it is all up to preference. And since exploring other coffee shops around I have found many other great places to get my morning kick. What sparked me in writing this was the other morning I went into Starbucks. I wanted a Grande, NF, Sugar-free Vanilla Latte. Not that hard of a request compared to others i've overheard. The girl behind the counter in the forrest green apron said, a skinny? I said, a NF, SF Vanilla Latte. She said, we call them skinny here. Uhm, excuse me? First of all, I have been coming to this particular shop forever now, and since when do they call this drink that I get everytime a skinny? And even so, I don't care. You know what I want, write it on the cup, punch it in, and make it. It doesn't matter to me what you call it behind the bar to make it easier to make, call it skinny, call it fat, I don't care, but do not try and correct me. If they want people to know the new lingo then they should print an enormous billboard over the shop that says, please order like this, other wise we will not serve you, we will make you feel stupid that you don't know how to order our insanely difficult beverages. Whatever happened to the customer is always right. It's not like I said, "Hey, coffee, now, in one of those medium sized cups, with half hazelnut, 3 packets sugar, and one teaspoon non-fat milk." I was nice, said please and thank you, and would expect the same from you.
This had never happened to me before, so Im assuming they had a meeting and got talked to by their manager saying they really wanted everyone to try and use the "correct" ordering lingo. This is all fine and well, but there is no need to be an ass about it. Just in case you find yourself in this same predicament google "Starbucks Lingo" and you will be overwhelmed with what you find.
I admit anything can get old after awhile, especially if you have it a lot. Change is good. Maybe I am being to harsh. Or, maybe not.