If there was an alternative universe where everything was opposite then this Starbucks would be awesome. As it stands, however, we are not in an alternative universe and this Starbucks is probably the worst Starbucks I have ever been in. It just goes to show that for every best place there has to be a worst place too.
Where to start? Well for a company who's main goal is to peddle as much caffeine as possible it seemed as though none of their employees knew that or had ever even heard of caffeine. In fact it seemed like a prerequisite to even work at this location was to take ample amounts of Valium or Quaalude's. I have never seen a Starbucks in which it seemed that the employees did not drink their own Kool-Aide.
The two baristas who worked behind the bar seemed more interested in their own conversations that the line of 7 people waiting to place their order, not to mention the queue of 10 people waiting for their order to be finished. The guy who ran the register while sporting a stylish "taxi driver" mohawk seemed more interested in the potential cougar customer he was flirting with about his haircut than actually taking people order or money. When he finally did take my order he talked like a cassette tape that had been stretched over the years. He didn't make any sense and he did so very slowly.
I have actually been in a Starbucks (Carytown - 3555 West Cary St. Richmond, Virginia) in which the line was literally out the door and I placed my order and received my drink in less than 3 minutes. This location at Twin Hickory was not even close. There were seriously maybe 8 of us in the store and took me almost 20 minutes to receive my drinks.
By the way if you are asking yourself why I didn't walk out like I am sure you would have, well then I wouldn't be able to review it would I?
On top of all of this, they messed up the coffee order AND it tasted like crap. So let review.
The Good - It is rare, but I really can not think of anything that was good abut the store or the experience other than a fellow patron complimenting me on my Greyhounds that were outside with my wife.
The Bad - Well the main one would be the staff who didn't seem to be interested in being there or in doing a good job. They did seem, however, like they would be a good source of information if I ever wanted to act like a zombie. The ordering process was a complete joke. There was no redundant "call back" of what I ordered, thus allowing the order to be interpreted instead of being made the way I had paid for. The girls making the drink just seemed like they didn't want to be there.
The store itself was in horrible condition. It reminded me of a McDonalds after a breakfast rush from a tour bus. Newspaper was strewn everywhere. The consumer items where all over the place, and the "fixin's bar" was an utter mess with spilled sugar and wet material. I did not even venture into the bathroom to see how clean it was. I could only imagine.
The outside of the store was tidy, however. The area around the store was clean and void of trash and butts. I will have to give them that.
I just can not emphasize how horrible of an experience this was when compared to the large number of other Starbucks in the area and how they conduct their business.
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4 comments:
Work at a Starbucks during a rush and then perhaps you can actually have some clout to judge a location. As it stands, you're speaking from a very limited standpoint and have placed most of the blame on the baristas. Granted, they have their issues at times but judging a store entirely from a customer standpoint (during what sounds like a "rush", no less) is pretty ridiculous. What you think is reasonable/feasible/right is without regard for what is the actual reality of the situation behind the scenes. The location seems to be chronically understaffed, so the problems you describe could be fixed with more people on the floor working (not having enough people to fill demand will make any Starbucks crumple under the slightest pressure). Consider that each person waiting or ordering does not translate neatly into one simple, easy to make drink and your eight-person scenario is further complicated.
Regarding the mellowed baristas, take into consideration that by the time you come into a location in the morning there's a great possibility that at least a hundred customers have come through the doors asking for something. Thinking in a slightly different way, the barista is just one person for those hundreds of people, so it's certainly a wearying job. While you may not get into a Starbucks until 9am, the baristas are there thirty minutes before open, meaning they wake up even earlier (in most locations this means being there by five on weekdays). I don't know what you expect out of Starbucks employees, but the job will certainly take it out of you. For some reason an idea has been built up that all Starbucks employees are supposed to be hyped up on caffeine and be glowing with positivity, ready to take your order and make you glow just as much by being touched by their personality if not by the caffeine that is to come. However, caffeine is not magic and, again, the job will wear you down. If all Starbucks customers functioned under a "give some to get some" sort of mentality (certainly not referring to money but rather positivity) and didn't just expect a hand out in terms of personality then they would, most likely, be much better rewarded. One after the other grumbly, rude, "I need my coffee" customers will definitely ruin any barista's glow. When a customer actually decides to make a connection with a barista and show that they care about them as a human instead of a register/espresso-machine-jockey then it's not strange for a barista to go out of their way to be nice to them, especially if they are a regular. It sounds more like this is the case with the mohawk barista more so than flirting and shirking responsibility while snubbing the other customers in line. In a similar vein, when a customer strikes up a conversation, it's an art form trying not to upset them (lest they blog all about their feelings when they get home) by not responding in favor of making things move much quicker. A barista cannot just make a customer shush and walk away. Rather they have to use a lot of finesse in keeping it short but enjoyable while not trying to upset all the people in line who are, most likely, already on edge or grumbly and looking for a scapegoat for their issues before they even enter a Starbucks.
One could go on and on about the problems with your post from a Starbucks perspective, but the real problem seems to be your attitude. The service doesn't upset you. Your expectations cause you to become upset. It doesn't sound like you've spent a lot of time in the service industry nor any time as a barista, so it's not surprising you would have a blog about how you feel about service at a given Starbucks. Certainly there are better, more important things to blog about...global climate change, overpopulation, suburban sprawl...the list goes on and on. One has to seriously wonder how empty your life is that you end up spending your time blogging about how you feel about a given store. I've been in that Starbucks location surely enough times to get to know the baristas and I can say that there is a lot more to some of them than meets the eye. Some can be talkative and not so attentive at times, but to quickly form your own ideas of a situation and to so openly bash a barista for actually catering to a customer is ridiculous. The barista in question (now with a mohawk) has had conversations with me when I've brought up topics and I'm male, so unless he's tremendously bisexual and was actually hitting on me on those occasions then I would say you need to reconsider your analysis of the situation. He seems to be a nice and genuine guy, so being nice to a female does not necessarily mean flirting. I know we certainly have enough female, middle-aged regulars coming into "my" Starbucks. Being nice to customers is part of the job, so grow up. This isn't gradeschool. It's Starbucks.
In short:
*Put forth an effort to be human with your Starbucks employees or you have no right to complain about them not being super-fun and hyperactive. They're human beings, not a 7-11 machine that pumps out a "latte." It's human to get tired of the rude customers day after day, so here's your chance to be that much more courteous, compassionate, and understanding.
(Granted there are some very few baristas that actually might warrant one of your scathing reviews, I can say with confidence your view is quite lopsided here)
*Not all people are nice, clean, or considerate, but don't blame employees for the mess made by customers who think that they are at home and will be cleaned up after by their maids. Starbucks employees are not your mom and will get around to cleaning up when there are hands free for the task but, again, if you don't have enough baristas at a location then you cannot get anything but the bare minimum done (crucial tasks to keep the store running and to keep drinks flowing at whatever pace).
Keeping this in mind is probably too much to ask and I have no ideas of this actually changing your mindset. It would certainly be best not only for Starbucks employees but especially for yourself if you altered your perception, but I figured I would at least offer the perspective of someone more in the know than you for fairness.
From a osting on craigslist, it seems that this particular Starbucks is trying to fill a couple of positions. I was thinking of applying myself, but after that scathing review, I'm not sure that this location would be a good fit for me. I am someone who's worked at a Starbucks during rush and I find that serving hundreds of cranky "I need my coffee NOW!" customers is no excuse for laziness, zombie-ness, or not-wanting-to-be-there-ness.
Many of the problems you've spotted at this location are, unfortunately, caused by customers. The inconsiderate nature of customers is what causes stores (any store, not just Starbucks and not just food retail) to look unclean. Spilled food, disheveled magazines, empty cups and wet napkins left on tables, chairs strewn about all over. Sometimes it looks like 5 customers must have caused a tornado. We get paid to clean such messes, but priority goes to customers in line to order. If the mohawk-boy had been busy wiping down tables, you'd probably complain that no one was manning the register. If guests took a tiny moment to push in their chair when they leave or return their newspaper to the table in the corner or be a little more careful with the sugar and cream, the store would look much neater all the time.
Although this store may have been like this in the past, it has been over 2 years since that and the store has made a complete 180. There is now a competent staff who cares about their customers. Yes, some of the staff are better than others, but overall, this store is one of, if not the best in the area.
Bunch of whinny, I want it now and to hell with everyone else yuppies complaining about the same!!
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