Ever feel sometimes like Starbucks employees starting to have the same attitude as a McDonald's employee? I bring this up because I always got great and friendly service at Starbucks which is half the reason I go there. (The other half is for the white mochas and no one makes it better.) Lately when I go there I feel ignored by the barista. I put my order in and the barista forgets or doesn't acknowledge me when I try to tell her I haven't received my drink yet. On top of that, in the drive-thru sometimes they are not very informative on telling you what they have available and what they don't. I ordered an organic chocolate milk for my daughter and after waiting ten minutes in line, the cashier tells us they were out of the chocolate milk. Now maybe they ran out while I was waiting in line, but she already charged us for it and didn't bother to refund us. So I've been kind of disappointed with Starbucks and it's my favorite coffee. I hope they turn it around soon.
For the most part, I don't have issues with either Starbucks or McDonald's employees. I find that a lot of people take pleasure in looking down on McDonald's employees and then want to catch an attitude when the worker doesn't feel the amount of "shame" that they should have for working there. Once I've had an issue with a Starbucks employee and the next person took care of the situation and gave a free drink coupon, so even with that, I don't lump them all in and believe because they work at a particular place, they will have attitude. Perhaps, at a particular location, but not a particular job.
Hmmm. This is a very interesting comment. I have NEVER tried to make anyone feel bad for being a McDonald's employee, and I have never ever seen or had anyone who I have been with whilst they have ordered, try to make the employees feel shame for being a 'lowly' McDonald's employee either. But I do know that that is generally how society views McDonald's employees, because you know how society loves its pathetic hierarchy according to who earns the most money and whose job is the most glamorous. I have experienced more attitude from KFC employees to be honest though.
If you have a problem then take it up with the store manager. They will usually give you a coupon for a free drink the next time that you are there. The company as a whole is big on keeping customers happy. Don't let a few bad situations make you think that the whole company is "going down hill" because it isn't.
Honestly, it is a store-by-store issue in our town. I simply know which stores I like and which ones to avoid. There is one that I swear the barristas look and talk to customers like we're not worth picking gum off the bottom of their shoes. I know Starbucks is a decent job, and I know from college that it was a somewhat coveted job as far as "cool points" are concerned. But now that I'm in my 30s, with 4 kids, and married to an attorney, I often want to say, "You might work at Starbucks, but you pour coffee for a living." I guess that actually makes me just as bad. On the flip side, the starbucks closest to my house has such nice employees, I often go there just to feel better about a bad day. Now that good PR.
I have never really had an issue at either store. There are good days and bad days for us all. When I go to either store I get my order and move on, I am more concerned with the quality of my food than a persons attitude.
Well, I've been getting more and more annoying with how overpriced Starbucks is, so I honestly haven't been going there very much lately, but I definitely noticed the same where I live the last few times that we did go. Like you said, the friendly and engaging service was a nice plus to going there for a long time and it is just really falling short and lacking these days. The last time not only was the barista not all that helpful, but she was downright rude for no apparent reason. I understand having a rough day or whatever, but you don't need to take it out on customers who are being polite to you. It's disappointing to see customer service quality go down like that.
In such cases, the store isn't really the one to blame as much as the attitude of the employee. People are different from one another, and it just so happened that you came across the one with an attitude. If I were you, I'd just go to another Starbucks branch to avoid the lousy service until those employees end their contract.
I don't like Starbucks and what they epitomize, though the times I've had to go and meet people there for meetings out of convenience I've never been impressed by the products or service. Service does vary from place to place, but these days it seems like a checkout counter people getting the order and them moving onto the next customer without looking at you. It's a job, but buying coffee is not longer an experience, but something to buy and go and you figure out where to pick up the coffee and where to get the sugar. Then there is no one to ask if something is wrong, as you try to make eye contact with anyone!
Do they have several new employees at that shop? It sounds like the kind of mistakes and miscommunications that happen when people are new to the job or the location and just don't have the flow of things figured out yet. I don't like Starbucks myself because I feel they are more expensive than the independent shops and their coffees don't taste as good as the independent shops. I have not noticed a service issue though, except that the Starbucks in my town is right next to the college campus and therefore extremely busy, which makes good service rather challenging.
I do not care much about employees' attitude and I have never had any issue with either McDonald's or Starbucks. I am more concerned with the quality of my food than a person's attitude. However, I expect I will get better services at Starbucks because of the price. Therefore, I do not buy very often at the Starbucks. I feel they are a bit expensive. Probably it is also a store-by-store issue too. I find myself tend to visit some stores and avoid others. They are the same chains of stores but they are different in many aspects in reality.
I had thought that most people had sensed some sort of attitude from McDonald's, even if it was small. Lol. Most of the people that I talk to have. It has gotten to the point where it is a known thing for fast food restaurant staff to be rude. I think that people just assume that they are in that job because they are desperate and don't really want to be there, hence the rude and snappish impatient attitude. I don't go into Starbucks enough to have ever experienced anyone be rude with me though. I would think that the customers would be more rude, because you know how people get about needing their coffee.
I'm not dissing McDonald's employees by any means. I've just had bad service there from time to time and Starbucks has been falling under the same attitude. I won't stop going there because a couple bad employees, but if this is something that continues than maybe Oprah should start paying them more. Yeah they make coffee for a living, but someone has to do it.
Generally, I haven't had bad service at Starbucks. I have run into individual people who probably shouldn't be working with the public. I chalk it up to an individual problem over a company problem. If I consistently run into problem employees at multiple stores and different times, then I consider it to be a customer problem.
I don't have any problems with how the service is at Starbucks. I've always received much better service there than I do at McDonalds. The staff is usually courteous and respectful. I can't think of one time I've been tempted to complain to management. That says a lot about the quality of service that is usually there. Sorry about your situation, though.
Do you go to the exact same Starbucks store every time that you hot a Starbucks store??? I have been to a couple, depending on where I am. There are a few Starbucks stores in my town, and in the next town, which is a little bigger than my local town. So if you get bad service from one, you can just pop down to the other and hope that the employees aren't as angry and unhappy down the road lol.
Just an isolated case, probably, buddy. I've never had any problems with Starbucks and McDonald's peeps. Or in any other cafe or fastfood for that matter. To me, they're all the same. Some would be really friendly and smile and all that. Some would just talk and walk like a robot.
I've had them give my coffees to someone else in line, then when I went to pick up my drinks at the counter they said "Oops, someone else must have picked them up." It does kind of seem like they don't care, but I don't go there that often anyway because for the cost of one drink there I can buy an entire bag of coffee and make it at home.
It has happened in several different places. It wasn't awful service, there just seemed to be a lack of communication and consideration. I realize they get busy and it's hard to keep track of things so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. It just seems to happen more often than it used to and before they were always on top of things. Even their mistakes.
Sorry to hear that Gin. Has this happened at one location or multiple locations? If it's just one location I guess you could try to avoid it if there are multiple Starbucks options in your town. It's possible that the one you seem to frequent a lot just has bad management or has a lot of newer workers. There are a lot of factors that could be at play.
