Enter Karen at Starbucks
Karens make Miss Swan look like a damn cakewalk!
It’s a known fact that many Starbucks connoisseurs, both women, and men, can tend to be a bit of a “Karen” type customer. I guess another way of putting it is that customers can be entitled as fuck! People always think that customers are liked or disliked because of the specifications for their drink. WRONG! Baristas are trained to make anything! It’s pretty much the same as ordering a cocktail at a bar. Specifications are just details to include in a drink. It’s not the order people! It’s the damn pissy, snide, rude, and straight-up entitlement that customers portray that make baristas want to jump over the counter, rip their heads off and shit down their throats!
Personal example: A woman is immediately welcomed into the store while entering through the front door. No response. No eye contact. You are a pile of shit that is only good for one thing…to make their drink. I don’t feel like this is a horrible crime. It’s not difficult for someone to be courteous enough to reply, but it’s not a requirement that may determine if they are going to be an asshole or not. There was a line of around 5 people and 2 baristas taking orders and ringing people up. In other words, baristas have been deployed to their positions and obviously, there is nothing more either barista can do to move the line along quicker.
Now yes, the turnover rate at Starbucks is extremely high. There is always someone in training. I can guarantee you that person is nervous as fuck and freaking out about everything they have to remember. There’s working the POS system which includes every specification possible on multiple, labeled screens that make no sense, there’s cash handling and then there’s the big one, making drinks.
It took me over a year to build up the courage to apply at Starbucks. I didn’t drink Starbucks coffee unless I got a Frappuccino on a Friday or for a special occasion. The thought of looking at the menu and having to know how to make all of the drinks is terrifying. When I started, there were no stickers that would print out with the drink order and specifications. We had to write everything using the option boxes on the side of the cup. This meant we had to remember the drink acronyms for every drink! Overwhelming much? I made flashcards and used to go to Denny’s every morning before or after my shift to study. I’m not sure remembering shit in college or even high school was as annoying as this! You don’t know how to make the drink, but need to know how to write the drink info on the cup.
So yes, there may be a line and a new person trying their best to take orders. Chill out! You saw the length of the line and could most likely see the speed of service being provided. Customers have the option of waiting in line or taking their impatient ass somewhere else. Or, this never happens…go without! So being impatient and annoyed because you had to wait in line is only taking up time that could be used to get your drink made.
This woman probably waited 3 minutes in line to get to the front. She had to greet the barista with a, “Finally” comment because that’s gonna make someone want to be courteous and help you out even more. Think people! It’s called a filter! Many need to put on in place! The woman spouts out, “I want my regular” to the barista at the register. Seriously? This person has obviously never taken your order before and you expect her to know what your “regular” is? Once again…seriously? The barista did her best to get the order in as the woman spit it out as quickly as possible making it almost impossible for the girl to get into the register. She pays and as she walks away, the barista says, “Thank you.” The woman responded with, “Yeah.”
The woman stepped in front of everyone else waiting for their drink at the handoff plane. She felt the need to hover over the barista making her drink to ensure that her drink is made correctly. Now, I understand wanting your drink to be made correctly. Shit! You just paid $6 for it! It damn well better be delicious! Totally understandable! But hovering and walking the barista through making a drink that actually wasn’t even hers, was quite annoying.
It got worse. I saw the situation happening and told the barista to take their time and concentrate. As I walked away, the woman snapped her fingers at me and yelped out, “Excuse me. Hey you!” I looked back, made eye contact with her, turned back around, and walked away. Here’s my mindset. I wasn’t getting paid anywhere near enough, if there was even an amount of money that I would have dealt with for that, and I was over it. The supervisor on the floor watched everything that had happened. No, I know that’s not the way I should have handled it, BUT, for me at Starbucks, because the level of rudeness could get extremely ridiculous, I had made a decision that there were situations that I needed to deal with, ones I needed to walk away from and let management deal with since that’s their job and things that were worth getting fired over. This one wasn’t that, but I did feel that me walking away was probably the best way for me to handle things, given the situation. Customer service-wise, not the best option. For the woman’s safety and for me to keep quiet without commenting, most def the best course of action to take.
I didn’t hang around to see what happened after that. I really didn’t care. I did feel bad for the barista that had to make her drink and be friendly to, because no matter what the situation is while in that position, you have to put on your happy-go-lucky face and attitude and just become everyone’s little bitch if need be. I hated making drinks. Surprise, surprise I know.
Whatever you want, we can do. So be nice to your barista!
