Starbucks — Restaurant in Hamilton

I have a story to share.

At first I thought of not going to Starbucks but Walmart. Then I changed my mind and that was a bad choice. But on hindsight, perhaps it wasn’t. Please let me explain. I went to various Starbucks locations in Canada and other countries. Wherever I went, I was satisfied with the service. Today I got into a strange situation, which made feel like i was in a twilight zone. When I entered the store at 2 PM, it was not crowded. There were around 5-6 employees working. I was next in line as one customer was served before me, then suddenly all four staff members just stared at me without offering a greeting or asking for my order. Awkward for 2 mins. Then a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair came over, and she appeared to be very confused with simple questions.

I was occupied with work, so I quickly found a table to sit at. Twenty minutes later, I suddenly realized I hadn't heard my order being called out. The store became very crowded during this period. Then it occurred to me that the cashier never requested my name. Currently, there were multiple clusters of children and office workers gathered around the limited area. I headed directly to the drink preparation area, only to find that my food had been carelessly thrown around. I inquired with the barista who informed me that I could take the drink, but it didn't have a name on it. Initially, I felt like throwing it at her, but after some consideration, I decided to discard it in the trash instead.

What I have come to understand about this location is that it is a mess: dirty, employees frivolous at work and they don’t care about customers. However, there is more to it. There is racism in the business. If you paid attention to the reviews, the customers who got disrespected the most are immigrants. And the way these female workers in Starbucks looked at me today represented the attitude of the owner of this store. There are a couple of issues with this business.

1- the employees are open and friendly with the regulars (aka white folks) meanwhile they disregarded me. It was just, as I can see, closed mindedness. 2- I stayed for an hours or so just to examine and finally had accurate conclusions. I realized that this location is oddly busy. In a span of an hour they had probably close to 40 plus customers. However, going back to the issue of close-mindedness, having a customer base does not mean they reject different target market with come with various variations. Speaking based off my experience, new customers only see lack of professionalism and ineffectiveness when they arrive. These employees appeared to be unsure of how to interact with new customers. I believe that there should be some training conducted in this place.

I own multiple businesses, one of which is a franchise that specializes in food and coffee. I will be devastated if my employees treat customers in this manner.

In the pics, the middle aged lady with blond long hair didn’t work much in the front. She went to the back & disappeared after taking my order. The curly haired guy talked the most. But didn’t interact with customers. He simply talked about himself & everything centred around him. The younger blond staff seemed to be the nicest.

These “friendly” employees should see how Starbucks staff work in...

Terrible customer service. I placed a mobile order while waiting in the drive-thru line with about six cars ahead of me. The app gave me a pickup time of 25 minutes. When I got to the speaker and let them know I had just placed a mobile order a few minutes earlier, I was told I might have to wait. I don’t mind waiting, but I don’t understand why placing a mobile order would make the wait longer than if I had just ordered at the speaker. In fact, by ordering ahead, I gave them about 4 minutes more notice than I would have otherwise. When I got to the window, I waited another 5 minutes—long, but I didn’t complain. Then, when the employee handed me my drink, she said (rudely), “It would be appreciated if you could’ve given more notice on your order next time.” I asked, genuinely curious, how that would be any different than just ordering at the speaker. She explained that mobile orders are placed in a completely separate queue now, as part of a new Starbucks policy. Frankly, this policy makes no sense. If anything, mobile ordering should be more convenient for both staff and customers, not less. Orders should be sorted based on when customers arrive at the speaker, like at McDonald's. I've never had issues there. While I feel for the employees having to work under such a frustrating system, it’s not the customer's responsibility to adapt to a flawed policy. If I had actually placed my order 25 minutes ahead like she suggested, then sat in a 20-minute line (like I did yesterday), I’d be furious by the time I got to the window. That said, shoutout to the friendly man this initially greeted me at the window who asked about my weekend—he was kind and represented the level of customer service I’ve come to expect from Starbucks. I’m not writing this out of anger or pettiness. This happened hours ago, and I was polite the entire time. I just want to spread awareness about how frustrating this policy is. I’ve seen other reviews mention it too, so I hope Starbucks listens and makes...

I come to this Starbucks location almost everyday and order my usual order which is the Americano. I would like to say that Bree has exceptional customer service. She always has positive energy, always smiling, super nice and even on the days she's not working at the window she will always come and say "hi" to me and leave a note on my cup. I usually get my order at the drive-thru and the odd times I will go in. I never had the Starbcks Rewards and Bree mentioned the benefits of having it and she convinced me to get it. I am so happy I did and I would like to say thank you for that and always providing really great service. I would also like to say that all the other staff members have great service as well but unfortunately I don't know everyone's name. I have been to many Starbucks locations and this one has to be one of the best. Always great service and friendly staff. Highly recommend...