Starbucks — Restaurant in Austin

I decided to stop in at 11:15 on a Monday morning, on my way to meet a friend. Since I had my two young children with me, I was excited to see there was no one in the drive thru, and the parking lot was mostly empty. The server took my order right away, then I pulled up to the window.

Listen, I respect that working as a server/batista can be a really high-stress, thankless job. I don't want to be "that guy" who just picks on overworked people trying to do their best. In this case, there were three visible baristas wandering around (refilling stock, etc. One literally was walking in a circle, tapping her hands on her legs). After I pulled up the the window, no one even opened the window to greet me for the length of three entire songs. I was sitting there, window down, holding my payment in my hand (in 100°), and though three separate individuals came TO the window to do various things (open the register, move coins around, close the register), no one even made eye contact with me, let alone say hello or take my payment. I started to wonder if the window was broken, then thought, "Surely they would at least motion for me to pull into a spot or something."

Again, this is in a situation with no visible line, inside or outside. And sure, people could be making copious online orders, but the lack of urgency seemed to indicate otherwise.

Someone finally opened the window and barked my total. I had her scan my app for points, then she took my card from my hand, swiped it in the machine herself without even showing me the total on the screen, and passed my card back.

I then had to wait a further five minutes (doesn't sound like long, but count it out, man) for my single coffee and breakfast sandwich.

This experience took a total of about twenty minutes. Honestly, if they had just opened the window, greeted me, and let me know it was going to be a few minutes, I would have been totally amenable. Disregarding me and leaving me in confusion was... less cool.

The moral of the story is: overcommunication is better than...

Went in looking for a nicely brewed latte and boy to my excitement, it was. Upon entering I was greeted by the loviest gentleman, a barista I presume, and was quickly answered back when I asked how he was. Come to think of it his name was Marko I believe, and his service from start to finish was almost enough to entice me for something more than just coffee. I quickly remembered my husband was waiting in the car so I had no time to philander. As I was attended by this man, I did notice other staff working resiliently and efficiently, but the aroma this man gave off was almost blinding to everything else, except the coffee of course. As I finished giving my order, something simple, yet enticing to which the likes of other customers seemed to take interest in; the vanilla latte with some whole milk and a “splash!” of soy milk. As I saw this barista shift from the cash register to his esspresso machine with such ease, I could help but keep my eyes on the way his hands crafted this work of art in a matter of seconds, almost like watching the sequel to the titanic 2, a sequel where Leonardo DiCaprio comes out of the freezing waters and wins Kate Middleton’s heart back. I could almost picture myself as Kate, while his hands were to serve as Leonardo DiCaprio. I had trouble saying goodbye to him and the staff, but I knew it was for the best, as my husband would soon get suspicious of my mental affair and surely be angwy with me. It’s interesting the way life works, one day your just some city girl, newly married, wanting this intimate drink, only to find yourself in some sort of mental affair with just one of millions of baristas worldwide, almost loosing your husband in the process. Definitely a 9/10 experience in my book, I mean who doesn’t still carry the...

RUDE. JUST RUDE.

I could have posted just the title and been done. But nope. Here's why…

I am sick and tired of going into businesses who provide services to customers only to be met with surly, unpleasant employees.

I'm not asking for a parade, or for them to my best friend. I'm simply asking for the bare minimum civility. And frankly, I feel that I and all customers have the right to expect it.

This store couldn't even do that. Not the, on the floor, bare minimum.

I come in, see my uber order and ask if I can take it. One of the women walks over and basically shoves the bag at me. Not a word.

Fine. I verify and complete my pick up. I pick up my bags, and to no one in particular, I say, thank you! Again, silence.

This idea that your life is hard so you get to be a jerk to customers is old. Played out. I'm sick of it. I don't get paid enough either, but I manage to not take it out on you. I say, please and thank you and try to not act as if I'm the most important person in the room. You could, at the very least,...