Starbucks — Restaurant in Chapel Hill

I’ve had better customer service at gas station bathrooms that require a key attached to a cinder block. Hell, I’ve had more dignity afforded to me by airport TSA, and their entire job is built around assuming everyone is a potential terrorist. Yet somehow, at your Franklin Street Starbucks in Chapel Hill, I found myself in a situation so absurd, so needlessly humiliating, that I had to stop and ask myself—was I here for coffee or being processed for intake at a maximum-security facility?

Let’s rewind. I had already placed a mobile order—money spent, transaction complete. I entered, walked up to an employee, and asked for the restroom code, as any reasonable paying customer might do. And that’s when the unraveling began.

Despite already confirming my purchase, you’d have thought I had just wandered in off the street demanding free healthcare. The request for a simple bathroom code turned into an inquisition. But why stop there? Why just deny basic courtesy when you can escalate the situation into an outright performance?

Cue the second barista, a true artist in the field of customer humiliation. She stormed over, clapping her hands like an overzealous football coach mid-halftime speech, punctuating every sentence as if she were laying down the law of the land. Because, you see, it’s not enough to simply state a policy—no, that wouldn’t provide nearly the level of spectacle she was apparently looking for. Instead, she opted for a dramatic monologue, delivered with all the grace and subtlety of a drill sergeant addressing new recruits.

Restrooms? Ice? Policy? I half-expected her to start rolling out a PowerPoint presentation on Starbucks’ New and Improved Guidelines for Customer Discomfort. What was supposed to be a simple, two-second interaction had morphed into an ego-fueled power trip, a showcase of what happens when someone mistakes their barista apron for a badge and a clipboard.

Look, if Starbucks has new policies, that’s fine. But let’s be clear: policies do not grant employees the right to berate, embarrass, or otherwise treat customers like defendants pleading their case before a jury. The sheer level of scrutiny I endured over a restroom code was baffling—was I supposed to present a notarized affidavit? Provide three references? Swear an oath on a stack of Frappuccino recipe cards?

So tell me, is this the new Starbucks standard? Have we officially crossed into a world where ordering a coffee means being put through a series of unnecessary trials like some caffeine-fueled episode of Survivor? If so, I’d love to know how corporate plans to spin this one, because if what I experienced is any indication of your new approach to customer service, then congratulations—you’ve successfully managed to make what should be the most low-stakes interaction of the day feel like an interrogation at Guantanamo.

I expect a response. Not a copy-paste corporate apology, not a coupon for a burnt latte, but a genuine explanation of how and why your employees have been given free rein to treat paying customers like intruders in their own transactions. This was an embarrassment—not for me, but for...

I love this bright sunny location, as it brings in many a student, Professor, UNC medical staff and sports fan coffee, tea and pastry eficionato in it's doors for a break between classes, patients, before, during and after a game to cheer UNC teams on. Samples are often offered, and everyone is treated with respect from a free cup of water to a mistaken order. Young adult patrons learn to share space, and alleged high turnover staff are students that go home during breaks or after graduation- hence the need to adjust business hours. This store is the last of other NC stores to get a "facelift", and a larger locale would make it a place for more staying customers (bright gifted students take over for hours, lol). Great variety of music and persons from all over the world pass through, making each customer feel like they have visited another wonderful part of the globe. At this locale the customer is always right, a strong policy SB believes in, and I know this because I am from NY where it is run exactly the same way. For such a laid back state, there are plenty of coffee lovers, not like "type-A" NYrs, lol. NC just handles pressure differently I guess. Always stop through here when in town... some things never change, and the clean, efficient, hard working and accomodating staff of this SB...

When I walked in the other day, (12/19/24), around 6am, two police officers were escorting a homeless lady out the premises. It should’ve been a sign of things to come.. The new location is nice and modern, yet it does tend to get packed later in the day and it can be tough to find seating. I’ve always had a fine time placing a mobile order and the baristas running the place are very friendly. However, this Starbucks gets overridden by homeless folks, especially early in the morning. I had the distinct pleasure of sitting beside a tweaking homeless person— he came and sat beside me while I was studying for the LSAT. He definitely seemed mentally disturbed, as he was constantly talking to himself and laughing. I didn’t feel personally threatened by him, but it was uncomfortable. It was sad to see. I appreciated the baristas kindness in giving him a coffee and food, but ultimately, his smell and demeanor made it challenging to focus on actual work. So, in short: 5/5 for service and quality of product. 2.5/3 out of 5 for actual...