Starbucks — Restaurant in Hudson

Dear Starbucks - I wanted to alert you to a situation this past Saturday, 14-June, at your Highland Commons store, in Hudson/Berlin Massachusetts. I went to place an order on the app but it said it was unavailable so I went inside. I immediately saw that there were only two people working in the entire store, one girl was taking counter orders, while the other girl was single-handedly taking the drive-through orders, fulfilling them, as well as fulfilling all of the counter orders put in by the girl at the cash register. I don’t know her name but her name tag just said “B.” I want to be clear here, the entire time I was there, she was the only one making drinks, with the exception of one quick bathroom break that she took, during which time the other girl made three hot coffees.

I understand that people from the drive-through were calling the regional manager to complain. I will try to give them a little grace, because they were in the drive-through and didn’t see what was happening inside. And I will also say that the majority of the people INSIDE were very understanding of the situation. However there were of course people that walked out dramatically, one girl who decided to send her drink back twice, multiple people who ended up getting obnoxiously complicated orders, and some other generic jerks. Personally, I waited over 35 minutes for a cold brew. I was going to originally have an espresso drink but opted to change my order in the hopes that it would lighten the load a bit.

At one point, B said to her coworker that doing both ALL the drinks and managing the drive thru was almost impossible, and how she was getting screamed at through the speaker on the drive-through. Absolutely unacceptable. It’s unacceptable that only two people were staffed in such a busy store - that falls squarely on management. I understand that people call out or get sick or no-show, but I think it would’ve been more responsible for you to close the store than to allow two young employees to take the abuse that they dealt with today.

I think B deserves a personal thank you/apology from the regional manager for all that she had to deal with on Saturday. And I hope that people can remind themselves, while waiting in a line for their overpriced latte, that some kid is making crap money, busting their ass. I hope everybody who screamed at B steps on a Lego. I hope the person or people who called the regional manager from the drive-through stub their baby toe on a coffee table in the middle of the night.

I am going to submit a copy of this through your website as well, however I have found in the past reaching out through social media gets a faster response. I’m giving five stars for the food and service and one for atmosphere- and if I could give negative stars to the management, I would.

PS, the cold brew...

I feel so sorry for the employees of this location as it is clear their district manager and corporate do not care about this location or them. I have been here several times and witness only 2 employees on the floor for long durations of time having to manage cafe orders as well as online and drive thru. This store is constantly running out of product and the counter tops always filled with trash and liquid.

The employees here are always attentive and do their best to complete orders in a timely fashion but this past Thursday was a 50% off deal and I mobile ordered and waited over 30 minutes, it would have been longer had the kind barista behind the bar not asked my name to put my order forward.

They also explained that if the cafe was busier the mobile orders get pushed behind those and the drive thru. It seems to me like a corporation problem and nothing to do with the baristas...

Went inside to place an order. The partner at the register had 4 large stacks of cups and told me she would be with me in one minute. She proceeded to put all of the cups at various stations. There was a partner doing drive up and another doing drinks with only one customer in store waiting for a drink. I asked the partner at the drinks if the other girl was going to put all those cups away first and make me wait? She shrugged her shoulders. Finally the partner came over and I thanked her for putting all the cups away first and making me wait and she said your welcome!! I asked if she thought that it was okay to keep me waiting and she said at least I didn't yell at her like other customers would!!! You've got to be kidding me! I asked her her name. It was Brie. If it wasn't for a challenge that I was trying to complete I would...