Starbucks — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but I don’t think I am. After I ordered my drink, I tried to get a water cup from the woman who works there, since the cups at the water station were all gone. She was a middle-aged Latina woman with curly hair. I waved my hand and moved around to different spots to try to get her attention with a smile on my face, but she intentionally ignored me in a very obvious way and instead went to talk to a customer who had just received the wrong order.

I even stood near that customer, hoping to get her attention since she was focusing on him, but she still refused to make eye contact with me — just like she had been doing the whole time. After she helped the other customer, she immediately moved her eyes elsewhere, avoiding looking at me.

I then said “excuse me” to try to get her attention, but she ignored me again. I said “excuse me” a second time, slightly louder, and finally she looked at me — but with a very annoyed expression, staring at me as if I had made the biggest mistake in the world. She responded in an angry and irritated tone, saying, “Can you just wait?!”

I was shocked and felt that I had been treated very unfairly. I don’t understand why she couldn’t simply make brief eye contact with me earlier to acknowledge that she saw me and would assist me shortly, instead of obviously noticing me but choosing to ignore me, and then acting like I was the one doing something wrong.

This experience made me feel deeply uncomfortable, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I was being treated this way because of my race. It felt like a form of hidden, subtle discrimination — the kind that is difficult for others to notice but still causes real emotional harm. It was a very invisible form of abuse, and it left me feeling deeply hurt and unwelcome.

It was a very disappointing experience at Starbucks. I believe that as an international brand, Starbucks should properly train its employees to provide respectful and fair service to all customers, rather than making guests feel ignored, disrespected, and treated unfairly.

I sincerely hope that Starbucks will take this incident seriously, conduct a thorough investigation, and reinforce proper customer service and anti-discrimination training among its staff. Every customer deserves to feel welcome and respected, regardless of...

PLEASE READ! Worst experience ever. There wasn’t a soul in sight and I stood in line for 10min as Karen and the manager stood around laughing. I finally had to ask if I could place my order. The whole entire time the cashier looked at me like it was her first time taking an order. Terrible service. I ordered my drink and went on my way. I had a 4hr layover so I decided to go get a refill. Typically they are very friendly about it but this time they gave me a hard time about it. They said it was not allowed. I began to ask why and she rolled her eyes and simply said it’s against policy and that airport Starbucks are different. I’ve never had this push back before. Especially when it’s not busy. She then said well you have to had ordered ice coffee or hot coffee. I told her well can’t you just take the drink I ordered as an Ice coffee? I ordered venti with all these special add in so it was about a $10 coffee and all I was asking was for a grande ice coffee with no add in. Very simple. But they said no. I had to but an ice coffee then I can get refills. The manager agreed and so I gave in and ordered an ice coffee and they were more then happy to make it for me. Please not I had a 4hr layover so I knew I was going to get another refill. So wen I was done I went to the counter and asked for a refill and they said it wasn’t allowed. But they just told me an hr ago that I could. She then said that the manager was informed and that they weren’t allowed to give refills. I had to explain you just said I could an hr ago. She finally said I will make an exception and give you just a black coffee. Which again was not what they told me an hr ago. I then asked for a little Carmel and she refused. She just put the cup down on the counter and walked away. This was not definitely the warm customer service Starbucks typically has. I was very disappointed and I hope the store manager can see this. I told Karen that I’ll see her next week due to my flying out of this airport every other weekend. And she said they won’t give you refills because everyone else is fired. Thy to me was very snarky and should not be the front face...

Subject: Formal Complaint Regarding Service at Starbucks LAX

Dear Starbucks Customer Service,

I am writing to formally express my disappointment regarding an experience I had at your Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) location on 6.28.25 10:32 pm.

While traveling with my family, I placed an order at the Starbucks located in the front of gate 148 terminal B. Unfortunately, the order we received was incorrect. After politely informing the staff of the mistake, I was surprised to be told that we would need to return the food we had been given in order to receive the correct items.

I found this policy both impractical and unsanitary. As a customer, I believe it is unreasonable to be asked to return food that has already been served—especially at an international airport, where hygiene, safety, and efficiency should be top priorities.

This experience left a negative impression, particularly in contrast to the high standard of service I’ve come to expect from Starbucks. I would appreciate it if your team could review this incident, and let me know if this is in fact the company’s policy. If not, I hope steps will be taken to retrain staff at that location to better handle such situations in the future.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your...