Starbucks — Restaurant in South Portland

sadly had a pretty negative experience this time around at this location :( I come pretty frequently as I work and live in the area and I always order ahead. I ordered around the maine med/downtown portland area and drove to the south portland location about 10 minutes away from me as I normally do before work. I waited in line for about five cars to order which was fine and what I expected. once I got to the window the person asked if I recently ordered my stuff which I said yes to. they asked me to either circle around the line again or go inside because there were 5 other people ahead of me. I circled around hoping it would be quicker because at this point I was going to run late to work. I waited for about 6-7 more cars to go through and then got to tell them I had already ordered a second time and they then got my order. I have a lot of coworkers who have worked for starbucks and have told me before that people order in the parking lot to cut the line and that they’ll frequently send those people to the back of the line because of it. i’m guessing that’s what this worker assumed I had done. i’ll probably start sticking to the forest ave location just to avoid potentially having to wait an extra 15 minutes for my online order. I want to clarify normally everyone at this location is incredibly sweet, accommodating, and the drinks are almost always on point. this time defiantly soured my experience personally but I would just recommend not ordering online for this location to save...

To be clear, I fully understand that if I’m going to use the seating area, I should purchase a coffee — that’s reasonable. But the way the situation was handled felt completely out of line.

Within about three minutes of sitting down and opening my laptop, a woman with purple hair—presumably a staff member—approached me and demanded I buy something or leave. There was no greeting, no explanation, and no attempt at a respectful tone. It felt aggressive, confrontational, and frankly, humiliating — especially given I hadn’t even had a chance to settle in.

I tried giving 20 dollars cash to the staff just so I could do my 1-hour work call, and they proceeded to argue with me rather than take the money, which was infuriating. My advice: fire your manager and all the staff. They clearly are not equipped to handle their emotions when conversing with customers or know when it’s best to zip it. 🤐 Telling me you understand my frustrations like a corporate HR robot is not going to solve anything.

As a long-time Starbucks customer, I found this incredibly disappointing. Your policies emphasize creating a welcoming environment and treating people with respect. This interaction felt like the opposite of that — and I’m asking if Starbucks is willing to review the employees behavior and address how these types of situations are handled...

I gave this location 6 weeks to improve before reaching out but they continue to disappoint. Damian Waugh (RD) does not care and the DM has never responded either. It’s an embarrassment to the company but no one seems to care. I have audio recordings of the rude manager on the DT speaker and I’ve logged 6 consecutive weeks when they were out of the WB coffee I order. They are surrounded by amazing stores that are run by incredible managers. This one location is horrific but Damian the regional director has done nothing to improve it or respond to complaints.

Update 5/15/25 Yet again this Starbucks location is out of every type of dark roast beans that the company carries. They directed me to other stores that were not convenient. Why can’t they order properly? It’s been almost a year since my original review and nothing has improved. Regional director Damian Waugh and District manager Tiffany (with license plate “the DM”) should do something about this embarrassment...