Starbucks bagel lady & specifying order

[Greenday]

I'm leaning towards the customer's side on this one. Maybe it's because Starbucks SUCKS in my mind, but I see where she's coming from. She asks for a bagel and is asked if she wanted creamed cheese or butter. She says she just wants a bagel. No more clarification is needed after this point and continuing to asking is a load of shit, plain and simple. It was a clear answer and the "barista" just kept provoking her for a response.

But as I said, Starbucks is crap. Sorry to anyone who works there, but it is. Hm, go to Starbucks for a hot chocolate and pay almost $4 for a small? Or go to one of the meal trucks and pay $1.50 at most for a large. Get out of here, Starbucks is a complete ripoff and tastes like crap.

And the whole tall, grande, and venti thing is retarded beyond belief. Small, medium, and large. Every time I go to Starbucks (which is now never), I still use small, medium, and large.

And cashiers aren't cashiers, they are "baristas". Call it whatever you want, but at the end of the day, it's the same damn thing.

Starbucks tries too hard to be edgy and cool.

But back on topic of the actual situation, I think the customer had a short fuse and the cashier was just trying to provoke her, not just trying to do his job.

[Red Panda]

Saying you want a bagel in responce to being asked what you want on the bagel is not an answer. If you ask for a pop and I ask Pepsi or Coke saying I want a pop doesn't answer the question. Sure we could ask for more inituative, diplomacy, and willingness to break from the script from our mininum wage workers but in return they would probably ask for more money and for customers to not be jack asses.

[Greenday]

Saying you want a bagel in responce to being asked what you want on the bagel is not an answer. If you ask for a pop and I ask Pepsi or Coke saying I want a pop doesn't answer the question. Sure we could ask for more inituative, diplomacy, and willingness to break from the script from our mininum wage workers but in return they would probably ask for more money and for customers to not be jack asses.

"Do you want butter or cheese?"
"I just want a multi-grain bagel."

That's pretty clear in its meaning.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Just how is saying "Neither" a huge strain? The barrista had a script. He'd probably get told off if his boss was passing and he wasn't following it. The customer needs to get a fucking life if she regularly throws tantrums over minor issues like this.

[Red Panda]

"Do you want butter or cheese?"
"I just want a multi-grain bagel."

That's pretty clear in its meaning.

Except in this instance she didn't say that. She yelled, 'I want my multigrain bagel!' " when asked about a topping

[ZedOmega]

Except in this instance she didn't say that. She yelled, 'I want my multigrain bagel!' " when asked about a topping

She's right, you know. There's a huge difference between 'I just want my bagel!' and 'Neither, thank you'.

[Anthony K. S.]

"Do you want butter or cheese?"
"I just want a multi-grain bagel."

That's pretty clear in its meaning.

No, it's not.

To some customers, "a bagel" automatically means "a bagel with butter on it."

That may seem illogical to you, Greenday (as well as others here who have expressed this view), but in their minds, it really goes without saying that bagels automatically include butter. That's just the way they happen to think.

Look at it this way :

Suppose a customer goes to a particular restaurant every morning for months, and always orders a bagel with butter on it. After a time, the employees recognize that this customer always has butter on his bagel, and gives it to him even if he doesn't specifically ask for it.

Then, one day, the customer goes to a different restaurant and orders a bagel. And, purely out of habit, he expects them to just know that he wants butter on it, even though he didn't ask for it, because that's what he's grown used to from the other restaurant.

It happens.

To a person with that kind of mindset, it may seem like an employee asking, "Do you want butter or cheese?" is actually asking "Do you want cheese instead of butter?"

And when the customer says, "I just want a bagel," what he's really saying is, "I want a bagel with butter on it," because in his mind, that's the default choice.

There is always at least one alternative mindset for looking at these situations, which employees in restaurants like Starbuck's will quickly experience. I would expect that they have to routinely deal with customers who get annoyed because they believe that "a bagel" should be understood to mean "a plain bagel," and customers who get annoyed because they believe that "a bagel" should be understood to mean "a bagel with butter on it."

I, too, have dealt with customers who thought that just because they view things a certain way, that that's the only way that anybody ever should or would view them. It's a fairly common mistake.

[Arcade Man D]

And cashiers aren't cashiers, they are "baristas". Call it whatever you want, but at the end of the day, it's the same damn thing.

Actually, it isn't. A barista is a specific job that includes, not just ringing, but making various coffee-, espresso-, and milk-based drinks at a coffee shop. They're called the same thing at small individual coffee shops, too.

[Nyoibo]

How amny times have we seen on CS stories where the employee has ask a question and they get the response "Yes" without the person listening to what's been said, or when they've either taken something for granted or given the customer what they asked for they get ripped a new one? How is this any different trying to clarify something from an admitedly difficult customer?

[Jack]

@Anthony

Yeah, that does make sense now. I'm with those who say they were both being difficult. Blame all 'round.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I agree. This seems like a case where we had two sharks in the water and they both smelled each other's blood.

I hate Starschmucks (thank you Foamy the Squirrel) as much as many other people do. They get too fancy and too over the top in their cleverness. But the few times I've had to get something there I've never had a tenth of the problems presented in that tale.

Me - I'd like a plain bagel and a Chai Latte please
SB - What size Chai?
Me - Smallest you have please.
SB - We call that a "tall" sir. And on your bagel, did you want that with butter or cream cheese?
Me - Just plain please.
SB - Ok, here's your Tall Chai Latte and your plain bagel. Your total comes to...

And that is how it has played out each and every time I've done that. No fretting or fuming. Just I order, they give me what I ordered, I pay money, I eat.

My wife is correcting me. There was the one time where I did run afoul of one guy who did get in my face about their terminology. I asked for a small Chai and he corrected me. I said "Just get me the smallest Chai you have whatever you call it."

He said that I needed to order a "Tall Chai Latte" if I wanted one. I looked him in the eye and said "Fine" and walked out without another word and have never entered the Starbucks in Lusby since. Again no scene, no demanding media attention. I took my right as a consumer to not choose to do business with a company that annoys me.

[Mikkel]

He said that I needed to order a "Tall Chai Latte" if I wanted one. I looked him in the eye and said "Fine" and walked out without another word and have never entered the Starbucks in Lusby since. Again no scene, no demanding media attention. I took my right as a consumer to not choose to do business with a company that annoys me.

Exactly, that's what any sane person would do. I could understand being a bit more difficult if it were the only place for miles around to get your fix, but that's certainly not the case here. I'm quite sure that if she walked less than 200 meters she could find a bagelshop where they conformed to her standards of English.

[Red Panda]

I don't go to Starbucks very often because the nearest one is an hour and a half away and I prefer gas station coffee anyways. When I have gone I've never had any trouble with employees even though I usually have to ask alot of questions about what things are. They seem pretty understanding about the fact that they have unusual names.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

http://www.illwillpress.com/ZC22YT.html

Thought this would be very fitting in this discussion